Good Afternoon,
Peter reached out to me about this thread here on RC and thought I would take the time to respond directly.
As some of you know, Steve Krogh- Aquaculture Coral and Marine Life Facility operations manager and I, along with every single staff member here at our Rhinelander Wisconsin 20,000-gallon facility work tirelessly to bring the very best animals to market through our Divers Den section of LiveAquaria.com. What gives me the most pleasure is obtaining responsibly harvested aquatic life, conditioning the animals properly, and offering them for sale to end up thriving for many years to come in our valued customers’ aquaria.
To address the chain of custody: As some have pointed out, unfortunately in a good number of countries the harvest and care for Anemones and other invertebrates could be improved considerably. I try to source Anemones from the most responsible suppliers whenever possible so at least we are starting the process with a step in the right direction. I know of no wholesaler or importer who prophylactically runs low doses of antibiotics in their invertebrate systems. Larger importers strive to maintain stable and acceptable water parameters for the animals, but this can be incredibly challenging with the massive fluctuation in bio-load which are most often housed in very large, centralized commercial holding systems. Administering and running low doses or even therapeutic levels of antibiotic in these invert systems would be catastrophic, and would compromise most of the beneficial nitrifying bacteria needed to maintain stability. Doing so would not only be a disaster for the animals and the bottom line of the company, but would be completely irresponsible in my personal opinion, unless massive water changes are performed daily. This would be cost prohibitive for almost everyone in the business who imports large shipments from overseas suppliers.
Divers Den Protocol for Magnifica, Gigantea, and other Sensitive Anemones:
At the beginning of this year, I set up a specialized, smaller system to house our spawning pair of McCulloch’s Clownfish, a Latezonatus pair I have been working with for a few years now, and two Super Premium Bali Aquarich Picasso pairs which we have held onto for quite some time now. This system also houses the more delicate Divers Den anemones we receive from time to time, consisting primarily of Gigantea, Magnifica, Haddoni, and even Mertensii when I can get my hands on a few from the South Pacific.
Prior to introduction into this specialized system, we medicate every single Gigantea, Magnifica, Haddoni, and Mertensii in Ciprofloxacin for seven consecutive days, at a rate of 250mg/10 gallons with a 100% water change performed every morning. I personally have found this regiment to be the most effective. The medication starts immediately upon arrival into our facility following proper acclimation from overseas exporters, importers, or other suppliers we deal with here in the US. After the 7-day treatment, we house the treated anemones in this dedicated system and continue to quarantine and condition prior to offering them for sale in the Divers Den. If any anemone out of the batch is not in optimum health, we start all over again and continue with the protocol at a higher dosage. If the anemone(s) pull through, perfect, if not they are unfortunately destroyed, or perish on their own in different holding tank(s). We typically hold all of the above mentioned anemones for a minimum of 3 weeks total, oftentimes much longer as I want to only offer them if they are in optimum health.
This protocol has increased our survival rate on these very delicate anemones significantly, and I am kicking myself for not implementing it sooner. Is it perfect, NO, is it the right thing to do for our valued customers and the animals in our care YES! Obviously, other stressors can play a part in how these anemones fare long-term. From post-harvest handing, export, import, and trying to adapt to suppliers holding systems, Gigantea, Magnifica, Haddoni, and Mertensii can be doomed oftentimes regardless of what any of us do to try and help improve survival rates. Even after all of our extensive efforts, some anemones never adapt or recover from the final shipping stressor to the consumer or never adjust to the new environment in hobbyist’s aquaria. This circumstance is incredibly frustrating to me also.
