I received a beautiful purple Mag Saturday morning on 03/07, i was really excited to have the king of sea anemones in my aquarium. Prior to ordering the anemone i researched their requirements, care and signs to look for to get ahead of any potential problems. I have had my Colorado Sunburst bubble tipped anemone for over 3 years and it has split more than a handful of times. I also have kept SPS corals with success for years as well. I believe all the years of reef keeping and experience would give me the best chance of success at keeping the infamous Magnificent Sea Anemone. I have documented my journey on the below timeline. I hope this will help anyone who is thinking about keeping or has recently acquired one of these beautiful creatures.
Here is my story:
I ordered my sea anemone 03/04 and it shipped the day of 03/06. I chose the online retailer due to the length of time they stated they keep their mags before they sell them to the public. In my case my anemone, according to them has been in their system since 10/2019. This was important as it should result is a very easy transition from their system to mine or so i thought.
After removing the nem from the shipping package, i noticed it was packaged really well! I begin to temp acclimate and later drip acclimate the nem to its new home.
This pic is the 1st few hours after the nem was introduced into the aquarium on 03/07 after acclimation. It quickly latched on the rock work, although not completely.
Early observation: After it completely latched to the rock work... a few hours later, slightly gaping mouth... not overly concerned at this point, but noted. My thoughts...its adjusting to the water conditions, lighting, current....etc.
It was recommended that i add small clown fish to further help it acclimate. So a few hours later, two small Occellaris Clownfish were added, at this point all appeared well.... Success!! Or so i thought.
03/08: The following morning, the nem had a tight mouth but something looked off.... didn't look full and more tentacles where deflated. At this point im getting concerned.
A couple of hours later:
4 hours later: The nem appeared to deflate. Based on prior research, in Mag anemones especially...this is a red flag. Im concerned my nem is not healthy. I also read sometimes, they will deflate a time or two as an adjustment in a new system. My thought...I will give it the benefit of doubt.
03/09: I didnt take any pictures, however observed the nem repeating the above cycle 2 additional times in one day. My biggest fear became a reality. I knew according to my research, if i didn't act now the animal would surely die in my system. I placed an overnight order of Fish Flox (30 pills 500MG each pill), in the meantime i would continue to observe and look for more negative signs.
03/10: I came home from work and at my door was my cipro order, when i looked at the nem that evening.....it didnt look well.
At that moment I decided to take it out and treat it. Was it the right decision? Was i overreacting?
03/10: The anemone looked worse after i placed it in the treated hospital tank. Its mouth was gaped open pretty bad and all sorts of gelatin type substances coming from it. Its body was not flat, but smaller and tentacles deflated...big time.
My treatment regiment consisted of breaking one of the 500MG pills in half and mixing it with a small cup of water from the DT to dissolve it. I filled a 10 gallon aquarium with water from the DT and placed the anemone in the hospital tank (10 gallon aquarium) and mixed the dissolved cipro in the hospital tank.
03/11: I continued the treatment by removing each day, 50 -60% of the water from the hospital tank and replacing it with water from the DT. Once the lights were off, i would dose 250MG of cipro. The goal was to repeat this process until 7 days passed. The nem appeared to get progressively worst. At this point it never looked better than the above image.
03/12 : I almost gave up... I figured the anemone was dead. It was unresponsive and not sticking to anything including the glass. I reached out to some folks here and the advice i was given was the following: Until the anemone breaks apart or turns into mush..there is still a chance....
03/12: I continued the regiment, although in my mind I was preparing myself for the loss. That evening upon returning home from work, i walked in to find the following surprise:
OMG!!! Did it work? Is my nem good? Will it make it? I could not contain myself.... this is the best the nem looked since the 1st day i placed it in the display. I remember the advice i received from @ca1ore "It will likely go through cycles of looking good then looking bad. Don’t get too encouraged by the former or discouraged by the latter. Do the full 7 days regardless." Great advice!
So the Journey continues....
