Qt all the mags!!!?

[hobbzz]

So do all mags need a qt treatment regardless of how they look? I'm picking one up tomorrow from the lfs I work at. Has been there about a week, fully inflated the entire time with mouth closed. No other mags in that system. When I feed the fish it eats, albeit the fish food, which is small mysis, spirulina brine, reef plankton, and fish eggs. It has essentially been observed for a week, in a reef tank.

Do you always recommend that all mags get treated proactively, or put into qt for observation given that a qt tank will not have water quality equivalent to a display tank?

Also how important is a flat surface on top of the rock column? And does it have to be only flat, or flat and parallel to the ground? I have some shelf rock I can stick up there, but I'd rather not if it's not necessary.

Thanks.

 

[dalilgriffith]

I would do it just to be safe. Magnificas can be rather misleading in their overall health. They can have a clean, tight mouth one day and begin a deflate cycle the next and die the following day.

 

[hobbzz]

So qt and observe again, or treat with cipro? If you mean treat, should I do the same duration? Thanks

 

[justinky]

If you have no other mags in the system then you are perfectly fine placing in the DT. Now later on down the line if you acquire another mag you would need to QT for at least a week, possibly two to make sure it's healthy and it won't pass the infection to your other mag.

A flat surface is absolutely necessary but you don't have to use shelf rock, it can't be a rounded edge that has flatness to it, it does not have to be perfectly flat. However if the rock is very porous it may not like the location and move.

 

[hobbzz]

No other mags in dt system. Or lfs system. The rock structure isn't porous, it's smooth, just not flat. Hard to get an accurate pic. Powerheads have been moved and are not within reach, neither are the tank walls or other rock structures.

It will not be on the pinkish skeleton in the lower pic FYI. It farther away than it looks now.

 

[ca1ore]

Generalizations are not always correct. Generally, mags like a flat, slightly up-pitched surface that can accommodate the entire foot .... yet, I recently had one that perched itself on the edge of a rock and stayed there for a year. Generally, mags should be treated prophylactically with Cipro, but some that are not still survive. Generally, mags like high flow, but mine did not and retreated from it. About the only absolute is to create a rock pedestal so that the anemone must retreat from the light in order to wander ..... and even that may be a generalization.

 

[justinky]

I guess you can't really generalize these creatures, but in all seriousness you said even yourself you've got to have a spot dedicated to them.

The only spot on this rock structure I even see that you could get away with a mag possibly liking is the one I have circled. Will getting the proper flow pattern be tough in that spot for you to pull off? As they like high usually when very healthy. I don't know how big the rock is in person so I don't know growth room or how big your mag is currently.

 

[hobbzz]

Thanks guys. I added the shelf rock to increase the chances. Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. I'll go ahead and do the cipro just to be safe. Same treatment length if you're doing it as a preventative measure, or does that create the problem of antibiotic resistance?

 

[hobbzz]

That spot is actually covered in zoas now, but I added a good amount of shelf rock. More than a square foot on the highest tip of the structure. That structure is about 24" square and 20" tall where the shelf rock is.

 

[justinky]

Thanks guys. I added the shelf rock to increase the chances. Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. I'll go ahead and do the cipro just to be safe. Same treatment length if you're doing it as a preventative measure, or does that create the problem of antibiotic resistance?

Honestly if it were me, I would not treat until signs of illness. Putting them through treatment can be an up and down process, they do so much better in DT if they are already doing well. If you see any abnormal deflation minus a few tentacles deflated (usually when flow is turned off and newly acclimated), I would start treatment. If you're having issues getting it to stay attached, like it is very weak I would start treatment - This is a sign I have encountered recently with two different specimens and they did not show any other signs of illness such as deflation or a gaping mouth. Then the obvious, a gaping mouth - not an open mouth, gaping. Like it can't shut it if it tried, sometimes anemones, especially Haddoni when acclimating will have an open mouth for a month or so a lot of the time but it is usually tight around the edges as if it can close when wanted but gaping means it has no control over functionality

 

[ca1ore]

Thanks guys. I added the shelf rock to increase the chances. Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. I'll go ahead and do the cipro just to be safe. Same treatment length if you're doing it as a preventative measure, or does that create the problem of antibiotic resistance?

If you are going to treat, then do so for a full 7 days regardless. You certainly can wait to see if the animal requires it, though don't delay if symptoms present. My own experience is that healthy mags never deflate, so if you see that get it into treatment ASAP.