xenia,and leather not looking good.

[mpd525]

i've got a leather, and xenia, both looked good for about a week, and then slowly they started looking drab, especially the leather. but they are both starting to look brown. and the xenia is not opening up at all, and the leather opens but it doesn't have the green branches like it used to. temp is 80, ph 8.4, 0 nitrites, 0 amonia, and 20 nitrates, i'm going to do a water change tommorow for the trates, but i've done that before and it didn't help. should i be adding something to help. all i add right now, is purple up, and phytoplan or cyclops-eeze about 1 a week. pls help. thanks.

 

[fsn77]

How long has the leather looked bad? What type of leather is it? Sometimes they won't show any polyps for a couple of days if it's about to shed. Is it kind of shiny looking? If so, that's a good indication that it's about to shed. In general, leathers take time to adjust to change. A week or so is nothing in the lifespan of a leather.

Xenia can be touchy... it does well in some tanks and completely melts away in others.

Are both in areas of moderate flow? Each does well in moderate flow in our tank, as well as in moderate lighting. What's your lighting like?

Have you checked your calcium and alkalinity lately? If our alkalinity gets low in our tank, our leather lets me know -- it won't extend its polyps as much and won't open up all the way.

 

[mpd525]

the leather hasn't looked the same for a couple of weeks, when i first got it, it was just an off white with green branches, and it doesn't really have polyps, i believe it's a colt, it kind of looks like asparagus. now it's color is grey, or almost brown, and the green looks like more like a brown until you turn the actinics on. the xenia on the other hand was doing decent it never pulsed but the polyps would open, now they won't open and it's turned a real dark brown, and some of the tentalces polyps are white on the tip. tested water today, everything at zero, calcium, at 390, and alkalinity was high. but ph 8.3, trates, trites, and ammonia were 0. the leather i've moved a few times, because i didn't think he had enough flow, because the branches layed on the substrate, and the xenia, was getting blown around quite a bit so i moved him also. but i moved the leater into an area of higher flow. and my lights are 130wt pc's. the xenia is now closer to the light, and the leather, is still on the bottom. and no the leather, isn't shiny. it's base has shruken way down from what it was when i bought it.

 

[fantastic4]

Xenia opinion:

Move very close to light, they love wave making water movement, not intense flow, just enough flow for them to sway back and forth randomly. Add Iodine immediately (Kent or Loguls is perfect) if you are not dosing now. Ensure your water is not in the mid 80 or above, Xenia will wilt in high temp 100%. I think the Xenia turn darker when exposed to brighter lighting. i.e. your move toward the top of the tank. This is ok in my experience. If your not dosing iodine, run to store now and dose today, results are immediate.

Good luck

 

[mpd525]

yep, xenia looks great, moved him up, added iodine, and it looks better now, than it did before, and the leather is starting to look a little better, since addidng the iodine. thanks.

 

[speckled trout]

Mine stopped pulsing and started wilting until I moved it towards the light and put more alternating current on it. Now it opens great. Started pulsing again, too

 

[mpd525]

same here, now if i could just figure out what the deal with my leather is. Then xenia, is actually pulsing, which it wasn't doing after i first put it in the tank.

 

[leapfroggg]

i use reef plus and keep temp about 76 my xenia has become a weed all over