Pulsing Xenia

[korbynlehr]

We have a stalk of pulsing xenia that has grown larger than we want. My wife wants to cut the excess off and maybe take it to a LFS or something. She wants to take scissors and cut it at the base of the stalk as close as possible. She wants to know if what it left attached to the rock will regenerate? Or will it rot and cause toxins to spread throught the water? Or will it release spores all over our tanks?
I want to know if we cut it can we put it in a glass cup in the tank with rubble rock and get it to attach.

Advice?


Thanks!

 

[russ49merc]

yes you can cut it. won"t hurt it at all. but i wouldn"t cut it as close as possible leave some to grow. and yes the cup idea is good it will quickly attach to anything

 

[korbynlehr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8536043#post8536043 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by russ49merc
yes you can cut it. won"t hurt it at all. but i wouldn"t cut it as close as possible leave some to grow. and yes the cup idea is good it will quickly attach to anything

So if we don't want it to grow from the spot we are cutting it from and we cut as close as possible will it still grow or will that area rot and cause any toxins in the water?

 

[jcgso]

The pulsing xenia in my tank grows like a weed and needs to be trimmed frequently. I use a razor blade to take it off the glass and needle nose plyers to pull it off the rock. It keeps growing back and spreading and has never caused any problems with other life in the tank. It's a great source of freebies at the LFS.

 

[korbynlehr]

Any idea how long it takes to re-attach to rubble?

 

[jcgso]

I use super glue gel to attach to rubble. Works great and instantly.

 

[korbynlehr]

So dumb question. How do you do this? Do you take the xenia out of the tank dry off the area you are going to glue and put the glue on the rock and attch? How long do you wait until you put the xenia back in?

 

[nugg91]

not a stupid question at all...i am wondering the same thing

 

[jcgso]

That is exactly what I do. I take it out of the tank, dry off the part I'm attaching to the rock/rubble and put a good amount of the super glue on the rock. I let the glue set for a minute or so, then attach the Xenia. After a couple more minutes it goes back in the tank. I may take several hours for it to open up. It's worked great so far.

 

[russ49merc]

I have a nano cube that i use to grow out xenia. I just throw it in there and let it attach where it wants too. I have alot of rock rubble in the bottom and when I put it in there I just turn off the pumps for a cou.ple of hours. and it only takes a very short time to attach

 

[doomicon]

Ok if you cut as close to the base of the Xenia as possible you may get something like the below pic. Whereas, the Xenia grows back short and stubby.

 

[jbittner]

I use a plastic toothpic to attach to rubble. I poke the tooth pick through the xenia and then into a small hole in the rock. In a few days I remove the tooth pick and all is complete. My xenia produces to much mucus to superglue

 

[salsipuedes]

my way of letting it attach is getting clear plastic containers and attaching styrofoam toi the top of em so the plastic tupperware floats. drill holes in the container so water gets through but not xenia, add rubble to the bottom of the tub, add cut xenia. it'll attach naturally and heal quickly since it'll get more light at the surface.

 

[xtm]

I rubberband mine to a small rock. In a few days it's totally attached and ready to dominate the whole tank

 

[Cuby2k]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8616964#post8616964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtm
I rubberband mine to a small rock. In a few days it's totally attached and ready to dominate the whole tank

From what I have seen and read this is the preferred method.

Minimizing the time spent out of the water is crucial for any xenia and the slime problem . . . oh baby do they slime. How can you glue that stuff?

jbittner, I like the toothpick method as well, I think that is simple enough and would work quite well too.

 

[jbittner]

easy and you don't have to take them out of the water