Is this Gig Beyond Recovery ? Or has it Turned the corner ?

[Hot2na]

Background info ..this Gig and the one next to it were in a tank with a bunch of sick fish ,Fish were fed food soaked in fenbednazole . Tank went to hell after that , the gig and its partner expelled ALL zooxanthellae ... They were pure BONE white (zero trace of color) when I finally got around to breaking down their tank , and transferring them to a very healthy tank, as they are in now.. fed with pieces of squid to help them recover strength and size .. No Natural recovery of zooxanthellae after a few weeks , So I decided to do a ZOOX transplant with tentacles from another healthy gig (mixed it with pieces of squid they ate) .. it FAILED...then I did 2 more transplants over a 1 month period .. All hope was lost ..I thought I saw a very light lyme green look to the tentacles of both ...but still no "dirty " look to any part of the nem ..
So I have included a video here to see what anyone thinks : Is it showing a hint of color , finally ,based on what I saw today ? or is it BEYOND recovery ?

 

[Seancj]

Video is not showing up. Sorry to hear this happened.

 

[Hot2na]

It's all part of the game , during fishing season my tanks are on autopilot for a couple months .. thats when things like this happen ... can you see this one ?

 

[Seancj]

I do see some faint color so hopefully it is recovering its zooxanthellae.
This brings up a question I was going to ask, can a severely bleached gigantea recover, even if it's been bleached for a very long time?
I have the opportunity to purchase a 1 1/2 year captive, 14" diameter, blue/purple gigantea but it is severely bleached, just the slightest hint of very light blue at the tips. However, the owner says that it's been this "white" color for over a year! It is fully inflated, tight mouth, has maintained its attachment on the rock scape, tentacles are sticky, and it eats good size junks of thawed shrimp.
Price is fair considering its size, long term captive, the fact that it's sticky, fully inflated, and eating. However the long term bleached color has me concerned. I was hoping to buy it and bring it back to full color.

 

[Hot2na]

I do see some faint color so hopefully it is recovering its zooxanthellae.
This brings up a question I was going to ask, can a severely bleached gigantea recover, even if it's been bleached for a very long time?
I have the opportunity to purchase a 1 1/2 year captive, 14" diameter, blue/purple gigantea but it is severely bleached, just the slightest hint of very light blue at the tips. However, the owner says that it's been this "white" color for over a year! It is fully inflated, tight mouth, has maintained its attachment on the rock scape, tentacles are sticky, and it eats good size junks of thawed shrimp.
Price is fair considering its size, long term captive, the fact that it's sticky, fully inflated, and eating. However the long term bleached color has me concerned. I was hoping to buy it and bring it back to full color.

Thats a very good question seancj: I guess lots of light , good husbandry -over a long period of time will tell us the answer.

 

[billysprout]

It's all part of the game , during fishing season my tanks are on autopilot for a couple months .. thats when things like this happen ... can you see this one ?

It looks healthy to me. Might have bleached to adjust to a lower light than it had in the wild or before it moved around during your sabbatical.

If it's in your display it should absorb stray zoox from your other gigs and color back up over time. How are your other nems doing?

 

[Reefering1]

@OrionN

 

[BryanM]

I'm no expert, but looks fine, certainly wouldn't be giving up on that.

 

[D-Nak]

I definitely think it can make a fully recovery. What really kills gigs are the infections that occur during the collection/export/import process.

 

[Hot2na]

How are your other nems doing?

Very good , especially in that tank...so I'll give it all the time it needs

 

[Hot2na]

I definitely think it can make a fully recovery.

You Think right , D Nak ! .....turns out it began to color up noticeably on one half of its body starting yesterday .. anxious to see if it will go back to it's original color of dark blue ..or if it will change color .. The transplant i did came from a tan/brown ...lets see what happens ..

 

[Seancj]

Hot2na- Can you post some pics/videos of your all gigantea tanks? I'd love to see your collection.

 

[Hot2na]

they're already on here in one post or another..

 

[billysprout]

his thread history is golden

 

[Seancj]

Unfortunately, I can't see any of his past videos for some reason. Seems to be an issue for others too. Shame, because I hear it's an amazing collection.

 

[D-Nak]

You Think right , D Nak ! .....turns out it began to color up noticeably on one half of its body starting yesterday .. anxious to see if it will go back to it's original color of dark blue ..or if it will change color .. The transplant i did came from a tan/brown ...lets see what happens ..

The color of the gig is typically locked in--the color of the donor gig shouldn't matter. The zoox is typically brown which colors up the body of the gig, the colored tips of the tentacles shouldn't change.

 

[Hot2na]

The color of the gig is typically locked in--the color of the donor gig shouldn't matter. The zoox is typically brown which colors up the body of the gig, the colored tips of the tentacles shouldn't change

Hope so ..it was a nice unique looking specimen before..

 

[Hot2na]

As you can see its coloring back up nicely..! I get more excited seeing this rebound than I am when seeing a new one clear QT ,,,I think I'm seeing the blue hue it used to have on the lower left part of it ...woo hoo !!!

 

[Seancj]

That's looking great! I'm glad to hear its recovering. May I ask what lighting you are using? Those nems look great under that light!

 

[Hot2na]

radion xr30 g4 all channels @ 100 pct 100 pct intensity ...its getting blasted with light