Please provide your acclimation technique for S. gigantea

[D-Nak]

Can folks with S. gigantea provide me with information regarding your acclimation technique? I'm only looking for information pertaining specifically to gigantea anemones, since I consider them to be a "special needs" anemone.

I lost my gigantea after a three week ordeal trying to get it to acclimate. This is after successfully maintaining a H. magnifica. I removed the mag when I knew the gigantea was coming. It went through the typical cycle of inflating and deflating. It finally released its nematocysts and melted. The nematocysts covered my lobo, badly stinging it (fortunately it recovered). My Onyx pair were with it to the end, swimming up to the top of the tank while I pulled it out.

The next time around I will do the following:

1. shade the anemone for a few days using the window screen technique. I have 250 watt 15k halides over a 120 gallon tank.

2. reduce flow to allow the anemone time to attach. I have 2 MP40s so flow adjustment is easy

3. will stop dosing kalkwasser. I noticed that nightly kalkwasser additions (through my standard drip) may have played a role in the anemone's demise. This is only a suspicion of mine, but I think the change in alk may have been stressing he nem.

4. Keep the anemone separated from the clowns until I feel it is acclimated to the point where it is eating and expanding, and looks like it can handle the abuse the clowns will give it. One my clowns was extremely rough with the gig, burying its head into its mouth. My tank was set up to house an anemone from the get go, with a bommie on the left side of the tank. I can add a partition (using egg crate) to completely isolate the anemone from the rest of the tank

Any other suggestions? Losing the gigantea was one of the worst things that has happened to me in my 10+ years of reefkeeping. I'm trying to avoid it again. I know that the mortality rate of gigantea is extremely high, but I'm trying to do whatever I can to make the process less stressful on both the anemone and myself.

 

[Faye]

When I had mags, I had the most success keeping them in species only tanks. I know it isn't a gig, but it is a sensitive anemone. I doubt window screening is needed for a gig, these anemones are found in like 3 feet of water. Chances are they were under intense lighting before it got to you. I had a mag climb to the top of the surface under a 400 wat halide the day after I put it in the tank, no window screen. I kinda miss that anemone. ( I sold it, it didn't die.)

 

[D-Nak]

I doubt window screening is needed for a gig, these anemones are found in like 3 feet of water. Chances are they were under intense lighting before it got to you. I had a mag climb to the top of the surface under a 400 wat halide the day after I put it in the tank, no window screen. I kinda miss that anemone. ( I sold it, it didn't die.)

The magnifica I had did the same thing -- sat directly under the light. Mine didn't die either, I ended up selling it (and wish I hadn't!).

Regarding light acclimation, I have a suspicion that these anemones are particularly sensitive to light (purely speculation here) and blasting them with light immediately upon introduction to the tank does more damage than good. I think the zooxanthellae need to re-adjust, especially after spending what may have been days in transport in darkness, and coming from a reef where its lived at an unknown depth (possibly for years before being plucked from the ocean).

The reason for my speculation is that I've seen photos of gigs living at very shallow depths (top down photos from the surface), but most of the photos I've seen were of brown gigs. My blue/purple gig I suspect came from lower depths and needed light acclimation. As I cranked up my lights, it turned from a light blue/purple to brownish purple in a matter of days. However, by the time it died, it was nearly bleached. I suspect it was trying to adjust its zooxanthellae -- periodically spewing/expelling what I suspect was zooxanthellae -- but was so stressed from other things happening to it, that it couldn't handle it all at once and died.

I agree that once acclimated, these nems (like mags) can and should be blasted with bright light. I just don't know if it should happen immediately.

 

[LesMartin]

I agree about the light thing. Both of my giganteas were immediately shaded ( I have a dimmable ATI powermodule). The light was set at 50% for a week then slowly increased by 2-3 % per day for the next week. The week following I increased the light intensity by 5% per day until I reached 90%. At that point I left it for three days then on subsequent days I again increased by 5%. I use this teqhnique now on any anemones introduced and since starting I haven't had any losses or any deflating episodes. I realise that not everyone has a dimmable fixture but I would use the window screen technique as a simple precaution every time.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Please provide your acclimation technique for S. gigantea

If a gig had been at LFS under Radions for more than a week, would acclamation be easier for LED lights in general...or Kessil A350W in particular?

 

[justinky]

The one gig that i got from Live Aquaria (Non-DD) went through treatment for me was bleached from the get go, I have dimmable chinese led lights hanging above my tx tank. I started off with around 30% white / 50% blue. I ran it through treatment this way until it was fully inflated and looking nice, then I ramped it up to 50% / 50%. After treatment, i placed it in my DT under full lighting with no problems.The gig is almost fully colored up now from looking like a ghost it was so bleached.

My other gig I got from my LFS I placed straight into DT despite what I thought, I asked some other knowledgeable people in the anemone world on if I should QT it as it had been at my LFS for almost weeks and the 3 times I saw it, it looked healthy. If I had to do it again I would 100% quarantine as in my opinion I got lucky. If I would have QT'd this gig I would have dimmed the lighting.

I hope this helps D-Nak, i'm not a pro exactly in my opinion though.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I hope this helps D-Nak, i'm not a pro exactly in my opinion though.

Lol, I am sure he has figured it out by now. I had a thought about acclimating a gig as I came across this thread earlier and decided to revive it instead of starting a new one.
I guess the trick is to decide when a gig needs strong lighting to satisfy its needs vs dim lighting in QT.

 

[justinky]

Lol, I am sure he has figured it out by now. I had a thought about acclimating a gig as I came across this thread earlier and decided to revive it instead of starting a new one.
I guess the trick is to decide when a gig needs strong lighting to satisfy its needs vs dim lighting in QT.

