Favia? and zoos

[davidandliz]

I have what i believe is a rock with both favia and zoos that it... i bought it from an lfs like this .. the rock is pretty much covered except the very bottom..
my question is, the favia and zoos are right next to eachother and the zoos next to the favia are almost closed all the time...
the favia is spreading to whatever area of the rock that is avail and i am concerned this is going to become an issue and may harm either the favia or zoos

is there anyway to seperate them or does the favia spread to other rocks if i put the up against it?

 

[Gordonious]

Favia sort of build there own rock or skeleton from my understanding, so they really wouldn't spread to other rocks. Though if there was rocks close together in a year or so they might attach them together. The zoanthids you may have better luck getting to spread.

What I would do: First I would try to remove one of the healthy zoanthids carefully so regardless of what happens to the hurt zoanthids you have a save one somewhere and don't lose, "The genetic code" as Ken likes to say. The I'd place the side of the rocks with the zoanthids near another rock so they might have a chance to spread.(Keeping in mind the lighting and flow needs of the corals) If the zoanthids successfully move elsewhere then try to move off more. Let me know if you have questions.

BTW, if you want to wait a little while I think there is going to be some fragging demonstrations at the next DRC meeting. Perhaps you could pick up some tips there. I could bring in some zoanthids I have that have over grown some plugs and needs to me moved to a larger rock. Perhaps I could demonstrate my method of propagating xenia as well? Any other requests? :-D

Jonathon

 

[a1amap]

Or bring the rock to the meeting and Jon can show you how to frag the rock.

 

[davidandliz]

sounds good...

yeah my only concern is that the favia may be hurting the zoos since the ones right next to it close up alot.
ill take a picture tonight.

i have a few other zoo rocks i got from premium i would like to frag.. they are overflowing with zoos.

thanks for the help guys.

liz

 

[davidandliz]

oh jon,

for some reason my zenia are melting... i have lost almost half of what i had

at first i thought it was just the original colony dying off but the ones surrounding it are dying too..
i have some that i had fragged on the opposite of the tank and they are fine

 

[Gordonious]

Another good reason to frag stuff. If you lose the mother colony you don't have to spend more money to get new ones. You also run the risk that no one locally have to get wild caught animals.

Please don't bring your favia and zoanthids, if either coral is stressed you don't wan to transport it to someone else's house, frag it, then transport it back. I don't know exactly what condition they are in and don't want to risk it. I might be able to come over to your house and help you, but don't stress the animals out more then needed.

 

[davidandliz]

So is this a normal thing that happens.. xenia dying after a period of time?
I mean, my husband is probably happy because he thought they were taking over the tank but i quite liked them.

 

[Gordonious]

Well when something like this happens you have to take a look at what has changed with your tank. First I wonder if you have changed the type of salt or additives you use. Xenia is a weird coral and seems to take over some peoples tanks and just melt away in others. Some people have theorized that there is a particular element that isn't required in higher concentrations by most corals, but is for xenia. I should know which element and why, but my memory fails me. If you have changed salt brands I would suggest switching back.

Try doing some searches as well on xenia dying off. I have seen lots of similar threads in the past. I can think of one particular one I posted on in another forum, but here at Reef Central we deny the existence of other forums.

 

[davidandliz]

JON PM"D

 

[a1amap]

Mine melted a while back and finally 2 stalks are coming back. When they get bigger I plan on fragging them just in case.

 

[davidandliz]

i tried to frag mine but they either died or moved onto my lr on the other side of the tank. im going to try again tonight.

 

[a1amap]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11946909#post11946909 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidandliz
i tried to frag mine but they either died or moved onto my lr on the other side of the tank. im going to try again tonight.

I have heard xenia need iodine to do well. Mine seen to be doing better reciently. The only difference is currently I don't skim and I started dosing a supplement that also contains iodine.

 

[cdangel0]

I used to have a nice thriving colony. Then one day, for no apparent reason...poof.....melted in like a day and a half. Never did figure out why.

 

[Gordonious]

Craig, didn't I give you another frag a couple months ago? Did it survive?