this is me
Active member
Damn! I'm heart broken to see this! Hope it recovers quickly.
S. gigantea zoo transplant?
- Thread starter skyrne_isk
- Start date
skyrne_isk
Member
Thanks Walt and Nick, a bummer of a day for sure. I probably took a 1/2 cup full of anemone and tentacles out of the filter sock (which was also green) and about the same out of the skimmer. The entire house reeked of anemone, even my wife noticed. The whole green filter sock would have been comical with St Pattys day had it not been such a sad and aggravating situation. Oh, I also changed about 12 oz of carbon and within a couple hours the water was clear. I am avoiding my weekly water change to keep stress down, btw.
I gave it a few pieces of mysis, which it actually ate. Which I took as a good sign until I came back an hour or so later to see food pellets spit out on the sand. Probably would never had noticed had the current not been turned down.....usually these would have been blown away.
So at this point I am going to keep a log of sorts, live or die, just to document for others. If you haven't caught the point, cover your power heads. I would go with no flow during maintenance over uncovered flow.
As I mentioned earlier, the last time this happened it caught the edge of the oral disk about 1/3 of the circumference and it was eating again within 48 hours. I did NOT intervene in the last incident, I simply took the gaurd off the pump and let the anemone pull itself out.
This time, I tried the same, but after an hour of no improvement I took the steps to cut the gaurd away from the anemone so it could then wind itself out. I thought about excising the tissue inside the gaurd that was pulled through into a ball of sorts with an exacto knife but bet against it.
It turns out it probably wouldn't have mattered. Unless the anemone is infected bacterially and rotting, it seems the recovery process includes sloughing off badly damaged tissue.....almost like shedding. One thing I noticed this morning is little pieces white tissue from the worst areas falling off the carpet. I think this is like what a human body does when burned.
So in general I would agree not to pull an anemone out of something it's caught in. Especially if it is pulled through but not abraided. If the tissue is intact leave it. Otherwise, I think you are good to cut off the bad tissue with a sharp blade (excepting for the tissue on the column/foot including the mouth because it doesn't look like anemones are designed to repair, rather replace (that's why the mouth has me doubly worried......). The ONLY saving grace here is that the foot is completely untouched so it is attached.
About 24 hours after the incident (day 2)
Still some eversion with the mouth.....can be seen in this shot.
Wish I took pics of the white tissue shedding, guess you guys will have to take my description.
Hope this is informative, someone will be here again some day (maybe even me, cripes).
Any input is always appreciated.
I gave it a few pieces of mysis, which it actually ate. Which I took as a good sign until I came back an hour or so later to see food pellets spit out on the sand. Probably would never had noticed had the current not been turned down.....usually these would have been blown away.
So at this point I am going to keep a log of sorts, live or die, just to document for others. If you haven't caught the point, cover your power heads. I would go with no flow during maintenance over uncovered flow.
As I mentioned earlier, the last time this happened it caught the edge of the oral disk about 1/3 of the circumference and it was eating again within 48 hours. I did NOT intervene in the last incident, I simply took the gaurd off the pump and let the anemone pull itself out.
This time, I tried the same, but after an hour of no improvement I took the steps to cut the gaurd away from the anemone so it could then wind itself out. I thought about excising the tissue inside the gaurd that was pulled through into a ball of sorts with an exacto knife but bet against it.
It turns out it probably wouldn't have mattered. Unless the anemone is infected bacterially and rotting, it seems the recovery process includes sloughing off badly damaged tissue.....almost like shedding. One thing I noticed this morning is little pieces white tissue from the worst areas falling off the carpet. I think this is like what a human body does when burned.
So in general I would agree not to pull an anemone out of something it's caught in. Especially if it is pulled through but not abraided. If the tissue is intact leave it. Otherwise, I think you are good to cut off the bad tissue with a sharp blade (excepting for the tissue on the column/foot including the mouth because it doesn't look like anemones are designed to repair, rather replace (that's why the mouth has me doubly worried......). The ONLY saving grace here is that the foot is completely untouched so it is attached.
About 24 hours after the incident (day 2)
Still some eversion with the mouth.....can be seen in this shot.