I didn't even notice the date this thread was created haha, just saw it and gave my input. Yeah I am sure he has it figured out now.

 

[D-Nak]

Lol, I am sure he has figured it out by now. I had a thought about acclimating a gig as I came across this thread earlier and decided to revive it instead of starting a new one.
I guess the trick is to decide when a gig needs strong lighting to satisfy its needs vs dim lighting in QT.

It's actually interesting to read what I wrote almost three years ago. Since then, I've learned quite a bit about gigantea, both from other people's experiences and also through my own trial and error.

The reality is that none of us have figured out the acclimation process yet.

When it comes to lighting however, I still feel that starting low and ramping up is the best approach. How quickly one ramps up really does depend on the individual gigantea and it takes a keen eye to determine how to acclimate each one. For example, if the gig is in good condition, meaning it has good tentacle extension and the good color (a presence of brown indicates a healthy zoox population) then the gig can usually be blasted with light soon after a typical acclimation process.

I recently picked up a purple gig that my LFS picked up as part of a tank breakdown. The tentacles remained elongated in the bag and the mouth remained tight -- so after a quick temp/water acclimation it went straight into the DT. I NEVER recommend doing this but in this case I was fairly confident that I had a healthy specimen.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are gigs in bad shape -- either severely bleached or sick specimens that require antibiotics. In both cases I'm careful with my lighting regimen, and turn down lighting if the nem deflates or shows any other signs of stress. IME when nems need more light, they either move, or stretch their neck so-to-speak, by elongating their column. However, I've never seen a sick gig do this which leads me to think that sick gigs will do whatever they can to conserve energy so it's up to us to adjust lighting for them.

I don't want to go off on a tangent, so to try to answer Corals Addiction's question, I definitely think it's an easier transition for the anemone to go from Radions to an A350W. I have the exact same lighting -- Radions on my DT and A350Ws on my QT tanks -- and I feel confident that I can switch between the two. It's probably best to ask the LFS for the curve/intensity of their Radions and try to match it with the A350, though I don't know off-hand what the conversion might be.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

It's actually interesting to read what I wrote almost three years ago. Since then, I've learned quite a bit about gigantea, both from other people's experiences and also through my own trial and error.



The reality is that none of us have figured out the acclimation process yet.



When it comes to lighting however, I still feel that starting low and ramping up is the best approach. How quickly one ramps up really does depend on the individual gigantea and it takes a keen eye to determine how to acclimate each one. For example, if the gig is in good condition, meaning it has good tentacle extension and the good color (a presence of brown indicates a healthy zoox population) then the gig can usually be blasted with light soon after a typical acclimation process.



I recently picked up a purple gig that my LFS picked up as part of a tank breakdown. The tentacles remained elongated in the bag and the mouth remained tight -- so after a quick temp/water acclimation it went straight into the DT. I NEVER recommend doing this but in this case I was fairly confident that I had a healthy specimen.



On the opposite end of the spectrum are gigs in bad shape -- either severely bleached or sick specimens that require antibiotics. In both cases I'm careful with my lighting regimen, and turn down lighting if the nem deflates or shows any other signs of stress. IME when nems need more light, they either move, or stretch their neck so-to-speak, by elongating their column. However, I've never seen a sick gig do this which leads me to think that sick gigs will do whatever they can to conserve energy so it's up to us to adjust lighting for them.



I don't want to go off on a tangent, so to try to answer Corals Addiction's question, I definitely think it's an easier transition for the anemone to go from Radions to an A350W. I have the exact same lighting -- Radions on my DT and A350Ws on my QT tanks -- and I feel confident that I can switch between the two. It's probably best to ask the LFS for the curve/intensity of their Radions and try to match it with the A350, though I don't know off-hand what the conversion might be.

Thanks D-Nak. You have definitely come a long way based on your more recent posts...lol. I'm just stating to learn though. Haha.

 

[Postal]

From this:

To this:

No light acclimation at all. Anemone sat about 5 inches under the water in a 40 breeder. Tanks has 4 t5's with SLRs on it. The nem looks even better currently with longer tentacles.

You have seen the recovery of my blue gig in my prior thread. It sat right under my 160w Maxspect Razor with no acclimation at all.

I also currently have a green (I think) gig regaining it's color under 120w Maxspect Mazarra P series. That one did move down an inch or two from the top of the rock, but I think that was more about a better place for its foot.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

From this:

To this:

No light acclimation at all. Anemone sat about 5 inches under the water in a 40 breeder. Tanks has 4 t5's with SLRs on it. The nem looks even better currently with longer tentacles.

You have seen the recovery of my blue gig in my prior thread. It sat right under my 160w Maxspect Razor with no acclimation at all.

I also currently have a green (I think) gig regaining it's color under 120w Maxspect Mazarra P series. That one did move down an inch or two from the top of the rock, but I think that was more about a better place for its foot.

That's cool. How long did it take to color up like that?

 

[Postal]

It took about 3 months for it to color up. 2 months of minimal change, and then a month where you could almost notice the increase in zooanthellae daily.

 

[Colorfulreefaqu]

Drip acclimate 1 hr.
Treat prophylactically for 7 days with Bactrim.
Feed on 7th day (if it eats) after stopping treatment.
Hold in HT till day 10.
Place in DT on day 11 if fully inflated and everything looks good.

 

[D-Nak]

Drip acclimate 1 hr.
Treat prophylactically for 7 days with Bactrim.
Feed on 7th day (if it eats) after stopping treatment.
Hold in HT till day 10.
Place in DT on day 11 if fully inflated and everything looks good.

Are you talking about the ones that you imported a couple of weeks ago? How are they doing?