Sick Gig Carpet Nem - Updated CURED!

[terraincognita]

Good catch on possibly being a gig. I am at home now and on pc and have to agree, it may be one. Need to see tentacles at and around the mouth to make a positive ID.

Note to self, mirror phone to pc at work lol.

Very possibly a Gig

Was sold as Haddoni from LFS, but I think it is a Gig honestly also.

Unfortunately when he was happiest and properly open in my old tank he was also in this orientation...... so I never got a good photo of his mouth.... lol...

Attach files

I found this Not sure if it's clear enough:

 

[Sdot]

IMO you can argue all you want that maturity and all doesn't play a role but I disagree a whole lot. Just because things are looking great it doesn't mean anything, a new tank will always look great at first, it's a matter of maintaining values long term that will give you success. Honestly, I think it's irresponsible to have put that kind of nem in such a young system, I mean what's a month and 2 weeks, what's 20 days in the big picture of it all? Proper cycling of a tank should be at least 3 months and honestly even longer nowadays with the sterility of dry rock and all.

Sorry if this comes off as rude but this is just my opinion

I'm sorry but i agree with this post completely! Carpets are difficult even for experienced aquarist

 

[terraincognita]

I'm sorry but i agree with this post completely! Carpets are difficult even for experienced aquarist

It may be. Again. I've never said it's 100% not.

I'm just looking to understand more, and so far the people whom other have donned more knowledgable in nems have been leading me down a different path.

I'm gonna give it a shot and see what happens

Ok. You’ve established several things. You are an educated reefer. I too, have moved tanks, and have put anemones in a moved tank, and a new tank, it CAN be done, but only by those that are dedicated. You have proven you are dedicated.

So, all crap and cordials aside, that anemone can still be saved. To my eyes, it looks like a gig. No one has mentioned that. They can be tough to acclimate, they’re different than haddoni. Are you certain it’s haddoni??? From the pics you’ve posted, no gig would do well in those locations, regardless of water quality. Does it have dots under its skirt? It’s pretty bleached so dots might be hard to detect. I’ve had both haddoni and gigs. I only have gigs now. I’m familiar with both.

If I was you, pull that guy. Clowns and crabs will make it worse, until they’re healthy. Put it in a tank by itself, do 100% changes everyday. New water everyday. It’s best to have water made and let age 24 hours before using, there’s chemical balancing that happens that no one talks about after a day, for new saltwater. Use an airstone. Oxygen levels affect gigs. RODI is best, I use only RO. I’m guessing, that guy to me, doesn’t look like needs treatment. Needs a flush. Just my best guess. Change water everyday for a few days and observe progression. Get meds incase, but I wouldn’t use them since you’ve had it so long, I suspect it’s an environmental issue it’s not happy with. Not chemical, since your sps are doing well. That said, there are bacteria that go through cycles that happen, and they affect anemones differently than corals.

I was thinking about this in the shower last night.

I know some nems don't like to be so far down. This very possibly alone could've been an issue. What do you mean about placement of Gigs? Where's best placement for them in your experience? Everything I've ever read is that they like to bury their foot in the sand?

 

[Taylor t]

My opinion. You will save this gig...
99.9 % my opinion, you have a gig. Based on your pics. They are a tough anemone, but you persistence proves you’re able to do it past the finish line. Everything I’ve seen, you’ll do it. I usually keep silent, but you have what it takes. Flushing is key, high flush rate, white light, and chemicals in balance, your sps prove, get it stable, then acclimate. It will acclimate and recover. I’m looking forward to see what it turns into. You’ll be happy after you have a resilient anemone, that’s tough to acclimate.

 

[Taylor t]

Gigs like high light, high flow, and are very resilient to water quality when established. Getting them to this place can be work.

 

[terraincognita]

My opinion. You will save this gig...
99.9 % my opinion, you have a gig. Based on your pics. They are a tough anemone, but you persistence proves you’re able to do it past the finish line. Everything I’ve seen, you’ll do it. I usually keep silent, but you have what it takes. Flushing is key, high flush rate, white light, and chemicals in balance, your sps prove, get it stable, then acclimate. It will acclimate and recover. I’m looking forward to see what it turns into. You’ll be happy after you have a resilient anemone, that’s tough to acclimate.

Thanks Man. People like you are why I come here (b',')b

Didn't want to post about this until today haha afraid of the hate, but I'm glad I have someone cheering me on.

I hope I can save it too! I'll do my best. Signing off for the night, sheesh what a week.

Have a good Friday Yall! I'll keep you all updated! But for now, nothing else is happening to my Nem tonight except some rest <3

 

[jsvand5]

I was thinking about this in the shower last night.

I know some nems don't like to be so far down. This very possibly alone could've been an issue. What do you mean about placement of Gigs? Where's best placement for them in your experience? Everything I've ever read is that they like to bury their foot in the sand?

