Treating magnifica with chloramphenicol

D

DrDNA

New member
Hi all,

I acquired a magnifica a week ago, purple base with greenish/brown tentacles. I previously tried a magnifica about 4 years ago, but it didn't make it, and I am trying one again in my 300gal SPS and clam tank. It has started that characteristic downward spiral of inflating/deflating a couple times a day.

So, this morning I was able to carefully remove it from the tank (it was attached to the acrylic overflow) and placed it in a 10gal QT tank with airstone and heater, water from the display, and chloramphenicol to about 10ppm. I have changed most of the water out every 6-8 hours, replacing with water from the display and adding fresh chloramphenicol.

It is starting to look much better, mouth closed, and inflated (after 12 hours total). So here's my question... how long should I keep it in QT before putting it back in my display? Was thinking about a total of 24 hours in the QT with chloramphenicol.... ? Anybody have any suggestions?

PS - was able to get some 250mg chloramphenicol tabs from our local small animal vet... apparently they are still used to treat dogs occasionally
 
So, you suspect a bacterial infection? It' possible. I don't know about chloramphenicol, but I have used Baytril (enrofloxacin) in a bath for 5 hours with no ill effects to an anemone. Of course, you would want to do daily, or every other day, baths for probably 5-7 treatments - again, in a bath with aerated water.

Cheers
Mike
 
you're dancing on the very edge of any knowledge you'll find here.

if the results you're seeing are directly due to the medication, like we all hope, you want to make sure all of the harmful bacteria are dead. which means 24 hrs will not cut it. you may kill 99% of the harmful bacteria, but that 1% may be more resistant. then next time you would try to treat your anemone the results will be far less significant.

if i were in your position i would treat the anemone the same way at least 7 days after symptoms disappear.
 
DrDNA said:
Hi all,

I acquired a magnifica a week ago, purple base with greenish/brown tentacles. I previously tried a magnifica about 4 years ago, but it didn't make it, and I am trying one again in my 300gal SPS and clam tank. It has started that characteristic downward spiral of inflating/deflating a couple times a day.

So, this morning I was able to carefully remove it from the tank (it was attached to the acrylic overflow) and placed it in a 10gal QT tank with airstone and heater, water from the display, and chloramphenicol to about 10ppm. I have changed most of the water out every 6-8 hours, replacing with water from the display and adding fresh chloramphenicol.

It is starting to look much better, mouth closed, and inflated (after 12 hours total). So here's my question... how long should I keep it in QT before putting it back in my display? Was thinking about a total of 24 hours in the QT with chloramphenicol.... ? Anybody have any suggestions?

PS - was able to get some 250mg chloramphenicol tabs from our local small animal vet... apparently they are still used to treat dogs occasionally
Click to expand...

Hi Jeff, how are you?
I have been treating H.mag for years now and usually had good results with TCN(500mg), or Doxycycline(100mg) for 48hr. But, I never used chloramphinicol with magnificas, only used it with gigantea and haddoni. I think Joe at the Atlantis treats all his magnificas X24 hr and he stated in an old thread that he has good results as well.
Take some pictures so we could see the condition and results of your treatment, please. Shu` Tin
 
chloramphenical? WOW!!!!!! I used to manage a large store in Dallas and did a lot of treating and that was my favorite drug. I was told that it was not manufactured any more. Buy all you can.
 
shutiny said:
Hi Jeff, how are you?
I have been treating H.mag for years now and usually had good results with TCN(500mg), or Doxycycline(100mg) for 48hr. But, I never used chloramphinicol with magnificas, only used it with gigantea and haddoni. I think Joe at the Atlantis treats all his magnificas X24 hr and he stated in an old thread that he has good results as well.
Take some pictures so we could see the condition and results of your treatment, please. Shu` Tin
Click to expand...

Hey Shutin, long time no see! I've been well, just really busy these days with family life and work! How is your tank doing? Hope all is well.

I was essentially going off Joe's old comments regarding chloramphenicol dips. I sent an email to him but haven't heard back... I'd imagine he gets inundated with hobbyist emails.
 
I was able to find chloramphenicol tablets through our local small animal vet. Supposedly they are still available for use in dogs.

I didn't tak any pics prior to placing in the QT with the drug... The nem was in QT about 30 hours and I changed as much of the water as I could about every 8 hours with new water from my display. I would have left it in longer if I had a bigger QT, but even with the partial water changes, the water quality in the little 10gal QT was going south.

I did take a couple pics of the 'nem upon reintroduction to my display late this afternoon, which I hope to upload tomorrow. The magnifica looked a lot better than before going to the QT, mouth was closed and it is attaching to the bottom of the tank and the overflow. I intentionally didn't put it in or on the rocks so that I can still remove it if need be.

Well, I have no idea if this whole thing has a snowball's chance in you-know-where of working.... guess I'll see if I still have an anemone or a pile of mush in the morning.
 
shabreeson said:
you're dancing on the very edge of any knowledge you'll find here.

if the results you're seeing are directly due to the medication, like we all hope, you want to make sure all of the harmful bacteria are dead. which means 24 hrs will not cut it. you may kill 99% of the harmful bacteria, but that 1% may be more resistant. then next time you would try to treat your anemone the results will be far less significant.

if i were in your position i would treat the anemone the same way at least 7 days after symptoms disappear.
Click to expand...

I would try a longer treatment if I had a larger QT. If it looks bad tomorrow again, I may put it back in the QT for another 24 hours. I know, I am just selecting for chloramphenicol resistant bacteria using this method though...
 
It made it through the night and its mouth is tight and looking a lot better. I really hope it survives considering their exremely poor track record in captivity.
Here is a pic of it this morning with just the "blue plus" T5 lamps on:

IMG_1183.jpg


This was the QT tank.. Just a 10gal with a heater and air stone.

IMG_1182.jpg
 
It's on day 4 post-treatment and seems to be doing okay. The mouth is closed up tight most of the time, except in the evening when the lights go off. It seems to gape and deflate at night, only to reinflate in the morning when the lights come back on. Not sure if this is part of its light acclimation routine or what...

I know I've only had this anemone a couple weeks now, but I am absolutely sure that if I had NOT treated it, it would be history by now. This is based on the prior pattern of anemone problems I've had.
 
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