Can TB iris rhizomes pull themselves down?

I planted my first TB's last August. I know to plant them high with the bulb at the surface. They did great all fall time, growing nice leaves and roots. Now, I went outside to check on them, and they seem like they actually pulled themselves down more into the ground! Do I have to dig up and replant in August? Are they doomed? lol One of them in particular looks deeper than the others and I'm worried it won't recover. The leaves are all mushy on it, but the bulb is nice and hard. Will they survive?
They do get full sun for most of the day. I have Blue Cheer, Orange Fire, and Orange Celebrity irises from Blue J Iris.

This phenomenon has been mentioned by some very experienced members. It was always counterintuitive for me as far as the rhizome being pulled into the ground. I have had the same thing happen and wrote it off as the soil expanding with the rhizome anchored by a large root system. My incidents were in raised beds of from 4 to 6 inches filled with a loose, fluffy soil mix over clay. I would plant the rz's very shallow in the fall and find them more than an inch deep in the spring. By the time the excess soil was removed from the rz's, their feeder roots would be at or very near the surface. Perhaps someone else can give a better analysis of what really happens.

No matter how it happened, it is important to clear the soil off the top of the rhizomes asap. They need sunlight and it also improves the new buds or increases for the next year.

You can remove mushy leaves & treat with a bleach drench if you wish. Dry them afterwards. Sometimes they do seem to be digging holes, but probably is settling of the soil which covers them, causing problems. Do try to get rid of covering, afterall the rhysome is a food storing stem, not a bulb.

I don't believe bearded irises have contractile roots. Some of the beardless do, such as versicolors, but mainly the ones that grow rhizomes on top of other rhizomes. Lilies and glads are well know for their contractile roots.

In my sandy soil the bearded irises are always getting covered up. In the spring I go through and dig some of the dirt off the top of them, but it seems to come back. The soil is so sandy, I don't think it hurts them thought to be covered a little, at least it doesn't seem to. I think they are still getting the sun through to them.

Can you just dig off some of the soil?

Thanks all!
That's what I've been trying to do is dig some of the dirt off the tops of them, though, just with my fingers. I don't want to damage them.

Yes, I just dig it off with my fingers, while I'm applying a little fertilizer around them.

This is a technique which has worked well for me on LOTS of clumps: I prepare soil in a wheelbarrow (dirt, manure, compost, some Epsom salts and bulb food); then, use a shovel to dig straight down beside the clump and gently lift it and insert the prepared soil UNDER the clump. Doesn't seem to upset the blooming schedule - they bloom well. Anne King

My beds are all on slopes, since that's all I have. And they get routinely covered over by washing downward soils. but then again, you add water to clay and you get "slip", a great ceramic for throwing pots! LOL so it does "move" easily. Our native soil is nearly pure clay.

But, even in the flattest areas, this happens. and the new ones seem to always grow under the old ones in our heavy clay soil.