Gigs like to be up in the rock work with a lot of flow.

 

[Taylor t]

I’ve only had a few gigs that do ok in sand. Some do. I’ve burned over a hundred, before I understood. They like high light, want a crevice to hide their foot, rock dwellers, (Sand in nature but hard to replicate in our tanks) but flow is critical.

FLOW!

They are found in shallow water, white light... Along with white light. Get them heathy, you can adapt them to blue light and Lower flow. Flush it, and you will save it. Not meds, flush it. Show us!!!

 

[chizerbunoi]

I would go ahead and transfer to quarantine. I wouldn’t keep it in that breeder fry net box. Not enough water flow gets through and the waste gets trapped in it.

Make sure you block the intake of your powerhead or filter if not using an egg crate. Use a sponge or mesh if hob filter intake. If the tank has the built in sump then your good.

Please take top down shots going forward so we can see the mouth if it starts to open/gap and insides come out.

 

[terraincognita]

I’ve only had a few gigs that do ok in sand. Some do. I’ve burned over a hundred, before I understood. They like high light, want a crevice to hide their foot, rock dwellers, (Sand in nature but hard to replicate in our tanks) but flow is critical.

FLOW!

They are found in shallow water, white light... Along with white light. Get them heathy, you can adapt them to blue light and Lower flow. Flush it, and you will save it. Not meds, flush it. Show us!!!

appreciate all the help and knowledge @Taylor t.

acclimating now 1 drop per second or so,

I’ll let that go on for a couple hours then move him in.
I guess he has dots on the skirt? Kinds look like stripes.

 

[Taylor t]

Ugh. It’s like seeing a tumor on an X-ray. That guys awfully dark. I suspect it’s got lots of dead zoo inside. Kick that flow up on high and try to purge it, maybe got a couple hours and see if any improvement, but don’t wait too long to make adjustments. Cover your pump intakes. They can have trouble getting that crap out. Adjust flow and light and try to encourage it to inflate more. When collapsed like that, the dead zoo rot the stuff it’s in contact with inside, and like cancer it spreads rapidly. If it inflated more it should pull through, but it’s got to inflate more to stop the spread. Maybe stronger lighting, maybe weaker lighting. Maybe stronger flow, maybe weaker flow. Make adjustments and try getting it to inflate more. It’s not a one size fits all, it’s why they’re tough.

 

[terraincognita]

Ugh. It’s like seeing a tumor on an X-ray. That guys awfully dark. I suspect it’s got lots of dead zoo inside. Kick that flow up on high and try to purge it, maybe got a couple hours and see if any improvement, but don’t wait too long to make adjustments. Cover your pump intakes. They can have trouble getting that crap out. Adjust flow and light and try to encourage it to inflate more. When collapsed like that, the dead zoo rot the stuff it’s in contact with inside, and like cancer it spreads rapidly. If it inflated more it should pull through, but it’s got to inflate more to stop the spread. Maybe stronger lighting, maybe weaker lighting. Maybe stronger flow, maybe weaker flow. Make adjustments and try getting it to inflate more. It’s not a one size fits all, it’s why they’re tough.

Don’t Fret! Everything’s on the up and up

Cut the acclimation down to an hour.
you were right, he needed a flush!

enjoy this time lapse lol.

will let you all know how he progresses. Interesting to watch.

 

[chizerbunoi]

thats great. Let us know if it starts to deflate and remember to remove any expel waste before it breaks down. Doesn’t mean you have to stay home to baby sit it. Just check few times before water change tomorrow.

Do to feed at all. If have a seachem ammonia badge they are helpful.

 

[terraincognita]

thats great. Let us know if it starts to deflate and remember to remove any expel waste before it breaks down. Doesn’t mean you have to stay home to baby sit it. Just check few times before water change tomorrow.

Do to feed at all. If have a seachem ammonia badge they are helpful.

I do have one, but I'll just go grab another one, $8.00 no big deal.

I was thinking about doing a WC today.

I've been mixing the bucket since 3:00 yesterday so should be mixed, I think after he expels everything would be good to just do a WC to help him along with recovery.

After that I'd just do one a day but for the initial flushing was considering doing it sooner?

Thoughts?

 

[terraincognita]

He's pushing something out, mouth is closed, so hard to tell if it's guts or something else.

hmmmm.

nope just poop.

 

[terraincognita]

Alright. Well I shall be getting on with my Saturday and leaving him to be. But outlook seeming promising.

Things of note.

7:30 Took him out of tank and started Acclimation


1. When first added I had an Airstone in the water all night, he really inflated and seemed to be much happier with the fresh water.

I moved the air stone before I added him and added it to the bucket I was mixing for the W/C.

After 1 1/2 hours of being in the water he expelled and purged for sure, but was now deflated again, foot attached to the bottom, but he looked like a folded pancake again....

