New Purple Gig.....

[xtlosx]

After looking for a Gig for quite a long time, I managed to find one locally... I went to check'em out this afternoon, and besides being bleached the mouth was tight, very response... and I mean very responsive (will explain shortly), and constantly changing shape\folding. Probably helped there were something like 10 clowns romping through him.

The foot was actually inside of a big piece of PVC and the store worker got stung so bad last time she had developed rather severe rashes, so she asked me to get his foot out of the PVC. Being as though this animal was coming home with me, it was a perfect time to check the responsiveness all around... The foot was on tight, it responded by closing up and changing shape as I slowly and gently peeled off the foot and got him into the bag. While he was going into the bag, I must've caught contact with the tentacles as they stung the heck out of me, and kinda made my thumb number for 30 minutes or so. Just the tip of the thumb. Either way, with all of that in mind, i felt it was worth the chance to pick this guy up! I think after it colors up, and with good husbandry, this Gigantea will be a show piece. BTW, the size is LARGE. It's probably a good 10" when expanded and folding around.

Here are some pictures in the bag acclimating not even 10 minutes after it got back to us, so the mouth is a little inflated. I am still acclimating it, and it's actively folding up and moving around in the bag, so certainly this one is lively.

I'm hoping for the best, but should it go downhill I have a 20G tank, with some LEDs waiting to medicate...

The gig is now on the rock I wanted it to be on, attached, and acclimating itself. In tank pictures in the morning.

 

[xtlosx]

Just a quick update, the gig is as I said in the tank, attached to a rock and folding, changing shapes constantly. I can't even see the mouth. This guy is happy, and the color is completely different than in the pictures.

I'll take updated pictures tomorrow when lights come on.

 

[ct_vol]

Best of luck! Should be a beauty once colored up. Incoming PM.

 

[xtlosx]

Best of luck! Should be a beauty once colored up. Incoming PM.

Thanks! I'm not expecting to medicate at all unless something drastic happens overnight. This guy is doing awesome and much better than I could have asked for.

He was so sticky, he stuck himself to the front glass and moved his way onto my rock work to his current spot... if that's not healthy, I don't know what is.

More pictures tomorrow when lights come on!

 

[nemoboy1]

Nice pick up for sure... Keep us posted

 

[xtlosx]

I walked downstairs to see if I could get a glimpse of where he is even though its dark in the tank... He is anchored where he left off last night and changing shapes looking happy.

Can't wait until 8am when sunrise happens.

 

[OrionN]

Good luck with him. He looks great.

 

[xtlosx]

Good luck with him. He looks great.

Thank you. I was hoping you would chime in here... Your work with the medication regimant and in general is awesome...

Wait until I get some pictures at lights on. He is perched on the rock I wanted him, changing shape so much and folding that I haven't seen his mouth since he was put into the tank last night.

Funny thing is, I bought some Margarita snails last night too, one wandered into the path of the gig as it was finding a spot on this rock, and the gig is so sticky it got stuck. I carefully pried it out once, but the snail went back, and is MIA.

This Gig is STICKY. I'm taking all of this as a positive sign and hoping I do not need to get medicating.

 

[OrionN]

I am glad that we find something to enable transition these guys from the wild to our aquarium. It seem that if we start early enough, most of the anemone will pull through the initial adjustment period/infection. After that it is just up to us to provide good environment for these beautiful anemones.

One thing about the stickiness of these guys, they are very sticky even as they are dying, so stickiness cannot be use as an indication of health.

 

[xtlosx]

I am glad that we find something to enable transition these guys from the wild to our aquarium. It seem that if we start early enough, most of the anemone will pull through the initial adjustment period/infection. After that it is just up to us to provide good environment for these beautiful anemones.

One thing about the stickiness of these guys, they are very sticky even as they are dying, so stickiness cannot be use as an indication of health.

Understood... I'm cautiously optimistic... I walked downstairs a bit ago and some of the light from the dawn is coming in, I was able to see the mouth, as tight as can be... The Gig is perched on the rock, folding, changing shape with a tight mouth.... I can't wait for the lights to come on here shortly.....

