is this xenia on its way out?

[cbrivkalns]

Hello;

My xenia recently leaned over onto another rock, attached, and created a new colony. The daughter colony has almost finished pinching itself off (there's just a thread connecting them now).

When I came home today, I found the parent colony retracted and shriveled. The new colony, merely inches away, looks just fine and is pulsing away as usual. Is this normal xenia behavior, or is something wrong?

(I don't think the palythoa has anything to do with it, since they've been coexisting for a while now, though it does look kind of smug...)

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mvrv4iaZ-UETjtQrxO86B5zjw77LniD_iB2TX-_BKcw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bdFnRq8rD8k/UCR9WIXHDdI/AAAAAAAAAhU/6k-f2mow4Lg/s800/IMG_0307.JPG" height="600" width="800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/107839746261351902426/Xenia20120809?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2bz4HpupiPqgE&feat=embedwebsite">Xenia (2012-08-09)</a></td></tr></table>

 

[Fryman]

Normal xenia behavior. A crab might've walked over it or it's just being shy. Mine do that all the time, they always recover.

 

[cbrivkalns]

Thanks, Fryman.

After posting my question, I went downstairs and it had inflated and started pulsing again. I'm not sure what could have caused it; since I don't have any crabs, perhaps a baby stomatella climbed aboard.

The only other times I've seen it shrink up are when the lights go out or if I touch it while cleaning the tank. Glad to know it's doing okay, though.

Cheers!