What's wrong with my gigantea?

[ThRoewer]

After moving my first purple gigantea back into the 100-gallon tank and feeding it daily or almost daily it grew and colored up nicely.
Before I was keeping it together with my percula pair #1 in a planter basked inside a 40B

2019-04-26, 5 days in 100 gallon tank:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cICX8kJLtak" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-05-06:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/90fPF8PsRFw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-05-12:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DRwAems3EDE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-05-16:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J7Q3dexUyRo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It actually got even bigger and more colorful after this video was taken.

But when I looked after the tank last Sunday the skimmer had gone crazy overnight and the gigantea had contracted to a third of its previous size.

2019-05-26 11:12:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BVAHopPwVGs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-05-26 17:48:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WEAVw-Isopk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-05-26 21:34:

2019-05-27 14:44:

2019-05-27 19:18:

2019-05-27 19:19:

 

[ThRoewer]

2019-05-28 12:51:

2019-05-28 15:02:

2019 05 29 18:38:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cV9SHyqJZK8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-05-28 21:05:

2019 05 29 18:38:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cV9SHyqJZK8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

3 hours later it had contracted again.

This is now going on for 4 days.
The 3 other giganteas in the same system are doing fine considering that 2 of those had just gone through treatment and the other got just recently burned by a heater.
The corals also seem to do fine.

The light over the main tank is:
2x Kessil A360WN
2x 36W ATI T5 Coral Plus
2x 36W ATI T5 Blue Plus.

The anemone doesn't seem sick, no open mouth, no typical "sick" anemone deflating (= going limb), no expelling of zooxanthellae. It just contracts as if it wants to go hiding.
I have had this gigantea now for almost 4 years and it never behaved like this.
The only thing that really changed is the light. Before I kept it only under Kessil LED. But it seemed to actually like the additional T5 light.

 

[OrionN]

After moving my first purple gigantea back into the 100-gallon tank and feeding it daily or almost daily it grew and colored up nicely.
Before I was keeping it together with my percula pair #1 in a planter basked inside a 40B

............

It actually got even bigger and more colorful after this video was taken.

But when I looked after the tank last Sunday the skimmer had gone crazy overnight and the gigantea had contracted to a third of its previous size.

........

The only reason I can think of is that he is a male, and he spawned. Maybe you have at least a female in the three remaining Gigantea's. Look and see if they have any baby anemones develop inside them. You may have baby anemone release later, in a few days.

 

[D-Nak]

Are the clowns trying to dive bomb into its mouth? If not, then I don't think it's sick. The only time I've seen this is with sick gigs.

Had you fed the tank? Do you directly feed the gigs?

One of my gigs did the exact same thing as yours but it stopped after a few days. I attributed to a big meal I fed it (and I stopped feed for a while after that).

 

[ThRoewer]

The only reason I can think of is that he is a male, and he spawned. Maybe you have at least a female in the three remaining Gigantea's. Look and see if they have any baby anemones develop inside them. You may have baby anemone release later, in a few days.

I kind of thought that might have happened when it did this the first time and the skimmer went crazy. But would they spawn every day for almost a week?

As for the other 3 giganteas, statistically at least one of them should be a female. I kind of would hope it is the blue one as it is the largest and fittest of the gang.

Do gigantea actually have internal fertilization? I would think that would make breeding them much easier...

 

[ThRoewer]

Are the clowns trying to dive bomb into its mouth? If not, then I don't think it's sick. The only time I've seen this is with sick gigs.

Had you fed the tank? Do you directly feed the gigs?

One of my gigs did the exact same thing as yours but it stopped after a few days. I attributed to a big meal I fed it (and I stopped feed for a while after that).

The percula massage/harass the anemone quite a bit when it is at its smallest but its mouth is firmly closed and the percula don't focus much on it. It certainly doesn't look sick - I've seen enough sick gigs by now to know how that looks.

I feed the gigs directly and had this one fed almost daily for about 5 weeks now. I stopped feeding it after it contracted.

 

[Planetmacro]

Back in 1992 I had a haddoni that spawned. It first expelled eggs and then milt. The water in the 50 gallon tank became milky white. I’m pretty sure anemones are not one sex. They are self fertilizing. After the spawning the haddoni did not shrink. This specimen was about a foot in diameter. I believe anemones spawn like corals.

I think your gigantea will be fine in a few days. If the others are okay it’s not an environmental issue. Don’t feed it for a while.