Wish I took pics of the white tissue shedding, guess you guys will have to take my description.
Hope this is informative, someone will be here again some day (maybe even me, cripes).
Any input is always appreciated.
BonsaiNut
Premium Member
Healthy anemones have an amazing ability to recover from wounds to their exteriors - as long as they don't pick up secondary infections.
This should not be confused with an anemone's ability to recover from being cut in half, which is poor to non-existent depending on the species. (Sorry had to toss that in there)
This should not be confused with an anemone's ability to recover from being cut in half, which is poor to non-existent depending on the species. (Sorry had to toss that in there)
skyrne_isk
Member
No worries, I concur on that point.
But if these pictures are any indication of the progress, I am going to agree with this one as well:
These carpets, while extremely touchy on their importation, appear freakishly able to recover. I did not expect the progress to be good, but it is already eating and appears to have closed up the damaged areas of tissue. Simply amazing. Though probably shouldn't be given how easily their tentacles detach when touch with an ungloved hand, etc.
You can really see the repaired tissue here, the nub tentacles are already emerging from the oral disk that was frayed 48 hours earlier:
And here:
Some of the damage to the interior:
This really gives you a feel for how much tissue is gone, remember the anemone used to be round.....it is not for the time being.
Will keep updates coming. (fingers crossed):twitch:
D-Nak
Active member
Sorry to drag up an old thread, but this is intense! I read the entire thread and now I feel like I'm watching a soap opera (no, I don't normally watch them, though I've been stuck with the wife and the TV on) and the main character is in the hospital bed, and right when we're about to find out what happens... the DVR stops recording.
How's the nem???
How's the nem???
skyrne_isk
Member
The glass needs cleaned and the shot is foggy, but here is the carpet as of today. How cool are these animals? Was looking at the photos of the carnage on the computer today doing some cleanup and thought I would update. I have to admit I was skeptical it would make it but here we are.
skyrne_isk
Member
Still kicking, Minh. Odd thing is, in all this time the blue one has never moved, not once. Go figure.
Here it is (iPhone pics, not too good):
My yellow gig is doing fine as well (and made it fine through a move to the office tank to boot).
I have had a pretty good run of it, though I find the dirtier water they seem to like makes it harder to keep SPS.
Here it is (iPhone pics, not too good):
My yellow gig is doing fine as well (and made it fine through a move to the office tank to boot).
I have had a pretty good run of it, though I find the dirtier water they seem to like makes it harder to keep SPS.
Cheebs
Member
My gignatea also preffers "dirtier water". In other words, no necessarily pristine, a bit of nitrate and all that jazz. Here's mine: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1841543
skyrne_isk
Member
I have noticed that when I drive phosphates and nitrates so low that there is no nuisance algae/cyano present the carpets tend to exhibit stress-like behaviors from time to time - ie. no full extension all day, every day. This full/turgid posture is what healthy gig keepers come to expect. They are not like BTAs, with the deflation/inflation occuring often and for little/no reason. A lack of full inflation for almost any reason is cause for concern. Others mileage may vary on keeping a "dirty" tank but I have found the most growth and most healthy behavior (meaning close to wild photographs) occurred in tanks where algae could and would grow with the nem.
Those who have gone diving or observed in tidal pools, etc can chime in that the water these guys are often found in is silty and much different than the reef crest / fore reef.
I believe that the high nutrient conditions that cause brown SPS (and are thus avoided by SPS keepers) keep zoo populations healthy in gigs. This is not to say healthy gigs cannot be kept ULNS or with a healthy-colored SPS tank, however. I am sure there are those who could show it can be done, and well.
These are all taken from systems with gigs and SPS:
Here's about the six month mark - notice how pale the blue carpet had gotten and how dark green the big coral in the back is:
Notice how the same big green coral is now more yellow about a year later when I pulled it out b/c it was taking over, while not in the pic the blue carpet was now basically the purple color it is now that I posted above:
While I am on it, have found that carbon dosing AND bacteria dosing can absolutely cause negative reactions in gigs (I will spare the story for now, but my Microbacter 7 experiment was nail-biting for the first 72 hours or so). I have seen others report no issues on their nems, but rest assured I have found bacterial changes in the water column to have profound impact on the nems behavior - likely while they adjusted to the new resulting phosphate/nitrate conditions or the bacteria themselves.