I added the airstone on suspicion and he re-inflated, he then got lively enough to move and now he moved himself to the corner of the tank and he's the happiest I've seen him since August 25th lol.

----------------------------------

So far things I've noticed might've be effecting him on top of the Tap Water issue.

1. I had a Protein skimmer on my last tank, no protein skimmer on JBJ 45. The Aeration and Oxygenating of the water might be a big factor for him. When I added air stone back to the tank, he instantly perked up and liked it.

2. White light on last tank was stronger than blue lighting, on the new tank he's really not getting that much light 20 inches in the water, Id have to get a par meter, but even at the brightest hours, I can only imagine it being mid to high 100's at most. and He's 32 inches from the light source, in the last tank he was just 12 inches from the light, which was also how deep he was in the water, when I upgraded to the Hydra 32 he was now 24 inches from the light, but still just 12 inches in water, making him more exposed and I was running the whites WAY higher.


Ordered Ciprofloxacin just in-case I'll need it, but based on the current results I think he'll recover with just some good clean water.

Gotta figure out once he's better though now what to do with him, the way my tank is set up I don't think I can keep him in my 45 just due to lighting and Oxygen issues.

Possibly like Taylor said I could acclimate him, I hope so, we'll see, will be an interesting process.

This was right after I added the airstone again, you can see within like 30 seconds he perked up, he was literally flat, particles in water is just bubbles.

 

[Taylor t]

That’s great to see!!!! Those deflated pics looked grim, I've had them look like that with trying to give them good flushing, and have them refuse to reinflate. Yours is good to see!
I suspect yours is a green based on your pics, just really bleached, and you can acclimate it to your tank but it won’t look bright green or yellow using bluer or lower light, but you can acclimate it to live with your tank and sps. Since you’ve had it so long and it hasn’t given up yet, I think you giving it environmental changes will bring it back. I would not medicate yours, based on your pics, just me. But pics everyday will determine, don’t be afraid to medicate, but I don’t think yours needs meds. Change water every 24 hours. Aireate the new water with airstone before use, not the treatment tank. That will be enough. Age new water 24 hours makes a difference. After a couple weeks double the light and you should see great progress. Then once it stabilizes start pulling back to mimic your tank conditions, and give it your tank water to acclimate. After a week of NO DEFLATES, I would cut back on every other day changes, Or every three day changes. Got a piece of stable Seasoned live rock you can use with it? Get it to attach to a piece of rock you can move with it when the time comes.

As mentioned, DO NOT FEED IT. The risk isn’t worth the reward. Wait at least a month or two. It doesn’t need food, I’ve gone over a year of no food, they get HEALTH from water, light, and flow. Growth comes from food, but comes with great risk depending on its ability to process. It’s not worth the risk for long term survival.

Also, my experience, salinity level, and water quality, doesn’t affect them as much as temp.... don’t change water from 80 with new water to 78, better to add 81. I try to make it a degree warmer than old water, or match. They’re found in low tide out of water, and the water comes rushing in. I don’t acclimate them to water quality, only temp, but if it makes you feel better do it, but I’ve done both, and I’m not afraid to plop them into a new water system with no acclimation. Temp I see them react to, so I like to match temp. My salinity is 1.026-1.028, so they can handle, and like, higher salinity, and nature kind of suggests that, at shore line with tides, it’s likely higher. I’ve found flow (and high light) is the biggest affect to their response. If you can keep KH near 9 and calcium near 400 you’ll be golden. I’m horrible at stability, my levels are all over the place, KH as low as 6 and calcium as low as 340, but they let me know when the levels get so low, they refuse to inflate. They really like high levels of both and ppm of 35-36. I aim for KH 9-10 and calcium above 420. Gives me room for human F-up. Temp they’re forgiving too, my tank ranges from 78-88, looks best at 82-83, but I see them get mad when plopped into lower temps. They can acclimate to lower temps, but don’t like the shock.

If you can balance sps at 8-9KH they will do great. Not sure how much of this makes sense. Too much to explain.

 

[Taylor t]

Not sure I ever posted this. This guy I got from my buddy Pete. He’s not in reefing anymore. He put this guy in a box, to throw out, and thought it was dead. I took it, (sure, I’ll take it even though it’s dead lol) rehabbed and this is today (a couple weeks ago), maybe 8 years later. It didn’t look like this when I got it. This is what I suspect you have also, based on the glimmers of color in your pics. It won’t look like this without bright light and high flow, but this guy is bulletproof, and would turn green in lower light. I would guess it would take 2 years with proper environment to make yours look like this. Yours, in lower light will most likely turn forest green.

 

[Taylor t]

I just see a LOT of similarities in what you have, and what I have.

 

[Taylor t]

If you can keep the treatment tank aireated and not introduce bubbles to the tank, that’s ideal. But not a dealbreaker. Remember, they come from tidal zones, they can handle air.