Pacman Ritteri

[bradam]

So I get a call from a lfs saying they had a "to die for" Mag in, so I went down after work and wow, largest and healthiest Mag I've ever seen so I couldn't resist and brought it home.

I put it in my regular drip bucket and opened the bag and to my surpise it had halfway split. Looked just like a giant pacman. Split straight from the mouth out to the edge. Not knowing what exactly to do about that I just drip acclimated it for about 3 hours. I couldn't get the monster out of the bag with both hands so I ended up bringing it in the half cut open bag into the tank and swooshed it out onto a mountian top of liverock I had built for it. It latched right onto the rock and looked good other then having the appearance of a pizza with a slice missing. My clowns abandoned thier brown Mag and almost immediitly started playing in the new nem.

Problem is it never finished spliting. Five days later it still is a monster pacman. Its starting to worry me because the mouth looks really funny and it has started deflating/reinflating once or twice a day.

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[garygb]

Nice find. I would suggest you just let nature take its course at its own pace.

 

[bradam]

I got almost an hour of FlipVideo footage trying to get a shot of the mouth and no luck.. Minute I turn it off and start fiddling with it the Mag flips down the lift side and exposes its mouth >.<

Couple of the clowns actually swim in the mouth and disapear, then pop back out a while later.. kinda freaky.

Figure I'll just wait it out and hope for the best. After reading a few other threads about nems that 1/2 split and never finished and ended up dieing made me ponder manually cutting it the rest of the way but I'm far to chicken to try it

 

[bradam]

It deflated again when the hqi's went off, easier to see the weird mouth now

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[BairdimusPrime]

crazy! let nature take its course its gorgeous!! and 2 for the price of one is always better!!

good luck

 

[shabreeson]

i would cut it. my reasons are...
-there has already been at least one confirmed case on here where an acclimated mag couldn't finish a split. the owner was advised just as you are to leave it alone and it died.
-several experienced mag keepers have made the decision to prompt a split because they feared for their mags survival eg. Flighty, EleganceCoral. They had good results(but they were also healthy/acclimated mags)
-this isn't ''nature taking its' course" because acclimating to a completely different environment while splitting isn't natural.
-deflating isn't a good sign, and this is not an acclimated mag by any means. deflating once or twice a day is the kiss of death for mags.
-in my opinion the longer the two halves don't seal together the more likely an infection will take place(if it hasn't already)

remember these suggestions are based on opinions, including mine. I very well could be wrong. Splitting will not garentee the magnifica will survive(especially after deflating like what you're saying). keep us posted whatever you decide.

 

[bradam]

Man I dunno what to do with it, I dont really think the big guy is going to pull through,

I've read as many stories about them stalling out splitting and dieing as I have read where people cut them and they died.

I'm not even sure how to go about cutting it, I've never attempted that before. Do you just use a really sharp butcher type knife or titianium scissors? Cut it on a board or underwater? Like in a 10 gallon tank since its too big for a bucket, discard that water then put the halves in a 55 gal hospital tank? Do you treat it with any meds? Straight tank water or 50/50 tank/new water?

 

[ThaGrimy1]

From what I hear a Ritter is very had to care for.

 

[shabreeson]

there are many thoughts about how. a sharp pair of sissors is your best bet. try to cut along the radiating folds.

 

[bradam]

So last night as a last resort I cut this guy in half and learned a few things.

1. I'll never cut another nem in half.

2. It is next to impossible to hold an ever moving, 12 inch across by 3-4 inch thick, competely slimey glob of jello still long enough to cut it even remotely straight, much less clean cut it.

3. Brand new 9 inch titanium scissors are far to small and no where near sharp enough


Ended up with 2 very lopsided pieces, one much smaller then the other. I set them up in a 55 gallon hospital tank full of water from my main display where the nem was. El cheapo wallyworld hang on the back filter and a powerhead on the side for flow.

Today they both look pretty bad still. I dont think the smaller one will make it till tommorrow honestly. Larger one might have a few days left in it. Granted before cutting it in half it was inflating/deflating 2-3 times a day and never finished spliting or healed back up. And it most likely never finished or even started acclimating itself.

I'm not sure what to learn from this. As soon as I looked in the bag and saw it midway splitting maybe I should have not started acclimating it and hoped it split all the way first? It was in the bag maybe 2 hours tops and had completely split from the mouth out, maybe another 2 hours it would have finished the job? Not sure how long it would have survived in a bag.

 

[e46slc]

Any updates? Did the smaller one make it through the night?

 

[bradam]

Neither half made it :sad2: