Jamie1210
Active member
First off, I apologize for the lack of pictures. In this case, Im sure it would have been more helpful to everyone. (Not really a picture-taker person, don't have a smart phone connected to internet, too lazy to bust out w/the digital camera, etc. but I digress!)
2 Sundays ago, I picked up what I thought was a green BTA at my LFS's bag sale. It wasn't until that I got it home and already put it in my tank did I realize that it was actually a ritteri. Green ritteri, 100% positive on the ID! I have 2 gigs in my display, and I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be sick and infect my other nem's.
Unfortunately, by Day 2, the nem had already deflated. I decided not to take any chances and set up a QT for it. (Side note: thank GOODNESS other gigs are still healthy!). Good thing I did! Dosed cipro following Orion's sticky instructions, but at Day 2 of treatment, the mag was already deflated, mouth expelling a ton of stuff. As the treatment went on into Saturday, 5 days, it did not seem to be getting better, seemed to be getting worse. In fact, it remained deflated longer, expelling more and more stuff every day--dark rat poo pellets mixed with lighter stringy brown stuff, and it seemed to be losing its tentacles as well because I could see small neon green particles in the water as well. I figured it was a goner. Also, as a side note, the nem was never fully attached at this point. Only seemed like 2 sections of the foot was attached to the glass of hte QT tank, and the rest always sorta floated in the water, if that makes sense.
Well, I figured I had nothing to lose, and i remember other threads like Worm's, where his new gigantea did not seem responsive to cipro, maybe it had a bacterial infection that was cipro resistant? I had some erythromycin on hand to treat fish from API. 200 mg packets. I decided to do a 50% water change, and add in 1 packet at night when lights were off.
The next morning, not expecting much, the first thing I noticed was, wow! The mag planted its foot entirely down. Although the mouth was still a bit loose, it actually looked more like the "typical" ritteri shape, holding itself up. When I came home from work, the mouth had closed as well. I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet, but this seemed promising. I did another water change, siphoned out more of the excreted gunk and put in another 200 mg packet of erythromycin.
I check this morning, and there's still a little bit of gunk that it somehow excreted. But the mouth was tight and closed. I know I'm still not out of the woods yet, but I am cautiously optimistic. Let's see if I can take some pics tonight and get them up. Either way, if it goes downhill, or continues improving, I will keep u guys posted.
As a side note, if anyone remembers my older threads, the blue gigantea that I received 2 years ago is doing awesome, and the green gig from October is thriving as well
I'm keeping them with rose anemones, and have never had a problem with alleopathy (sp?), which is strange bc I've always been a firm believer that that happens in tanks 
thanks for reading this text-heavy post!
2 Sundays ago, I picked up what I thought was a green BTA at my LFS's bag sale. It wasn't until that I got it home and already put it in my tank did I realize that it was actually a ritteri. Green ritteri, 100% positive on the ID! I have 2 gigs in my display, and I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be sick and infect my other nem's.
Unfortunately, by Day 2, the nem had already deflated. I decided not to take any chances and set up a QT for it. (Side note: thank GOODNESS other gigs are still healthy!). Good thing I did! Dosed cipro following Orion's sticky instructions, but at Day 2 of treatment, the mag was already deflated, mouth expelling a ton of stuff. As the treatment went on into Saturday, 5 days, it did not seem to be getting better, seemed to be getting worse. In fact, it remained deflated longer, expelling more and more stuff every day--dark rat poo pellets mixed with lighter stringy brown stuff, and it seemed to be losing its tentacles as well because I could see small neon green particles in the water as well. I figured it was a goner. Also, as a side note, the nem was never fully attached at this point. Only seemed like 2 sections of the foot was attached to the glass of hte QT tank, and the rest always sorta floated in the water, if that makes sense.
Well, I figured I had nothing to lose, and i remember other threads like Worm's, where his new gigantea did not seem responsive to cipro, maybe it had a bacterial infection that was cipro resistant? I had some erythromycin on hand to treat fish from API. 200 mg packets. I decided to do a 50% water change, and add in 1 packet at night when lights were off.
The next morning, not expecting much, the first thing I noticed was, wow! The mag planted its foot entirely down. Although the mouth was still a bit loose, it actually looked more like the "typical" ritteri shape, holding itself up. When I came home from work, the mouth had closed as well. I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet, but this seemed promising. I did another water change, siphoned out more of the excreted gunk and put in another 200 mg packet of erythromycin.
I check this morning, and there's still a little bit of gunk that it somehow excreted. But the mouth was tight and closed. I know I'm still not out of the woods yet, but I am cautiously optimistic. Let's see if I can take some pics tonight and get them up. Either way, if it goes downhill, or continues improving, I will keep u guys posted.
As a side note, if anyone remembers my older threads, the blue gigantea that I received 2 years ago is doing awesome, and the green gig from October is thriving as well
I'm keeping them with rose anemones, and have never had a problem with alleopathy (sp?), which is strange bc I've always been a firm believer that that happens in tanks thanks for reading this text-heavy post!
For sure that's not a good sign.
