When to Start Cipro on H. mag

[Apoc68]

Hello all,

I've got a beautiful purple mag that I am concerned about. He's been in an observation tank for about 10 days now. Most of the time, it is fully inflated and covers the 4" tee fitting it's attached to. From time to time though, I see it completely deflated. It is usually also expelling larger brown masses, which from what I understand is either fecal matter or dead zooxanthellae, or it's expelling some mucous with brown specks in it.

I know the standard inflate/deflate cycle is usually when it deflates during lights on and re-inflates during lights out. This one however usually with be re-inflates before lights out. In the picture you can see some inflated tentacles and this is while it is re-inflating after being completely deflated. The mouth is normally tight except when it is expelling something.

My question is is this normal behavior or signs of a bacterial infection?

 

[tehmadreefer]

10 days? Put it in the DT, there no reason to observe that long especially if it isn’t deflating.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

For mags, I typically treat no matter what. That is about the only nem I do it with right off the bat. Others get observation and then determine from there. In the 60 or so mags out of the hundreds of nem I have dealt with, they are always the ones that seem to need it the most. I can say that a healthy one in my experience stays inflated the majority of the time, lights or no lights. Just the occasional poo and then back to normal.

@OrionN can provide some insight as well.

 

[Apoc68]

For mags, I typically treat no matter what. That is about the only nem I do it with right off the bat. Others get observation and then determine from there. In the 60 or so mags out of the hundreds of nem I have dealt with, they are always the ones that seem to need it the most. I can say that a healthy one in my experience stays inflated the majority of the time, lights or no lights. Just the occasional poo and then back to normal.

@OrionN can provide some insight as well.

I sort of lean that way as well but I also would like to be as responsible as possible with ABX use. That and acquiring them in Canada is very difficult so if I can, I try to conserve where possible.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I sort of lean that way as well but I also would like to be as responsible as possible with ABX use. That and acquiring them in Canada is very difficult so if I can, I try to conserve where possible.

Understand completely. 100% water changes daily and patience can do wonders also. Keep the water as clean as possible and just watch for gaping mouth and fade in color.

 

[Apoc68]

Understand completely. 100% water changes daily and patience can do wonders also. Keep the water as clean as possible and just watch for gaping mouth and fade in color.

The mouth is always tight unless it's expelling something so I'm think it's going to but it'll stay in observation until I'm sure.

 

[Apoc68]

Here's a couple photos of how it looks most of the time.

 

[shred5]

For mags, I typically treat no matter what. That is about the only nem I do it with right off the bat. Others get observation and then determine from there. In the 60 or so mags out of the hundreds of nem I have dealt with, they are always the ones that seem to need it the most. I can say that a healthy one in my experience stays inflated the majority of the time, lights or no lights. Just the occasional poo and then back to normal.

@OrionN can provide some insight as well.

Same here. The last one I got I decided not to treat because it looked too good. A few days later it started deflating and then got more and more. I almost lost it because of that. I could not get it off the rock but it finally just let loose because it got so weak. I did save it and has been doing great.


It seems at least to me every mag that comes in around here has a infection. I lost one other because I did not treat right away before. After loosing that I have treated every mag after that one. I am starting to think I might treat gigs to right away. I see less with infection in gigs though.

But I will say just because it deflates sometimes does not mean it is infected. I have seen them deflate to rid themselves of whatever or just flushing itself out.. I will admit the minute it happens with a new Mag though I get really concerned.

 

[chizerbunoi]

I have the same issue in Canada and can’t find any vets in my city that are willing to risk issuing antibiotics for fish. They complain that they get flagged and audited by the vet council. Must be heavy regulations here.

That said, lots of water changes and random water flow. The random water flow from a powerhead will make a big difference compared to the HOB and air stone. Your mag is not clear out of the woods yet. I would keep observing and do full daily water changes.

Do you have other wild anemones in your main display?

 

[Apoc68]

I'll keep up with the big water changes and treat it the deflation continues. I don't think every time an H. mag deflates it means it needs to be run through a course of antibiotics.

That said, lots of water changes and random water flow. The random water flow from a powerhead will make a big difference compared to the HOB and air stone. Your mag is not clear out of the woods yet. I would keep observing and do full daily water changes.

They're not shown in the pictures but there's 2 Maxspect Gyres in there.

I've got another H. mag in my tank so this one has to healthy before going in.

 

[Apoc68]

Well it was a scary few days!

I went with observation and full water changes over immediately treating with meds. The anemone would be the size of dinner plate most of the day and then deflate towards the end of the day. On the third day, I decided it was time to treat so I moved it into a QT tank.

I used water from the DT to fill the QT tank, temperature acclimated and placed the anemone in the tank. For 2 days it was fully deflated, mouth completely open and it's insides showing. I thought it was a goner for sure but kept up with the water changes and meds.

This morning it was almost back to being fully inflated! Not out of the woods yet but a huge improvement.

 

[D-Nak]

I'm glad that you decided to treat it. All of the mags I have/had didn't deflate once they were acclimated. Even when they expelled waste, they never deflated. I think they deflate only when their immune system is compromised. This is in contrast to other anemones (particularly BTAs) where they do deflate from time to time.