03/15: The nem continues to maintain and i have not observed it deflating since the day i thought it was dead. This was a few hours ago:
If it all goes well, in a couple of days it will be reunited with the clownfish that sorely misses it!
A special thanks to @ca1ore for the great advice! I will continue to document my nems journey. Thanks for being apart of this story, hopefully it will be an success!
Here is my story:
I ordered my sea anemone 03/04 and it shipped the day of 03/06. I chose the online retailer due to the length of time they stated they keep their mags before they sell them to the public. In my case my anemone, according to them has been in their system since 10/2019. This was important as it should result is a very easy transition from their system to mine or so i thought.
After removing the nem from the shipping package, i noticed it was packaged really well! I begin to temp acclimate and later drip acclimate the nem to its new home.
This pic is the 1st few hours after the nem was introduced into the aquarium on 03/07 after acclimation. It quickly latched on the rock work, although not completely.
Early observation: After it completely latched to the rock work... a few hours later, slightly gaping mouth... not overly concerned at this point, but noted. My thoughts...its adjusting to the water conditions, lighting, current....etc.
It was recommended that i add small clown fish to further help it acclimate. So a few hours later, two small Occellaris Clownfish were added, at this point all appeared well.... Success!! Or so i thought.
03/08: The following morning, the nem had a tight mouth but something looked off.... didn't look full and more tentacles where deflated. At this point im getting concerned.
A couple of hours later:
4 hours later: The nem appeared to deflate. Based on prior research, in Mag anemones especially...this is a red flag. Im concerned my nem is not healthy. I also read sometimes, they will deflate a time or two as an adjustment in a new system. My thought...I will give it the benefit of doubt.
03/09: I didnt take any pictures, however observed the nem repeating the above cycle 2 additional times in one day. My biggest fear became a reality. I knew according to my research, if i didn't act now the animal would surely die in my system. I placed an overnight order of Fish Flox (30 pills 500MG each pill), in the meantime i would continue to observe and look for more negative signs.
03/10: I came home from work and at my door was my cipro order, when i looked at the nem that evening.....it didnt look well.
At that moment I decided to take it out and treat it. Was it the right decision? Was i overreacting?
03/10: The anemone looked worse after i placed it in the treated hospital tank. Its mouth was gaped open pretty bad and all sorts of gelatin type substances coming from it. Its body was not flat, but smaller and tentacles deflated...big time.
My treatment regiment consisted of breaking one of the 500MG pills in half and mixing it with a small cup of water from the DT to dissolve it. I filled a 10 gallon aquarium with water from the DT and placed the anemone in the hospital tank (10 gallon aquarium) and mixed the dissolved cipro in the hospital tank.
03/11: I continued the treatment by removing each day, 50 -60% of the water from the hospital tank and replacing it with water from the DT. Once the lights were off, i would dose 250MG of cipro. The goal was to repeat this process until 7 days passed. The nem appeared to get progressively worst. At this point it never looked better than the above image.
03/12 : I almost gave up... I figured the anemone was dead. It was unresponsive and not sticking to anything including the glass. I reached out to some folks here and the advice i was given was the following: Until the anemone breaks apart or turns into mush..there is still a chance....
03/12: I continued the regiment, although in my mind I was preparing myself for the loss. That evening upon returning home from work, i walked in to find the following surprise:
OMG!!! Did it work? Is my nem good? Will it make it? I could not contain myself.... this is the best the nem looked since the 1st day i placed it in the display. I remember the advice i received from @ca1ore "It will likely go through cycles of looking good then looking bad. Don’t get too encouraged by the former or discouraged by the latter. Do the full 7 days regardless." Great advice!
So the Journey continues....
03/15: The nem continues to maintain and i have not observed it deflating since the day i thought it was dead. This was a few hours ago:
If it all goes well, in a couple of days it will be reunited with the clownfish that sorely misses it!
A special thanks to @ca1ore for the great advice! I will continue to document my nems journey. Thanks for being apart of this story, hopefully it will be an success!
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