Help with a red carpet

[CheckitOut]

I have a red carpet anemone and wondering if it is trying to die or just moving. Ive had it for about a week and half and it started out closer to the top of the tank for the first 6 or so days and then started moving down and now the base is now tucked under rocks and is in the sand. The first pictures is what it looked like day 2 and the second pictures is what it looks like now. One day 2 it was about 13 inches spread out, now its about 7 inches or so. Please help.
<a href="http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/fordhater2002/?action=view&current=carpetanemone006.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/fordhater2002/carpetanemone006.jpg" border="0" alt="Carpet 1"></a>
<a href="http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/fordhater2002/?action=view&current=001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/fordhater2002/001.jpg" border="0" alt="red carpet help"></a>

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

Hmmm...the gaping mouth visible in the bottom picture is usually not a good sign, though it's still new enough that I wouldn't be surprised if it's just adjusting. I would try feeding it and see how it reacts.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do but maintain optimum water conditions and hope for the best. IME interfering at this phase has usually led to premature death. Carpets remain the only group of animals that I haven't had good luck with.

Hope it improves, because it's a beautiful animal!

 

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Looks like a s. haddoni, in which case, it generally stays on the sand (attaching through the sand to something firm underneath--rock or glass, etc.)

Is the mouth gaping more than before? I can't exactly tell in the photo.

 

[CheckitOut]

Yea since I got him he has always had a open mouth. I've him twice and ate the silversides both time. What is IME? Thanks for the info

 

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I'm guessing it means "in my estimation"...

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

IME = in my experience...sorry if I confused you

And as Der Iron Chef said, S. haddoni usually attaches to something through the sand...it's usually a good sign if it attaches.

And if it's still eating and sticky (not that you should keep touching it to make sure it's sticky), then I wouldn't be overly concerned at this point. Haddoni's can take a little while to get used to their new tanks.

 

[kris4647]

I almost bought that one . RHS right?

Its not unheard of for A Haddoni to purge on and off for the first week or so. Frequent shriveling/expelling sessions aren't a good sign though [more than once a day].

TBH [another good net acronym] it might not be acclimation purging but just expelling parts of the silverside it can't ingest.

Right now I wouldnt sweat it. Even as it is purging it has healthy looking body folds.

 

[CheckitOut]

Yea i got it at RHS. Its still sticky, trust me on that one lol. Do you think its fine if he is actually going away from the lights, and is smaller in size? I really dont want to lose him, not so much for the money but because he has such awesome color

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

It's very possible that it would retreat from bright light, especially if it was kept in relatively dim light before you got it. Over-exposure to light can result in runaway photosynthesis by the symbiotic zooxanthellae and oxygen poisoning in the anemone. If he's retreating from light and getting smaller, my bet would be that he's just trying to control his overly exuberant symbiotic algae. It's still sticky and isn't really deflated, so I wouldn't worry at this point.

 

[kris4647]

Give it some time. I'm not crazy about it shrinking, but its early to worry about that.

You may find that its looking for a good attachment point for its foot and will trumpet out to the light when its "happy".

 

[CheckitOut]

Yea right now I have alot of light on him because they need it. I'm upgrading my tank right and going from a 75 to a 105 so I have the 105 lights on the 75. I have 2 250 10k, 1 175 14k, and two actinic vho. Do you think I should reduce the amount of light right now?

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

One trick that may be helpful in this situation is to layer window screens under the lights. As time goes on and the anemone adjusts, you can remove the screens one by one until the light is back up to full strength. I've had to use that technique once or twice in the past and it's worked whenever I used it.

 

[CheckitOut]

window screens under the lights, how do i do that?

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

I have window screens that I cut to fit the top of my tanks. I usually start out with five just sitting on top of the tank, but you can use more or less depending on how dramatically you want to change the light levels

 

[kris4647]

Decrease your photo period a bit and be patient. Don't make a bunch of wholesale changes.

 

[CheckitOut]

Photo period meaning the hours of lights?

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12868974#post12868974 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CheckitOut
Photo period meaning the hours of lights?

Yes.

The month still being that open concerns me. Sure it will be open a bit when they are first settling in, but that 2nd picture it appears that the month is really open, too open for me. The last one I got the month stayed tightly closed the whole time.

 

[Apercula]

What is your flow like where the anemone is?
My tan/green was hiding in a cave till I asked for help here and Todd noticed that I had direct flow on the nem lifting the disc.
When I changed the flow pattern so that it was getting lighter, indirect flow it immediately started to open larger, and reached out so that it is getting light on its full disc.

 

[CheckitOut]

we'll what am i suppose to do

 

[CheckitOut]

Moderate flow not really to much right now.