Haddoni Carpet Aemone Question

[ZooShark1029]

i have a 14" haddoni carpet I added to my 75 3 days ago. I dripped it for 2hours. The second I put it in my tank the mouth closed and in about 10 minutes it attatched its foots to the rock i put it on. It gets bigger everyday and its foot is still attatched. Its mouth is closed during the day and every night its mouth opens slightly exposing some white but when the lights come on it closes again. The weird thing is hat it is not eating- every time food touches it, its tentacles retract and it lets it go. (It is very sticky though) It looks extremely healthy except it is not eating.

When they are still acclimating to a tank do they not eat? Or when they are about to split do they not eat?

It is under 150 watt 20k metal halides and my water is 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrite PH 8.1 Salinity 1.025 (knock on wood) All other levels are in normal range.

[Toddrtrex]

Is it still on the rock? Haddonis prefer to have their foot buried in the sand -- right at the rock/sand interface.

I never feed mine during the first week -- best to let them fully settle in first.

The mouth should stay closed all the time, but at least it isn't open all the time -- I would kept an eye on that.

Do you know what lights it was under? And have you acclimated it to your lights at all?

This is as much as I would want the mouth to be open when the lights are off --- I turned on the moonlights to get this picture.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/toddrtrex/MoonlightHaddoni1.jpg

[ZooShark1029]

It is under a 150 watt 20k metal halide before it was under a 250 watt 20k halide- I know that Carpet like to go into sand - but I really wanted it on a certain rock so before I put it on the rock I took a handful of sand from the bottom of my tank and put it on the rock where he is now.
And the reason why I ask if it is splitting because at night the mouth is either horizontally longer. Buy last night it looked like yours just the mouth but it pinches up a little more so it is like 1/2 inch high if that makes sense?

[Toddrtrex]

I missed the part where you asked about splitting --- Haddonis don't split -- they will either "bud" or do sexual reproduction.


You may want it on a certain rock, but it is still best to place them where they are normally found.

[ZooShark1029]

If it releases its foot from the rock I will put it in the sand but it is really attatched to the rock its on so I am not going to force it because that would just stress it out more and could hurt its foot.

[ZooShark1029]

I just figured out what was wrong. My PH was actually at 7.7!!!! Which is way to low - The brand (I forgot what it was) kept giving me 8.1 and I just used API and it read 7.7/ So I already added Perfect PH 8.2 by API and the carpet is even bigger now. Thank you for your advice.

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15158015#post15158015 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZooShark1029
I just figured out what was wrong. My PH was actually at 7.7!!!! Which is way to low - The brand (I forgot what it was) kept giving me 8.1 and I just used API and it read 7.7/ So I already added Perfect PH 8.2 by API and the carpet is even bigger now. Thank you for your advice.

Glad that you figured it out and that it is looking better.

But, I would try to find out why the pH was so low --- is your house closed up? (( that can increase the CO2 in the air and drop the pH )). Using "Perfect pH" long term is going to cause additional issues.

[ZooShark1029]

I recently did a 90% water change and I think that is what did it. It is in a room and the window is alwas opened during the day. I rarely use chemicals and hopefully I won't need to use it anymore.
I am really happy though becuase the mouth is closed up the most it has ever been.

[jmadison]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15160598#post15160598 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZooShark1029
I recently did a 90% water change and I think that is what did it. Woah!? What was the reason for that? Fouled water?

[ZooShark1029]

No foul water... I try to do a large water change every month

[Toddrtrex]

Some people like doing that large of a water change, but personally I would try to do smaller more frequent ones.

But, if you still want to do the large ones, make sure that the made up water matches the tank water -- otherwise going to have issues. Make sure the temp, salinity, pH, etc match

[ZooShark1029]

I agree with you completely when using salt mix, but I only use fresh saltwater, I have a water guy that gets it fresh from the ocean.

[Toddrtrex]

But, should still test it to make sure it isn't that different from what your tank is at --- any rapid changes in the pH will cause stress.

And even with using fresh seawater, I still personally wouldn't do that large of a water change unless there was an emergency.