 

[OrionN]

of the host anemones I know that E. quadricolor, H. magnifica, H. malu and S. gigantea have separate sex. I also read that Haddoni also have separate sex, not hermaphrodites.
Of these anemones, BTA, Malu and Gigantea sexually reproduced by internal fertilization. These three species released fully formed baby anemone, and should be able to be raised and reproduced sexually in captivity.
BTA was successfully reproduced sexually at the Waikiki aquarium in Hawaii. H. malu was raised successfully reproduced sexually by Dr. Anna Scott in Australia. Only Gigantea have not been reproduced in captivity yet, but it will be just a mater of time before we will be able to do this.
Feeding them regularly should bring them into breeding condition, and having multiple of these anemone is needed.

 

[ThRoewer]

Still the same today. It looked halfway decent in the morning before the lights came on, but when I came home it looked like this:

2019 05 30 18:24
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A5ZJov5cuUQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The new giganteas, on the other hand, are fine and recovering quickly:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tvU1dz1TuC0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ThRoewer]

Still the same...
It looked almost ok this afternoon but later in the evening it was all shriveled up again:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vvs8uGWY8y8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

...
One of my gigs did the exact same thing as yours but it stopped after a few days. I attributed to a big meal I fed it (and I stopped feed for a while after that).

Do you still remember for how long exactly your gig did this?
Mine is doing it now for nearly a week and I'm starting to get worried.
But it doesn't have the open mouth of a sick gigantea, just the opposite, the mouth is firmly closed. So I can't see how any antibiotics treatment could help.

 

[OrionN]

I think it is time to separate it from the test of the Gigantea and consider treating him. Bad food?

 

[ThRoewer]

I think it is time to separate it from the test of the Gigantea and consider treating him. Bad food?

I don't think that any of the food was bad as it was the same mysis I feed the fish and the other giganteas.
Right now the percula might actually be a problem as they harrass it quite a lot. So isolation may be required.
I just don't know if treatment with Cipro can help as it doesn't show the open mouth that indicates a bacterial infection.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[OrionN]

Yes I would at the very least isolate him. You got other Gigantea to think about.
Various Anemone keepers have find that some time one in the group not doing well for some reason. Sometime they improve, other time they do not. I think something like this happened to taylor_t and also with a few other people.

 

[ThRoewer]

Early in the morning it was again completely contracted.

In the early afternoon it started looking a bit better, but the female percula started to show some unusual behavior:

2019-06-01 15:40
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-oEkIozD9zw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Looking better, yet mouth can be seen slightly open in this video:

2019-06-01 16:39
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/azIlKUjKTUI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Anemone inflated more but Female's strange behavior increased:

2019-06-01 17:16
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B2QC16SKv60" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-06-01 17:46
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/10FUhBtASNk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

At around 21:30 the anemone had deflated again and for the first time looked actually sick so I decided to pull it and start treatment.

In the treatment tank the gigantea balled up like a magnifica.

And the percula were not really happy that not only their anemone was gone but their eggs as well. But at least they quickly accepted the good old flowerpot as emergency home.

2019-06-01 22:07
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wc-10ksy_Sw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I think the anemone caught a Vibrio infection.
About a month ago I had a crispa die in one of the sump tanks. :debi:
As soon as I found the decomposing anemone I isolated the tank and did a full water change. One of the gobies in that tank had a bad infection and I pulled it for treatment with the green gigantea. But I guess it was already too late and the gigantea had caught the infection, possibly ingested with some food. I can only hope the other 3 giganteas didn't get it as well as I have ony enough Cipro left for one treatment. Got to order more...

 

[ThRoewer]

Looked already much better in the morning after just one Cipro dose, but still had a slightly open mouth.
One thing I noticed earlier is that there is a bald area near the mouth where the tentacles are either extremely reduced or have been bitten off. Now, in the hospital tank this can be seen quite clearly. I suspect that this was caused by the fish but wonder why they would do such a thing.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Planetmacro]

Looked already much better in the morning after just one Cipro dose, but still had a slightly open mouth.
One thing I noticed earlier is that there is a bald area near the mouth where the tentacles are either extremely reduced or have been bitten off. Now, in the hospital tank this can be seen quite clearly. I suspect that this was caused by the fish but wonder why they would do such a thing.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Glad your gig is doing better. I've seen clowns tear off tentacles several times. Haven't the slightest clue why they do that.

 

[OrionN]

Best of luck.

 

[ThRoewer]

2019-06-02 14:49

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6L32Acfleys" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-06-02 18:14

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HW4wd6vSjpI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2019-06-03 18:51

2019-06-03 19:06

2019-06-04 00:27

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jqMywuJDTNo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[OrionN]

looking better. No deflating at night and in evening. Best of luck.

 

[ThRoewer]

looking better. No deflating at night and in evening. Best of luck.

It was kind of deflated this morning.