 

[xtlosx]

Some quick updates.. Radions just turned on. Some without flash, and some with flash. Mouth is reasonably tight, nothing that to me seems concerning... Thoughts Minh?

With flash....

I'm no Gigantea expert, but I feel like after this I'll get there.... Tentacles are nice and long, good color, standing tall in the current (MP40s), and looking good so far... I'm not sure I would expect the mouth to be completely tight so quickly, but it's reasonably tight.... Will update more once the Radions kick on full blast...

He started out probably 3" higher than he is right now last now, so making his way down.. Should get PLENTY of light here.

 

[xtlosx]

Couple more showing his foot, column, and overall shape changing.. This is during a Radion thunderstorm this morning, so more whites than anything else, but looking good to me so far!!

 

[ClownNut]

good looking nem. if you dont have the cipro in hand, i will get some just in case. when i first got mine, the mouth is kinda like your. super sticky and eats, after almost 2 months, it start to go down hill. of course i hope your dont comes to that.

 

[xtlosx]

good looking nem. if you dont have the cipro in hand, i will get some just in case. when i first got mine, the mouth is kinda like your. super sticky and eats, after almost 2 months, it start to go down hill. of course i hope your dont comes to that.

Thank you for the kind words. I might just order it to have it on hand. For the $20 it costs to have the cipro, it's worth its weight in gold should something go downhill.... We'll see how he looks when the Radions hit 100% at noon.

 

[OrionN]

Several people people her orederd some Cipro online. maybe you can share the medication and cost with them. I would not know what to do with 100 count of the cipro (or even 50 cout)

 

[xtlosx]

Couple more with radions coming on in intensity.... Folding & changing shape like crazy.

For reference... this is the color and what it looked like at the dealer....

 

[D-Nak]

A few things to note:

1. It's not 100% healthy, but this could be due to acclimation. Definitely bleached and tentacle length is not that of a healthy gig. In some of the photos the siphonoglyph is exposed, which is not the norm, though my gig does it from time to time. Striping -- breaks in the tentacles that form rows -- is also not normal.

2. As Minh pointed out, stickiness is not a sign of health, nor is its ability to stay in one place. I had a sick gig that stayed on the same rock the entire time, and was shedding nematocysts (what causes stickiness) on the day it died.

3. Gigs usually don't show signs of sickness in the first week, usually begins in week 2 and takes a dive in week 3. If it expels any charcoal/rat poop looking waste I would being treatment ASAP.

I'm not trying to scare you, just making you aware of some of the signs of a sick gig. Definitely pick up some Cipro and have a tank on hand in case you need to begin treatment. Best of luck!

 

[OrionN]

I think as long as he does not deflates, and he looks better every day, then you don't have to neat him with with antibiotic.
I would recommend treatment if he deflates, not decrease in size by 10-15% at night but deflates.
Also I would recommend consider treatment if he start to look worse from the day before for a day or two. This is a hard one, because we are all different. Some of us pull the trigger quicker than other. Treatmetn seem to not causing any problem for the anemone as long as we give it good light, keep temp and salinity stable and keep it from being chew up by the PH in the reatment tank.

Best of luck with him

 

[xtlosx]

Thank you guys... Like I said, I have the luxury of working at home, so I can monitor 24x7. I by no means am naive enough to think that this is a healthy gig completely. Certainly they RARELY come in healthy, if ever. Should this guy need treatment, I am ready.

Thank you everyone for the help provided thus far... Without this information shared by the community, we would have a lot more dead gigs on our hands. The next couple of days should be interesting to watch what he does.

 

[xtlosx]

Here are some updates closer to lunch time now where the Radions are 80-90% in intensity. I notice that his tentacles are becoming shorter as I don't think he has to stretch so hard to get light, but who knows... Certainly since the morning time when it started ramping up, now under almost full power they aren't quite as long everywhere. Mouth is almost completely closed, no deflate, and no expelling of anything... So far so good. We'll see how he continues to enjoy the Radions.

The one thing I will say is, from when he was floating in the bag last night to right now... wow what a difference some color spectrum does. His color is beautiful compared to the pale purple he was.

Sorry for the image overload, I'm trying to be thorough and help others down the road.