Treating Bacterial Infections in Host Sea Anemones

[illcssd]

What are your guy's thoughts on how a quarantine tank should be setup for treating what we believe to be the bacteria infection Mags/Gigs get during shipping? I have a 40g breeder that I plan on using for this treatment/experiment.
During treatment, do you think it needs the same environment as they prefer in a display tank; high indirect flow and high light, or should I just stick with a couple t-5's over it? I've never attempted to treat anemones with antibiotics and want to see if this will actually cure them. Orion seems to have some experience in this and I’m hoping he’ll chime in.

Plans for equipment are
40g breeder
Hydor Koralia 6 for flow, with an eggcrate box to block the anemone from wandering into it.
Jager 250w heater
Air pump for additional oxygenization.
Baytrol or Doxycycline is the antibiotic I’m planning on using, is there a better medication you guys would recommend and have either had success with or think would possibly work better?
Daily 50% water changes.
Should I run a protein skimmer, or will that take the medication out of the water?

I understand not a lot of people have had experience in this. But there was to be a way to stop the terrible survival rates of these anemones and a lot of the time it is not the aquarists fault, but just an anemone that is notoriously hard to keep and doesn’t ship well.

I have access to the anemones, both Gigantea and Magnifica.

While I am going to use one of the magnifica’s, or a few of the Gigantea’s in my personal system. My main goal in this is attempting to find a cure to their early deaths in aquaria.

Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[k.tran]

You need 1 bath/treatment tank, 1 qtqt tank (no live rock), then 1 qt tank with rock. (To re-establish all the bacteria that you killed slowly) So far my death rate has only been 10% since I've been treating them. Without treating I've had a 90% death rate so treating def helps. TBH a 40g qt is too large for qt anemones. I would go with 10g's or 20g's.

 

[illcssd]

You need 1 bath/treatment tank, 1 qtqt tank (no live rock), then 1 qt tank with rock. (To re-establish all the bacteria that you killed slowly) So far my death rate has only been 10% since I've been treating them. Without treating I've had a 90% death rate so treating def helps. TBH a 40g qt is too large for qt anemones. I would go with 10g's or 20g's.

What are you treating with, dose amount, time in qt, etc? I'd like some more info if possible. What you said is very vague.

I have 10 and 20g's I could use. Just thought a 40 would provide steadier parameters.

 

[5Starreef]

I treated a few ones with pretty good results. I used a 20 gal container , sea water from the ocean, a heater, a live rock and a small return pump.

I put the anemone with a live rock for 24 hours in the container without light with 10 mg per litter of the antibiotic.

The return pump was in the bottom of the container with a hose attached doing a cascade to the container getting oxygenation and enough flow to the anemone.

After that I changed the water for new sea water without antibiotics and indirect sunlight 6 hours a day. If the anemone is doing well after one day, and it is well attached to the live rock, I left the anemone in the container for 6 days, if not I repeat the first process 24 hours more.

If the anemone is doing well after a week in the container, I transfer it to the display tank.

During the days the anemone was in the QT , I had a UV sterilizer working in the Display Tank. Once the anemone is in the DT I left the UV working for the next 10 days.

The anemone is under Led in the DT , I have them working at 35% of the maximum power, and increasing 5% every 10 days or so until 60%.
The flow in the DT was not direct to the anemone , and it has to be very soft, you dont need a high flow.

I treat 4 giganteas, all of them survived for more than six months, and still they are doing well. Some of them look bad when I got them , open mouth, almost white...
Before of this method I tried with different antibiotics and different ways ,
I got some times good result but no always.

With this method I got always good results, It doesn´t mean anything, because I did just with 4 anemones, but I like to share with you my experience.


Hope this help.

 

[D-Nak]

I have a feeling you won't get very far with this. There are folks out there who have remedies but aren't willing to share. With the price of healthy gigs being in the $$$s, unfortunately when money talks, information doesn't come free. Someone please prove me wrong.

 

[D-Nak]

Something else I'd like to mention -- bleached gigs are not the same as sick gigs. Granted, bleached gigs can be called sick, but what I mean by this is that I've seen bleached gigs come back, but never have I seen a sick gig (pastel colored, spewing zooxanthellae) come back after the deflate/inflate death march. These are the ones that need to be treated with antibiotics. If bleached gigs have good tentacle extension, are attached, have a tight mouth, and are eating and keeping the food in, then I don't think that they need to be treated.

 

[illcssd]

I know the difference, dnak. I've also had bleached gigs come back. I believe one reason the bleached ones are still savable is that if they've been with the wholesaler or lfs long enough to bleach out, then they don't have the infection because they would have died from that before they had time to bleach. Just a thought.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

 

[illcssd]

What makes you think someone has these answers? I haven't seen any one supplier or person seem to have an abundance of healthy Giganteas for sale. Giganteas are not hard to get.... yet they are rarely seen for sale, especially looking healthy. Some people like the first reply in this thread claim success but show no proof, or methods required. I just don't get it. My lfs can get me them pretty much anytime, large or small. Either I'm not looking at the right retailers or they're selling privately.
Fwiw

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

 

[D-Nak]

I know the difference, dnak. I've also had bleached gigs come back. I believe one reason the bleached ones are still savable is that if they've been with the wholesaler or lfs long enough to bleach out, then they don't have the infection because they would have died from that before they had time to bleach. Just a thought.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

I'm sure you know the difference. I was referring more towards 5Starreef's comment about "Some of them look bad when I got them , open mouth, almost white...". Your hypothesis makes sense. The question we need to answer is why do some bleach and make it, while others turn a pastel color and die?

What makes you think someone has these answers? I haven't seen any one supplier or person seem to have an abundance of healthy Giganteas for sale. Giganteas are not hard to get.... yet they are rarely seen for sale, especially looking healthy. Some people like the first reply in this thread claim success but show no proof, or methods required. I just don't get it. My lfs can get me them pretty much anytime, large or small. Either I'm not looking at the right retailers or they're selling privately.
Fwiw

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

There is one specific dealer I can think of that claims to be able to get any color gig you want, anytime you want, and quarantines for over a month. His prices are in the hundreds of dollars. I've spoken to other people about it, and some believe he's got a relationship with an exporter who ships directly to him, but only when he gets orders. So basically, you order a gig, he gets it, then quarantines it.

Furthermore, there are a couple of other people on RC who have specifically told me that they are doing what you're planning to do, but they are tight-lipped about their procedure. This makes sense -- those who know gigs, know how rare a healthy gig is and how much it's worth, and are willing to pay for it.

And finally, you hit the nail on the head with your last statement -- most LFS can get gigs whenever they want, but most don't order them since the risk is too high based on the demand. I have one LFS that brings them in, and actually sells them for good prices, even though they look pretty bad -- but I feel like I know the subtle differences between a gig that might make it and one that to the casual observer looks nice. I've wondered if the people who purchased them were able to keep them alive, had some quarantine method, or if they just died. But, the reality is that with most items sold in this hobby, we don't know what happens to it after it leaves the LFS.

 

[bradam]

There is one specific dealer I can think of that claims to be able to get any color gig you want, anytime you want, and quarantines for over a month. His prices are in the hundreds of dollars. I've spoken to other people about it, and some believe he's got a relationship with an exporter who ships directly to him, but only when he gets orders. So basically, you order a gig, he gets it, then quarantines it.

What is this dealers name and contact info?!

 

[D-Nak]

What is this dealers name and contact info?!

PM sent. Not sure what the forum rules are when discussing retailers who may or may not be sponsors.