3 Gigs, 2 Mags and a Mertensii walk into a tank...

I'm so glad that we "allow” telling the true.
I had the same problem when buying a Gig from him about 3 years ago.
I bought a blue gig from him for $400.00.
He was a very nice guy to talk to.
He said the gig was in quarantine for 28 days.
When I brought it home, it lasted for 2 weeks in a separate tank that I connected to my system.
And because I stupid enough to put it in the same system, it infected and killed my big purple gig that I had for 1 year up to that day.
I informed him, he offered for a discount for the next order.
Of cause I did not order from him again. If I still need to quarantine my gig, I can use $400 buying 2 gigs from a local store.
 
I'm so glad that we "allow" telling the true.
I had the same problem when buying a Gig from him about 3 years ago.
I bought a blue gig from him for $400.00.
He was a very nice guy to talk to.
He said the gig was in quarantine for 28 days.
When I brought it home, it lasted for 2 weeks in a separate tank that I connected to my system.
And because I stupid enough to put it in the same system, it infected and killed my big purple gig that I had for 1 year up to that day.
I informed him, he offered for a discount for the next order.
Of cause I did not order from him again. If I still need to quarantine my gig, I can use $400 buying 2 gigs from a local store.

All feedback and experiences are welcome in my thread....

The Mags, Mertensii and Green Gig are on their way to LAX so I don't have another option besides waiting to see how things arrive. Last night Bob had offered to refund my money if he is not able to fulfill the order next week but if these guys don't arrive as promised then at least I also have the opportunity to cancel the next shipment.

I have a separate holding system running that I built for this order using a 100 gallon Rubbermaid sump and shallow 55 gallon Rubbermaid holding tank with a large quantity of established liverock and water. I am going to run NFZ in the system but if things go bad at any point I can immediately move to isolated Cipro QT.

I probably won't get much sleep tonight...
 
I would never let a vendor QT or treat anything for me (unless they give a money back guarantee like LA). If they don't do it right and only drag it out you may just loose the time window in which a treatment still could have been successful.

Keep in mind that anemones consist of only a few layers of tissue and that an infection that goes on for too long can do irreparable damage. So the sooner you treat the better.

I made the mistake to wait and see with my previous purple crispa and by the time I decided to treat it, it was already too late.
 
His site seems off. Some photos look over 10 years old. No consistency in the backgrounds. Super high prices with sold by them all. Good luck though. I tried direct import with livestockusa and got a run around. Found out he is just a middle man nowhere near the corals and would never see or control anything. I found i could cut him out save 30% buying direct from pacific island imports. May be worth getting a business licence placing an order and closing said business. At least you get it direct and just deal with someone reoxing your box. Not qting your stuff for a month. I dealt with shifty kids in Afghanistan. Lost money and watches. Now I only use PayPal and put the revoke\refund card if it seems off.
 
I agree with most posts here, I'm sorry. Very, very, very very, expensive lesson. I ordered from Bob once too. ONCE. NEVER AGAIN. Nice guy to talk with, but I too, feel he's dishonest, I think I paid for the phone call time-not anemones. I can't recommend this vendor either. When it comes to gigs, IMO, he's a snake oil salesman.

OP-I hope you have better luck than I did ordering from him.
 
Add me to the one and done with Bob. Taylor T sums it up pretty perfectly.

I ordered a blue gig that mysteriously took a turn for the worse every time it came time to ship. This went on for a few months until I asked for a refund. He then had two "rare yellow" gigs that were ready to ship that day. He would send me those and a blue at a later date when one was healthy. I agreed and received a pitiful looking tan and bleached green. The tan went down hill quickly. I would have been content with the green but it didn't last two weeks. (This was in the dark days before cipro.). Called Bob a few times during to let him know what was going on- phone calls never returned. He must still be looking for the blue he promised me as I'm still waiting.
 
The box lands in 45 minutes and will be ready for pickup in about an hour and half. I'm heading to the airport in a few minutes so I can be there to get it the first minute it is available. Updates and pictures will be available later this afternoon.
 
Sorry for the long delay, I was held up doing my "chores" for the day after spending the morning working on the fish tank.

The box had 2 Mags (1 XL Green/Rainbow and 1 Md Purple foot Rainbow with Green tips), 1 Sm Green Gig, 1 Peach Mertensii and a beautiful adult Picasso clown. They showed signs of shipping stress but I am going to be cautiously optimistic about this order.

I will get some pictures posted tomorrow.
 
He must still be looking for the blue he promised me as I'm still waiting.
You and me both. I think I'm going on 4 years now.






Reefdoberman, I'm really excited about seeing your mertensii. Here's a pic of my mertensii tonight. It's not happy, I know that, but here it is anyways.




I strongly recommend treating your new green gig on receipt. By itself. Regardless what it's previous treatments were. Trust me, you'll be happy months/years from now doing so. Mags aren't my thing, gigs are. Mags, look to someone else for guidance. The mertens should be fine with no treatment if you meet it's needs, which can be tricky to do. Looking forward to pics. :)
 
Hoping for the best for you.

As far as dosing the H.magnifica's goes......If you're going to dose one anemone, dose them all. I currently have 3 H.magnifica anemones, one I've had for just over ten years now. About 7 months after I got it, (It came in healthy), I bought another one and added it to the tank.

This is where I learned that anemones can pass infections on to each other.
I've never used cipro or furazone on anemones, in this case, I used Doxycycline on my H.magnifica. It worked in this instance and saved the original anemone. I cannot tell you how sick I felt when I figured out I just passed a potentially lethal infection to my previously healthy anemone because I was greedy, (wanted another one), and didnt QT the new arrival.

I've got about a 50/50 ratio of success/failure using Doxycycline on H.magnifica anemones. From what I understand, Cipro has a much higher success rate than Doxycycline.

Best wishes on your new anemones.
 
Hoping for the best for you.

........

This is where I learned that anemones can pass infections on to each other.
I've never used cipro or furazone on anemones, in this case, I used Doxycycline on my H.magnifica. It worked in this instance and saved the original anemone. I cannot tell you how sick I felt when I figured out I just passed a potentially lethal infection to my previously healthy anemone because I was greedy, (wanted another one), and didnt QT the new arrival.

.........

Best wishes on your new anemones.
This is so common among us anemone addicts.
 
I know.....this is why I'm quite happy to post up my failures, (both in judgement and in keeping anemones), in order to keep others from making similar mistakes in the hobby.
 
Waiting for the pictures. Best of luck to your anemones. I am looking for a color tipped Magnifica. Any color but yellow and white. If you know of any for sale let me know
 
small mag with clown 1.jpg

Green Gig.jpg

mertensii.jpg

big mag.jpg

The Purple Mag, Green Gig and Mertensii are doing very well right now and have stayed inflated the last 24 hours. The peach mertensii came in a little bleached but is otherwise healthy. The Big rainbow mag as you can tell from the pictures has a gaping mouth. He has been moved to a dedicated QT system.

I am following Bob's Nitro protocol on all of these. I have some videos that are better than the pictures but I cannot figure out how to get them loaded...
 
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