Carpet Anemone Retracting into Deep Sand Bed, why????

[leighla]

Hello! I am seeking help for a carpet anemone, possibly sick. I've googled and searched multiple threads/forums, but can't find info on this specific behavior.

Tank info:
55 gallon, Running 2 years+
Lots of live rock
Two AI Prime HD lighting 10 hour schedule including 1 hour ramp up, 1 hour ramp down and 2 hours evening blue light
Parameters
SG 1.026 RO/DI
Temp 77
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate < 5
Ph 8.3
Cal 450
Alk 8.6
MG 1300
Run carbon w/ algae

Fish:
Pair of clowns
2 Hawkfish (Flame & Falco)
Valentini puffer
Tail spot Blenny

Inverts:
Banded Coral shrimp
Porcelain anemone crabs
Serpent starfish
BTA
Green Carpet

Corals:
Assorted sps, lps, softies and the kitchen sink

Recent changes: Minor rearranging of rock scape, but not by the Carpet or his buried foot.
Major incident that concerns me: Lost BTA 4 weeks ago, quick deterioration, no water indicators after testing, I assumed it was spoiled scallop that I had recently fed.

The carpet has been in the tank over a year, planted foot in 4 inch sandbed and has not moved. The carpet is fed small pieces of krill, shrimp, scallops, clams that I chop and give the fish and starfish bi-weekly'ish'. It has grown and has shown indicators of good health, e.g. nice color, good stick and feeding reaction, just a chill and consistent presence.

For the past two weeks it has been fully retracting into the sand bed, no pattern day/night or duration, completely disappearing, then slowing coming back out. Mouth remains closed, but it is definitely not the ruffly open happy animal I'm used to. It lays kind of rumpled and constricted once it comes out, but not a "puffy pancake", no loss of color. I've done smaller water changes more often, kept on eye for ill health in corals and other tank friends, nothing yet..

So, my questions:
Is it sick or upset?
How do I get it off of the sand bed if I need to do QT?
Do I wait for him to indicate further ill health and become detached on his own? I'd have to tear down the tank to get him out, I'd worry about release from the sand bed, crashed cycle, coral damage, etc..
I have cipro and QT with light, sponge filter, etc.. ready to go if necessary.

The kicker. This started happening two days AFTER I ordered a blue carpet, so when it arrived I had to put it in QT and now things are wonky. I don't want to lose either nem.

Any info and experience are appreciated!
The pic is from about a month ago.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Mine will do this when they are pooping, but that usually last for a few hours and then they are back to normal. My our resident Anemone expert #OrionN will chime in with his thoughts. Also maybe someone in the #reefsquad

 

[leighla]

Thanks for chiming in lpsouth, it's helpful to just know people are out there with support!

 

[Birdbrains?]

Did you disturb other coral while rearranging? Probably an issue with allelopathy, have you done some heavy water changes to see if it helps any? Otherwise you probably need to either remove stingers that aren't compatible or upgrade your skimmer to remove more of the physical toxins.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Do you have sand critters like bristleworms disturbing it?

to remove you could siphon the sand around the carpet and then scrape its foot off the base.

 

[leighla]

Thanks for the suggestions Birdbrain
I considered chemical warfare, especially sinner I have 2 very large leathers! I did one large water change after the remodel, then a number of smaller ones to keep it clean but stable.
New carbon.
I hadn’t considered bristleworms...I generally like them because I do have a DSB.
That is a dilemma I’ll investigate!

 

[weedyRdragon]

Hi Leighla,
Did you ever find out what the problem was? And is the anemone ok?