Discolored Sabae anemone - any ideas?

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by ferktec, Aug 13, 2008.

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  1. ferktec

    ferktec Plankton

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2008
    Messages:
    3
    Location:
    Boca Raton, FL
    Hello everybody, this is my first post to 3reef.com with a problem. I have a somewhat large sabae anemone, white with purple tips. She sits in the bottom of the tank grappled between the bottom of a rock and the sand bed. One half of her is bright white while the other half of her has turned into a grayish color, a little brown even perhaps. So she looks half and half! Both sides seem to be healthy and fully inflated, as a matter of fact she's probably grown since i've had her, i give her chuncks of krill every other day which she eats, grabbing with discolored tentacles as well as the white ones, mostly cause my lazy maroon clown stopped feeding her. He plays and sleeps in there, however, she looks rugged with half her body this dark color. I was hoping that somebody might have some info on the matter. Anything helps. Thanks in advance.
     
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  3. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2004
    Messages:
    9,219
    Location:
    CT
    White is an unnatural color for a sebae. It means that it has bleached. If it's brown, it's healthy so hopefully, the remainder of the coral will turn brown too. Is the brown half under different lighting than the white half?
     
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  4. GeejEx

    GeejEx Skunk Shrimp

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2008
    Messages:
    278
    Location:
    San Bruno, CA
    Imagine my confusion and disappointment when my first sebae, a beautiful white one with bright purple tips, shriveled up and died. My second one I selected for tentacle activity. It's turned a muddy brownish color fairly close to the rocks and sand around it- and tripled in size.
     
  5. ferktec

    ferktec Plankton

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2008
    Messages:
    3
    Location:
    Boca Raton, FL
    It is under the same lighting. When i first put it in the tank, it tucked away underneath a large rock in the shade, but a few weeks later it came out towards the front and is still there. I have PC lighting on the tank. I guess i won't worry too much if you guys think it's normal. After all, it's been like this for about a month now and i wasn't worried about it dying per say, but was wondering what the story on it was? Whether it was a normal thing to happen or not. I know some corals tend to change colors depending on light intensity and so on, but i thought it effected the stony corals more than anything.