How to move xenia to different location?

[rdmpe]

I bought some LR that has a lot of xenia on it. I am going to do some rockscaping this weekend and the xenia is not part of the plan in it's current location.

I want to save as much of it as possible to get it growing on my back glass and overflow. How do I accomplish this? Should I try to remove somewhat "whole" patches of it with a razor blade? Is there a better way to remove patches of it that can be rubberbanded to rubble pieces?

TIA
Randy

 

[Shooter7]

Ugh...when you mess with xenia, it shrinks all up, releases lots of nasty crud into the water, smells terrible, is difficult to get it all off of rock, and slimes up so bad you can't even hold onto it. I don't envy you your job.

 

[rdmpe]

LOL thanks Dave, I think

I know it really smells gross. I'm trying to picture getting a razorblade under it when it is attached to rough live rock. I imagine it is going to get torn up... I'm going to have to do it in the tank in some cases. In other cases I may be able to pull the rockout and sit it in a tub of water or something.

I don't want to leave the LR out of the water as it is full of life, sponges, etc. that I don't want to damage or kill.

 

[jmcmahon66]

I have had some luck removing xenia by using a toothpick under the base and prying it up little by little. Yes, it does shrink and slime, but it does not have a very strong grip on my rocks. I have removed whole colonies this way with minimal damage. Otherwise, a new razor blade with 1 swift cut should cause the least damage.

 

[Shooter7]

You're doing it "in tank" too? Yeah, as above it's easy to slice and move, it's the business of getting ALL of it off. Because if you don't, you'll have little baby xenias popping up from the remains on the rock in no time.

 

[rdmpe]

Yeah I have a feeling I'll have that anyway. I'm seeing it now, where here and there I see tiny xenia starting. I think I'm having a similar issue with kenya tree corals. I seem to have little ones all over the place...

 

[rdmpe]

I guess if it's a real problem I could nuke them with some very hot water in a turky baster or something...

 

[Shooter7]

I doubt that would be effective...as long as you had small pieces of it left over, you'd get new growth. If I were you, I'd plan out a process of cutting off the pieces you want to keep, removing the rock and placing it in a bucket or tub of saltwater, then using a firm bristled plastic brush to scrub the remains off of the rock, rinse well and return the rock to the tank. After that, keep an eye on it and immediately destroy any tiny new ones that could have been missed in the scrubbing.

 

[rdmpe]

You know what we need is some sort of laser strong enough to zap stuff like this, with fiberoptics so that we can put it right where we want it...

 

[rdmpe]

Well I used a small stainless steel knife and just worked it slowly along the edge and got up underneat it, similar to the toothpick method that jmcmahon66 mentioned above.

There was one rock that was very porous. I could not get into the little nooks and crannies. So that was difficult and I'm sure there is a decent amount of tissue left in the rock.

So if there are little shreds that get torn loose and are floating around the tank am I going to end up with xenia all over the place??? :eek1: