$40 S.Gigantea

[clorox]

Should I be concerned?!

It was fine most of the day, then it started retracting a little during mid afternoon, then once the lights starting going out it progressively began balling up.
Had to use the flash in the last one because the deep blue setting kicked in.

 

[OrionN]

Sometime my Gigantea does this and back to normal the next day. One occurrent for 5 gig the last 4 months

 

[clorox]

Sometime my Gigantea does this and back to normal the next day. One occurrent for 5 gig the last 4 months

Thank you for the reassurance. As a matter of fact it started opening up again.
In your experience, do you think it is some sort of sign of stress, repositioning of the foot and column, or normal behavior?

 

[Reefahholic]

I think it's normal for some, but I would keep a close eye on him. Mine did that and then took a bad turn.

I will say this, he never re-inflated after he deflated. He progressively got worse. So if yours inflates in the morning, I wouldn't worry too much.

Good luck! Would be awesome if you had the first Gig to split in captivity. Never know...

 

[OrionN]

Jared,

Some of the collectors cut some of their Gigantea. We can see evidence of the cut. Some survive the cut but most do not. They may last a few month, some even make it to over 1 year.
D-Nak had one that live well over 1 year then just up and died. He did necropsy and concluded that that the organs just did not regenerate.

clorox,
I am not sure why. One of my Petco Gigantea right next to the Blue Haddoni contracted a few weeks ago. They have been touching each other for months. He is smaller than the Blue Haddoni. One day he contracted down to where I cannot see him at all. I thought that he moved. Lifting up the skirt of the Blue, I see that he is still right there. Anyway, he was back to normal the next day but I decided to move him a little so he no longer in contact with the blue right now. I am sure as both of them grow, they will be in contact again. I am feeding them but just one a week or two.

 

[OrionN]

That's what I thought too...

Until I read this old thread
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=416941

Unfortunately the pictures are gone.

*** Update - Well, I just got home and double checked that thread on my computer. It wasn't an S. Gigantea after all, but apparently an S. Helianthus.

I am still very puzzled about what appears to be a second mouth.

The picture are gone but some very experienced reefer included Rod Buehler (keep two Gigantea for 20+ years at this time and well over 10 years at the time of the thread) did not think that it is a Gigantea. It seem that most of them thinks it is a S. helianthus. Looking at a few picture that is available, I have to agree that it was a S. helianthus, the Atlantic Carpet. The OP later posted that it was originally from Cuba which, IMO, confirm the ID

 

[Reefahholic]

Jared,

Some of the collectors cut some of their Gigantea. We can see evidence of the cut. Some survive the cut but most do not. They may last a few month, some even make it to over 1 year.
D-Nak had one that live well over 1 year then just up and died. He did necropsy and concluded that that the organs just did not regenerate.

clorox,
I am not sure why. One of my Petco Gigantea right next to the Blue Haddoni contracted a few weeks ago. They have been touching each other for months. He is smaller than the Blue Haddoni. One day he contracted down to where I cannot see him at all. I thought that he moved. Lifting up the skirt of the Blue, I see that he is still right there. Anyway, he was back to normal the next day but I decided to move him a little so he no longer in contact with the blue right now. I am sure as both of them grow, they will be in contact again. I am feeding them but just one a week or two.

You would think that after surviving 1 year they would definetly be fine. He did a necropsy? How and where.. and was it a medical professional that studied S. Gigantea? That's awesome!

 

[clorox]

I think it's normal for some, but I would keep a close eye on him. Mine did that and then took a bad turn.

I will say this, he never re-inflated after he deflated. He progressively got worse. So if yours inflates in the morning, I wouldn't worry too much.

Good luck! Would be awesome if you had the first Gig to split in captivity. Never know...

Now I am getting quite concerned, :sad2:.
This morning he was inflated, I'd say at 60% of what it normally is, then it started closing up again. Now it is fully closed up into the crevice where it had it's foot planted.

As much as I am tempted to try and pry it out and put it in the HT, I won't disturb it and see what it will do in the next 24 hours.

 

[Reefahholic]

Treat him.

 

[taylor t]

Treat him.

x2

 

[clorox]

I've been observing it for several hours today...it's back inflated and the mouth is tight. It actually never had the mouth gaping since I got it, which is why I have been reluctant to treat it. I'll see how it behaves in the morning.
The HT has been ready since yesterday on standby.

I took a quick photo just now.

