The real story however is concerning what happened on HIS end, once he got my Birdsnest. He said it was pretty obvious what the problem was concerning its condition. First of all, at the bottom of the water in my shipping bag were several dead anemones, not Aiptasia, but Majanoes! He said they were the reason for the cyano and Valonia problems; they were living deep within the base of the coral and basically feeding all these pests while slowly killing the piece itself. He advised beginning treatment by removing my half and bagging it up for 24 hours, just as if I was shipping it. As the water begins to stagnate, the Majanoes should drop off to the bottom of the bag. He said he got several DOZEN on his first try and was rebagging it for a second go-round. Well, on my first try, I got this: About 15 of them. Immediately, I changed the water, reoxygenated it and began the process again. All the while, we kept in touch through emails. His second try produced far fewer anemonies and he thought it was pretty much free of them. The results of my second try were a bit more dramatic.

First of all, upon opening the bag, it smelled like the water had been in it 24 days instead of 24 hours. It was also very cloudy and the bottom of the bag was LOADED with decomposing Majanoes, far to many too count. But the most shocking observation was the Birdnest itself; it had bleached almost completely