carpet squeezing itself ?

[amy_2281]

I have a green carpet had him a little over a week we got him he settled in quick on a rock lodging his foos between the rock and glass he opened up and is sticky he has been eating regulary some krill grabs it off the baster and puts it in his mouth no spittin it back out. Today I upgraded lighting and now he seems to be shrinking and looks like he is squeezing himself to death ! he is compressing his body and his mouth is turning inside out and then it goes back in and he does it again also he spit out his krill today and seems to be losing tentacles or bumps or whatever they are i can post a pic if needed his mouth has a brown ring around it i dunno if that matters either ! my water is all perfect (just checked it)

[K. Lee]

It could be an adverse affect to the lighting. BTW, I think most Carpet Anemone's prefer fish over other consumables. :)

You may try shielding the light from the anemone partly for a while. Light shock can kill many photosynthetic animals. Since you changed the lighting presumably of the entire tank, I would lower the time the lights are on. For instance, if you had the lights on for 11 hours. I would now run the lights for 3 less hours, and once a week add 1/2 to 1 hour.

HTH

[amy_2281]

I wanted to add a pic to try and help id i dont think he is very sticky either !

[K. Lee]

It's probably S. haddoni.

What lights did you have, and what lights do you have now? If the anemone was normal to your knowledge before the upgrade, I'd suspect light shock.

[amy_2281]

I had 2 40 w floresents bought the anenome from lfs that had 175 mh and now i have 175 w mh they were hooked up today around 400 or so ... they shut off at 11 does he look healthy in the pics do you think?

[K. Lee]

Hard to tell, but I'd guess the anemone is ok. Is there something white in the mouth? Also in the top picture, it looks like there is something white on the body of the anemone, the oral disk. What is that?

Going from two 40 watt NO bulbs to 175 watt MH, you definately need to acclimate your tank to the new bulb.

I'd start at maybe 5 hours per day, and add 1/2 to 1 hour a week up to 8 - 12 hours per day. Your preference.

[amy_2281]

His mouth is real white and is now elongated like a slit and the white thing under it is a small piece of krill that he dropped instead of eating it ! It is also in strong current right under my skimmer and i have a tomato clown that wont goto it maybe i should move him and his rock to the other end of the tank by where the clown hangs out?

[K. Lee]

I think it will be ok, but acclimate it so you don't kill it. ;) The anemone will find a place it likes. Your Tomato may never use the anemone as a host, and I would leave the anemone alone. Mine really likes to have "it's" foot in the sand underneath rock. :) I have a S. haddoni. Some S. haddoni will climb onto rock like yours is doing however (at least according to books).

Feed him/her fish. :D

[amy_2281]

you wonder what that has to do with anything well...we can only get fw fish and someone said not to feed fw fish the only thing i have are krill or shrimp from market they are frozen kind for people i also have some invert / anenome food coming from fostersmith thanx for the help ! i never moved this guy i got a free piece of rock from lfs cause he wouldnt detach and then when he got home he ran around several hours off his rock and then climbed back up the same rock he came off of originally

[K. Lee]

You can't get frozen fish in your local fish store? They should have some. Also a vitamin, like Selcon can be added to the anemone's food, that will help him/her.

I think feeder goldfish would be better than shrimp, but could be wrong. Add the vitamins to whatever food, if you can.

And try not to touch him/her at all. ;) It disturbs them and wastes their energy.

[amy_2281]

My lfs only has krill i had to order DTs ! They are a fw store and I dont have another one near the shrimp we hafta get at the grocery store for 12.50 a pound ! i am looking for a site to buy silversides but, i think i may try a minnow or something like that and see what happens !

[jacobdol]

your anemone looks ok on the picture. I would say that it is definitely shocked by light. I am not sure if carpets even like too much light and strong flow. Mine moved immediately after I installed a new more powerful skimmer above it. Ideally, haddoni should attach to the bottom of your tank under the substrate. Plus I think you might have martensii (sp?) not sure:confused: I am at work right now:reading: and do not have anything to compare it with.
I feed mine with clams/mussels/jumbo shrimp mix that I make myself. A lot of work though.
In any case DO NOT MOVE IT.

[amy_2281]

You have all been very helpful I did not move him but, he is still attached to a rock (the one he came here on) and looks alot better today ! i timed the lighting so that the flor came on and the 1 MH and then 2 more each change in light was about 3 hrs apart and he seems better i also think i may have been over feeding so am gonna wait a few days before feeding him again !
Now my only problem is getting the tomato clown to host in it !

[jacobdol]

I hope you will be lucky and they will accept it. Give them at least a couple of months.
my tomato clowns did not even go near it.

[cyclgrl]

Just an FYI: I feed my carpet all sorts of food and he takes it all: silversides, krill, and sometimes shrimp and scallop that I buy from the (people) supermarket. Lately, I've even been feeding him Formula One pygmy angel food since I don't have the fish anymore. He eats everything!

I have had my carpet scrunch up on me once. Don't know why he did it, but he was fine afterwards. Also, I noticed that he is not so happy with his position when he doesn't have enough current (my carpet will actually reach out towards the direction of more current; that's when I know to change the powerhead more towards him). Otherwise, he has his foot under a rock deep into the substrate and has never moved.

Finally, I have a tomato clown who ignored both my anemones (LTA and carpet) for over a week after I got him and then finally settled in the LTA w/o any hint one day. Don't try to force it, nature will find a way. :)

Cindy