pulsing xenia

[nodoubt471]

Hi all,

A few weeks ago a I purchased a pulsing xenia from my LFS. It was happily pulsing away in the dealer's tank, I took it home and acclimated it according to their directions, and it was fine for the first 12 or so hours. The next day, it was all shriveled and decrepit looking. I have other corals in the tank that are fine, including some mushrooms, button polyps, and a kenya tree. I have read that xenia is a barometer for the tank- is this true?

my pertinent levels:
nitrate<1
nitrite<1
ammonia 0
phosphate<1

The LFS reccommended I dose iodine, and I have been dosing Lugol's solution per direction but my Iodine levels are still undetectable. If anybody has any ideas about what I should do, please help!

 

[Bagz]

i have the same thing happen to me help us lol..

 

[Bagz]

anybody

 

[reefwick]

Not too much is known about xenia. It is kind of hit or miss in different tanks. I know they like "dirty" waters. FWIW I had the same thing happen to the xenia I brought home. It was cool for like a day then shriveled up, turn into little stumps of goo looked like. In the next 2-3 weeks started to grow little hands again and is now back beter than ever.

 

[Fred_J]

I agree with reefwick, also Xena is a very poor shipper. It has problems almost every time it is moved from one tank to another. If it makes it past the first week or two it should be fine. It is also unknown what makes it pulse, sometime it does other times it doesn't.
Fred

 

[hisc1ay]

Xenia is crazy. My entire tank crashed, and the xenia "melted" into little piles of goo. Not kidding...it was like slime on the rocks. A month later that goo became a forest of pulsing xenia. Maybe what you have died, but there's a good chance new polyps will grow. Just give it a few days or a couple weeks, and you should start to see new heads popping out.

-j

 

[nodoubt471]

ok well that is promising news, thanks guys, i guess i will just have to wait it out.

 

[Pandora]

nodoubt, what was said above is true, in addition, they absorb nitrate directly from the water column, and some believe that really low nitrates could be part of the problem with the "hit or miss" nature of some being able to keep them and some not. My nitrates always hover around 15, and my xenia grows like crazy.