Did either of you try doxycycline? It has been a while, but there was a thread where somebody was using it successfully for either H. magnifica or giganteas. I don't remember which and the search function didn't turn up any threads for me.
I certainly appreciate the efforts that you guys are going through to try and further our understanding of a very difficult anemone species.
Phil,
I have used Doxy on H.magnifica anemones with mixed results.
Here is the link I think you are looking for:
QT Procedures for Anemones
I have two H.magnifica anemone's currently. One I've had for almost 5 years, the other I've had for a little over two months, and is in the process of rehabilitating and acclimating to captivity.
The first is mentioned in the thread I linked to. I'd had it for about a year, got another one and put it in the display tank with the original. I thought that since the original was healthy, the water quality in the tank was good and therefore gave the new arrival the best chance for success. What happened was the new arrival was sick, and promptly infected my healthy one. The new arrival died within a day or two and the original hung on for a few days looking worse every day.
I spoke to a LFS owner who reccomended the Doxy, and went to the vet. I have a large breed dog, (Not like yours Phil, but still pretty big) and explained what I needed and why to my dog's vet. He was surprised, but went along with it.
I did a 12 hour total bath with the sick anemone. It was placed into a viewer/specimen container like the ones used at LFS for placing fish in to sell. The container was kept in my display, hooked over the tank rim to keep it from going anywhere. The anemone was kept in the tank to maintain light and temp as normal. I inserted an airstone in the container with the anemone and a single pill of Doxy, (dont recall the dosage per pill. Will get that information when I get home) and let it sit.
The anemone was slime-ing pretty heavily and caused the air bubbles from the stone to build up to a Doxy mucus wall. I placed an acrylic sheet over the top of the container to prevent it from running into the display.
After 6 hours I did a 100% water change in the container, and added another doxy pill and reinserted the air stone.
After 12 hours total, the anemone looked better, but still deflated and unhappy. I returned the anemone to the display in the hopes that it would get better. It would deflate/inflate for a short period of time for the next 3 days, and then finally stopped doing that altogether.
I have attempted to treat other H.magnifica anemones prior to keeping them in QT. Some looked better afterwards, some did not. For various reasons, none of the others survived, until this latest one.
I suspect that Doxy only affects certain types of bacteria. Its been awhile since my bio chem/Micro Bio days, but IIRC, Doxy is a gram postive anti-bacterial and doesnt affect gram negative strains of bacteria....or vice versa :crazy1:
Nick
