How long does bad bacteria live in DT. (Gigs)

[Jimr7]

Hi
First time to post. Great site. Have a question about a sick gig. I had a purple gig doing great that was 1.5 year in captivity. well, didn't realize that one sick gig could transfer an infection to another. Put an nice green in DT tank that got sick then my purple went down hill. Set up two tt and started cipro. The purple is coming back fast. It's going to be 7 days at the end of the week. Would like to put him back in DT fairly soon. But DT has tons of other anemones Bt, sebae. does this bacteria only affect gigs? No others look sick. How long does it stay in DT without a gig in it? When is it safe to return another healthy gig?

Thanks guys -this is an awesome forum.
Jim

 

[ThRoewer]

Welcome to the forum.

What I gather from what others reported, the causative pathogen may not be present for long without a host. But I would rather be careful and avoid introducing it into my DT.

Unfortunately this pathogen has not yet been identified, so all we can do is speculate.
The fact that antibiotics treat it indicates a bacterium as cause. My guess would be, that it is a bacterium out of the Vibrio genus, of which many are known to be pathogens.

 

[Jimr7]

So do you think the host would be just a gig or any anemone? That's what weird is other anemones don't get infected anything like a gig. Almost without treatment - forget it.

 

[D-Nak]

I believe that the pathogen that infects gigs can also infect haddoni. I introduced a gigantea to a tank with an established haddoni, and the gig showed signs of infection. A few days later the haddoni started showing signs as well.

In terms of how long you should wait until introducing the nems back to the DT, I like to wait a week after I've stopped the medication. However, this is more to simply monitor the condition of the nem in QT. I don't know how long the bacteria (assuming a bacteria is the cause of the infection) can last without a host.

 

[m0nkie]

so could all his other nems be possible hosts now? since they resisted the infection.. scary thoughts

 

[Jimr7]

^^^thats my thought. Thinking the others could be carrying it.

 

[ThRoewer]

so could all his other nems be possible hosts now? since they resisted the infection.. scary thoughts

I would assume that to be on the safe side. My quarantine period usually goes for a minimum of a month, sometimes more. It is better to lose one anemone in quarantine than getting a nasty bug into your system that may kill established anemones there.

I found that smaller gigs can easily be held for months in small tanks as long as you have good light, decent water quality and sufficient oxygen supply. I'm holding one now for 9 months in a 10 gallon tank (for outer reasons than quarantine). It even recovered its zoox there.
So a long term quarantine in rather small tanks is absolutely doable.

 

[Jimr7]

So do you just do daily water changes or do you have a filter on the ten gallon tank?

 

[ThRoewer]

I have a heater, a powerhead and a skimmer in there and do water changes as needed, usually once a month.
Most important is the light. My last purple seems to really like the cheap MarsAqua LED from ebay.