Xenia Collapse?

[gkb]

A search around the internet for Xenia and "Anthony Calfo" will produce some informative reading.

Everyone above has just about covered it...except pH and alkalinity. Mr. Calfo does an excellent job of outlining these aspects (as he does with many aspects of reef keeping).

I apologize, but I am simply too lazy to search for his discussion about this. Otherwise, I could append more information.

 

[gkb]

Oh, alright..
-----
Stressed Xenia? Check for low pH and ALK 1/21/05
Mr. Fenner,
(Anthony Calfo in his stead)
I have a problem here. I have 2 stalks of pulsing xenia, and as of yesterday they both have flopped there pulsing stalks over and are limp. they are getting a greenish brown color to the hands, and it seems like the hands seem to be bubbling up. Is this normal?
(It's hard to say without a picture... just speculating. Do check your pH (needs to be 8.3 minimum) and Alk (towards 12 dKH for Xeniids)
It almost looks like the one stalk is ready to split again. I can see the stalk separating. what could be wrong?
(if not pH or ALK, perhaps lack of water flow)
placed as:
middle of rockwork
moderate - high flow
lights 2x96w PC on a 46gallon
parameters:
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20
alk 1.9 meq/l
ph 8.0 - 8.2
ca 500ppm
temp 77 - 78.5
Please help, is my xenia dying?
(Yikes! your pH is flat and your ALK likely low too because your Calcium is getting dangerously high (risk of precipitation soon... perhaps crash). Please ease up here mate. Do a large water change to dilute all and then resume with more balanced dosing (as with two part liquid supplements like ESV brand). What's worse is that this pH reading is likely a daytime reading and the level plunges much lower at night - double yikes! At least for Xenia, under 8.0 is scary. Aim for 8.3 by night and slightly higher by day. Kalkwasser dosing can help this. Anthony)

This is basically the summary of the article he wrote. Can anyone guess where the above information came from? SHHH!!!

 

[Mounda]

My xenia started to shrivel and die off after a temp spike while a was away but no LPS or other corals seemed to be affected by the transient water temp at 86F.

 

[scuba guy ron]

In my experience Xenia will shrivel and disappear if your water is too clean it likes cruddy water quality.
I have never had luck with it when in a sps system but in a softy tank they should do pretty good. Try turning your skimmer off for a couple days and see if this helps if so then you have nailed your problem.
hope this helps

I dont agree at all. I have xenia that hs been growing and growing for over 4 yrs. My water is as clean as can be.

 

[thebanker]

+1 scuba guy ron. the dirty water thing doesn't make sense to me. especially since they come from very clean tropical waters in nature.

 

[alton]

For years I had pom pom xenia, I probably made $1,000 selling it to local fish stores. In one tank if I ran a filter pad or the skimmer too much they would quit pulsing. When I sold this tank the person who bought it did not want Xenia so he dipped the rocks in low salinity water and killed off all the xenia, but did not hurt the other sofities that where attached to the same rock. My other tank was a 200 solid with xenia and frogspawn and loaded with a lot of fish including a clown trigger and a large imperator that I grew from a juvy and a juvy imperator that swam with the adult. Then one day the adult imperator started hating everyone so I sold all the fish but my wifes flame angel and the adult imperator and in a month the imp. died? A week later the xenia crahed but the frogspawn stayed strong, and till this day I do not have any xenia. I always believed that xenia loves phosphates and pollution. Now that doesn't mean it won't grow in cleaner water, but I believe like most softies it is a filter feeder and needs to be fed. (One thing I need to add is in the first tank the Nitrates where at 2ppm and the 200 Nitrates where at 5ppm and then dropped to 0 when all I had was a Flame Angel and Mandarin)

 

[talon4x4]

I had a heater stop working, temp dropped down to 73. It killed all my xenia. Some of the other coral didn't look so good, but everything pulled thru and made a comeback. This included SPS, LPS and softies. Everything made it back except the xenia.

 

[bigworm175]

I think temp. and salinity might be that most likely culprits. I don't think water quality is it but that's just anecdotal from the tanks I've had it in and seen it in. From 180+55reef and alton posts I think it was probably the salinity drop that did mine in.

 

[blasterman789]

I've had Xenia colonies wither and die, but I was able to figure out what caused it and it correlates with above.

A heater malfunction caused one die-off. Nothing else in the tank was bothered.

A bad pH test kit caused me run it too low and caused the other die off.

Xenia loves nitrate, but the lack of it won't kill them. It will just cause the base of the stalks to contract and it won't spread.

 

[Orochimaru]

just so I have some proof...I had this tank at above 1.030 salinity and 15 alk. I used to pour pickling lime (the powder) straight into the sump. this is a 40 gal. tank with 10 sump and no skimmer. Now I can't even get any xenia to stay alive. I used to sell to pacific reef in anaheim every other months and had made a couple hundred bucks each time. Plus no water change at 4-6 months at a time. So I don't know what to say.

 

[thebanker]

Orochimaru - who buys xenia these days? I have lots, tong's won't buy any more, neither will my other two LFS's down here. any ideas?

 

[scuba guy ron]

I've had Xenia colonies wither and die, but I was able to figure out what caused it and it correlates with above.

A heater malfunction caused one die-off. Nothing else in the tank was bothered.

A bad pH test kit caused me run it too low and caused the other die off.

Xenia loves nitrate, but the lack of it won't kill them. It will just cause the base of the stalks to contract and it won't spread.

My Nitrates are 0. They have been for 3 years. I prune aprox 30 heads a month. where are you getting this info?

 

[Johntjr]

Orochimaru,
Crazy pictures!! Too much xenia?

 

[Crustman]

There are reports of xenia growing profusely on sewage outlet pipes in Indonesia. Reported in Borneman's book. Lots of fish poo can't hurt.

 

[Orochimaru]

Orochimaru - who buys xenia these days? I have lots, tong's won't buy any more, neither will my other two LFS's down here. any ideas?

I don't know...may be these people

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1885770

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1888972

 

[Orochimaru]

Orochimaru,
Crazy pictures!! Too much xenia?

just couldn't get rid of them then. I remember giving them to one RC memeber that was driving down from santa barabara who was going to buy 5 bucks/stalk. When I found out how far he drove, I gave him about 100 bucks work for free. Yet just the other day I pay 5 bucks for one stalk from a local reefer...crazy....anyway I've just bumped my salinity to 1.030 and dkh of 13. If this one stalk take off, I will be extremely lucky....if it doesn't work out, I will try to buy some from "thebanker" if I can get a good deal.

 

[thebanker]

Good call. I'm going to put some ads up in So Cal Reefers.

My friend Leng is starting a new LFS in Laguna Hills, which will be a good home for my excess xenia production. I have way too much, and I need to get rid of it. I can't bear to kill it.

 

[thebanker]

It's interesting, there seems to be a correlation between salinity and xenia health. Since most pink pulsing xenia is of the red sea variety, I wonder if I higher salinity is more closely replicating its natural environment. Does anyone know if the red sea has a higher salinity than other seas?

 

[Orochimaru]

you figure it's call red sea, I wonder if they really are from the red sea? If so, could explain the higher salinity.

 

[redrider911]

What about running gfo and low po4 levels? My xenia have not been extending all the way since I started running gfo (yes I rinsed it).