 

[OrionN]

Looking good but prety well bleached in that picture. If you have or know someone with a healthy Gigantea, you may want to get a few tentacles of the healthy Gigantea and put these tentacles on food and feed it to your bleached anemone. Do a zooxanthalae transplant.

 

[taylor t]

Looking good but prety well bleached in that picture. If you have or know someone with a healthy Gigantea, you may want to get a few tentacles of the healthy Gigantea and put these tentacles on food and feed it to your bleached anemone. Do a zooxanthalae transplant.

I forgot about this. Makes me wonder, if you take some blue or purple tents, can you make a brown turn blue or purple, or a green turn blue, or give green tents to a blue? Is this the next step? Change the color of my gigs? Interesting thought. One of my blues I've had over a year, now has a couple tents that glow with my actinic LED's. I wondered if it picked up some green zoo from my green gig, being together over a year now. I don't remember seeing it glow this way a year ago. My green is still a glowing green though, no blue or purple showing up in it. I haven't tried feeding them each other's tents though... yet....

 

[Reefahholic]

He's looking very good bro! Maybe he was just acting crazy. Anyway, I think ur on the right track.


I'm gonna feed my mag's some pink, purple, and blue tentacles.

Ha...Ha. Would be so amazing if that would really work!!

Might try it with my buddy's bleached Mag.

Seems like the original Zoo will eventually override any new color it's received via transplant.

 

[clorox]

I forgot about this. Makes me wonder, if you take some blue or purple tents, can you make a brown turn blue or purple, or a green turn blue, or give green tents to a blue? Is this the next step? Change the color of my gigs? Interesting thought. One of my blues I've had over a year, now has a couple tents that glow with my actinic LED's. I wondered if it picked up some green zoo from my green gig, being together over a year now. I don't remember seeing it glow this way a year ago. My green is still a glowing green though, no blue or purple showing up in it. I haven't tried feeding them each other's tents though... yet....

This is very interesting and worth experimenting with.
I am trying to find an other gigantea, possibly blue, but they are rare here in SoCal, at least that is what LFS in the LA area tell me. At least the ones that know what I am talking about (maybe 10%), for the majority, carpets are all the same My only hope is the random find, wait for DD to offer one, or bite the bullet and buy from ibluewater $$$.

Anyway, I thought about posting an update.

This morning, it was doing ok-ish, but I could tell it wasn't right.
So I tried to pry it off with a baby plastic spoon and it worked. Thankfully the foot wasn't too sticky.
As of 10am PST it's now in the HT, I just administered a full strength dose of Septra.

What I noticed is that Septra doesn't dissolve as well as Cipro, leaving a lot of undissolved particulates on the bottom of the tank.

I'll post an update in a few hours.



This morning around 7am. The mouth was slightly open.



In the HT inside a ceramic bowl at 10am PST.




After 5 minutes in HT, trying to prop itself up. A good sign.




Septra




Undissolved Septra

 

[clorox]

At 1:00pm, 3 hours after initial treatment, it already looks pretty good.

I am just wondering since I don't think it was infected, should I treat it for the full antibiotic 5 day course?





S.Gigantea Soufflè

 

[taylor t]

That looks good. If it was mine, for sure, I would do the whole program. A hassle, yes, but I think it's worth it after it's over. All 7 of mine have been treated before being put together, and one got pulled and treated a second and third time as well.

 

[taylor t]

Nice HT. Just a thought... If you lose power, is that air pump above the water line? I've had them empty before when power is lost, if they're below the water line. I'd make sure the pump is above, maybe set it on a towel on a bucket or something like that. Just a thought. Best of luck, looks like it's in good hands!

 

[clorox]

That looks good. If it was mine, for sure, I would do the whole program. A hassle, yes, but I think it's worth it after it's over. All 7 of mine have been treated before being put together, and one got pulled and treated a second and third time as well.

For sure, I will let it go through the entire course. As a matter of fact, soon after I posted good progress at 1pm, it started deflating and opening the mouth soon after.....

I really don't want to lose it, so I'll do whatever it takes to bring it back.

 

[clorox]

Nice HT. Just a thought... If you lose power, is that air pump above the water line? I've had them empty before when power is lost, if they're below the water line. I'd make sure the pump is above, maybe set it on a towel on a bucket or something like that. Just a thought. Best of luck, looks like it's in good hands!

Thanks for the heads up. It's currently level with the tank, but I placed it in an elevated spot. Where I live power rarely goes out, only once in 10 years for 4 hours about 6 months ago. But as they say...better safe than sorry.