I have had to come to a compromise between colorful corals and happy gigs - and it all came down to how clean my water was kept.
HTH!:bounce1:
skyrne_isk
Member
Wow. Almost three years, huh? Doing another transplant on a purple/blue. A little bigger tank at the moment leaves me with more room. The "original two" and the yellow gig in the office tank are all going strong. Will post update pics of the original two later on.
Here's the latest addition:
Pretty bleached, still over-inflated, no eating, and generally displaying stressed behavior still. I will post some daily progress to see how it is getting on. One thing that is nice is that I don't have any desire to make "adjustments" to the tank like I might have in the "old days" with the stress posture of the new gig. When you have two other healthy and happy tanks in a hundreds of gallons of water it's a lot easier to know the stress of the new addition isn't due to adverse conditions in the tank.
Here's the latest addition:
Pretty bleached, still over-inflated, no eating, and generally displaying stressed behavior still. I will post some daily progress to see how it is getting on. One thing that is nice is that I don't have any desire to make "adjustments" to the tank like I might have in the "old days" with the stress posture of the new gig. When you have two other healthy and happy tanks in a hundreds of gallons of water it's a lot easier to know the stress of the new addition isn't due to adverse conditions in the tank.
skyrne_isk
Member
A closer shot during acclimation.
An overly-turgid stress position that has me worried. Would be a clear sign off problems if the gig was not new. See how the tentacles really look closer to S. haddoni as they are noticeably in rows? Not normal for this species.
Although waves or folds in the oral disk are not a sign of problems per-se, this carpet isn't really attaching or digging in with its foot. 24 hours in, who knows.
An overly-turgid stress position that has me worried. Would be a clear sign off problems if the gig was not new. See how the tentacles really look closer to S. haddoni as they are noticeably in rows? Not normal for this species.
Although waves or folds in the oral disk are not a sign of problems per-se, this carpet isn't really attaching or digging in with its foot. 24 hours in, who knows.
skyrne_isk
Member
And I caught this happening just a few minutes ago. The green carpet is the same one mentioned throughout this thread - it tends to get beat down on quite bit when these two get down to business. They won't let any of the snails or CUC around any of their turf. The female tail slaps all the sand to make a big mound by the carpet (I've given up trying to figure that out :facepalm
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maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
You're incorrect.
I've been able to recover several bleached nems to include a seriously bleached H.magnifica.
Ensure the water parameters are stable and where they need to be.
Ensure the environment the anemone is located in is what it needs to flourish.
Ensure the anemone is getting fed small amounts of food regularly.
Ensure the anemone is not being kept with fish.
The anemone lost its Zoox, therefore it has no way of providing nutrients for itself and must be fed regularly to supplement.
Small regular feedings 2-3 times a week will aid in its recovery, until it regains its zoox. Overfeeding will cause problems as the anemone will not be able to digest food items too large or too numerous, and will regurgitate them, fouling the water.
Fish, (especially clowns) will steal food from the anemone and cause it to waste precious amounts of energy. The anemone tries to engulf the food and the fish steals the food, the anemone has just wasted energy trying to eat.
Here is a thread where I detailed what I went through with my most recent H.magnifica.
Heteractis Magnifica, tell me some success stories
skyrne_isk
Member
No worries and thank you for the kind words, Nick. Bound to happen when old threads are dug up and given an update. Always have appreciated the input of other skilled keepers of gigs to keep me going.
Here it is as it looked today, still not attaching the foot and will not eat anything but it looks to be headed in the right direction. For those who this might help: the LFS had this almost .002 SG higher than my tank - the bag water was measured at 1.028. I made the decision to let the tank's SG rise .001 to 1.026 over the course of the last day to help mitigate any hydrostatic differences between their water and mine (it had been in their tank 48 hours). This is about a two gallon drop in freshwater for me. The plan will be to make this difference back up between now and Monday.
