Xenia coming off rock!!
- Thread starter MrsHaggis
- Start date
dragonland08
New member
Is there direct flow pointing at the xenia? Is it only detaching or is it turning into moosh too? A pic would help a lot.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
yeah definitely try to give us a pic. is it too close to a power head?
This was my Xenia when I first got it.
It had a poorly bit on it which I noticed after a few days.
This is the same Xenia now - I've lost about 3/4 of it!!
There is no direct flow on the Xenia, although it is quite close to the powerhead. The powerhead is pointed in a different direction though!! As you can see in this picture.
It had a poorly bit on it which I noticed after a few days.
This is the same Xenia now - I've lost about 3/4 of it!!
There is no direct flow on the Xenia, although it is quite close to the powerhead. The powerhead is pointed in a different direction though!! As you can see in this picture.
rfosgategt
Premium Member
yeah it doesnt look happy, how much light do they get and are u feeding them?
abulgin
Premium Member
You shouldn't be feeding Xenia. They don't feed on anything you can buy off the shelf. They feed on nitrates and other dissolved organics in your water, but they do need a good amount of light as well. You're likely just polluting your tank by pouring a bunch of liquid foods into it.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/xeniidfdgfaqs.htm
Seriously, your Xenia looks like it's disintegrating/dying. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrate, pH, phosphate and specific gravity? What type of lights (type, wattage, temperature) are you running?
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/xeniidfdgfaqs.htm
Seriously, your Xenia looks like it's disintegrating/dying. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrate, pH, phosphate and specific gravity? What type of lights (type, wattage, temperature) are you running?
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Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 5
PH 8
Phosphate 0
Salinity 1025
Lights are 30 Watts
Temp 26
What is strange is that the branches are coming off one by one - from one side of the rock to the other.
The food I am giving is is TraceMarin from JBL.
All my other corals are doing great - 2 leathers and some green-striped musrhooms.
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 5
PH 8
Phosphate 0
Salinity 1025
Lights are 30 Watts
Temp 26
What is strange is that the branches are coming off one by one - from one side of the rock to the other.
The food I am giving is is TraceMarin from JBL.
All my other corals are doing great - 2 leathers and some green-striped musrhooms.
abulgin
Premium Member
This is likely your problem. Are you using standard fluorescent bulbs? These corals need moderate to high intensity light.
That's not strange--they're dying/disintegrating.
This isn't food--it's trace elements in a bottle. Totally unecessary, and likely poisonous, in a well-maintained aquarium. Are you testing for the Iodine that you're putting into your tank? If you're not testing for something, you shouldn't be putting it into your tank.
Before I bought the Xenia, I posted here to ask about lighting and everyone wrote back and let me know that the lights I had were strong enough since they don't need such strong light. I also checked out a few other websites and I did not find a single one that said they need strong light - low to moderate lighting was only every mentioned.
If they are dying then why are they dying one by one and not the whole lot at the same time? Or at least from different sides of the rock? It seems like they are dying from right to left one after the other.....that pattern just seems a bit odd to me.
OK, so the food might be unnecessary but poisonous??? What poisons would the leading aquarium food company put into a bottle and sell?? Maybe I am just being really naive but if it is poisonous why is it only killing the Xenia and all other corals are flourishing??
If they are dying then why are they dying one by one and not the whole lot at the same time? Or at least from different sides of the rock? It seems like they are dying from right to left one after the other.....that pattern just seems a bit odd to me.
OK, so the food might be unnecessary but poisonous??? What poisons would the leading aquarium food company put into a bottle and sell?? Maybe I am just being really naive but if it is poisonous why is it only killing the Xenia and all other corals are flourishing??
abulgin
Premium Member
I think you got some bad information and/or were looking at bad websites. Xenia definitely need moderate to intense lighting.
See here: http://www.asira.org/xenia
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+1492+2295+2803&pcatid=2803
When I said "poisonous", I didn't mean that the manufacturer puts poison in the bottle :lol: I meant that if you're pouring trace elements, especially Iodine, into your tank 3 times per week -- and you're not testing the levels of what you're putting in -- you are likely polluting/poisoning your system.
I see now from your signature that this is all in a 16 gallon tank and that you have leathers and mushrooms. Leathers and mushrooms are very aggressive/noxious corals and, in such a small volume, are probably killing the Xenia through allelopathy a/k/a chemical warfare. The Xenia is really not compatible with these other corals, especially in such a small volume. You can try running a lot of activated carbon to reduce the effects of the chemical warfare that's being waged here, but you probably won't win the battle.
I doubt the Koralia is the culprit because it doesn't produce laminar flow that would blow a coral off its mount. Rather, I think a combination of inadequate lighting and allelopathy are killing it, and it's being lifted off its mount in the direction that the Koralia is blowing it.
Have you tested your alkalinity?
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Alkalinity is steady at 10/11.
I feed once a week 4cc of each type of tracemarin. There are three. As far as I am aware there is no Iodine in the trace elements! I have read all the info on them and I cannot see anywhere that Iodine is mentioned.
I had no idea that leathers and mushrooms were not compatible with Xenia - no one mentioned that in any of the posts that I had put on here when asking for info. So apart from running activated carbon there is nothing that I can do I guess.
I feed once a week 4cc of each type of tracemarin. There are three. As far as I am aware there is no Iodine in the trace elements! I have read all the info on them and I cannot see anywhere that Iodine is mentioned.
I had no idea that leathers and mushrooms were not compatible with Xenia - no one mentioned that in any of the posts that I had put on here when asking for info. So apart from running activated carbon there is nothing that I can do I guess.
abulgin
Premium Member
Here's what the on-line description of the product says:
JBL TraceMarine supplements the strontium content in marine aquariums and contains barium and cobalt.
JBL TraceMarin 2 is an iodine supplement formulated for salt water aquaria. JBL TraceMarin 2 also contains fluoride, boron and chromium for the professional care of your reef aquarium.
JBL TraceMarin 3 contains a further 16 trace elements such as manganese, zinc, iron, nickel, molybdenium, vanadium, rubidium etc.
Again, these are not food and you should stop using them. All the trace elements your corals need will be contained in your salt mix, and will be replenished with regular, frequent water changes with the exceptions of calcium and magnesium which you may need to dose (with testing).
I still believe your bigger/est problem is the leathers in a 16 gallon tank.
JBL TraceMarine supplements the strontium content in marine aquariums and contains barium and cobalt.
JBL TraceMarin 2 is an iodine supplement formulated for salt water aquaria. JBL TraceMarin 2 also contains fluoride, boron and chromium for the professional care of your reef aquarium.
JBL TraceMarin 3 contains a further 16 trace elements such as manganese, zinc, iron, nickel, molybdenium, vanadium, rubidium etc.
Again, these are not food and you should stop using them. All the trace elements your corals need will be contained in your salt mix, and will be replenished with regular, frequent water changes with the exceptions of calcium and magnesium which you may need to dose (with testing).
I still believe your bigger/est problem is the leathers in a 16 gallon tank.
I have just discovered a small orange animal that is living in a type of "shell" on the same rock as the Xenia that is putting a sort of "Spiders Web" around the Xenia - could this have anything to do with the problems I am having??
Also I have just tested water again and all the parameters are fine except Nitrates which has started to increase rapidly they were at 5 two days ago and now at 40-60......could this be the dying Xenia causing the problem?
Should I remove the xenia from the tank??
Also I have just tested water again and all the parameters are fine except Nitrates which has started to increase rapidly they were at 5 two days ago and now at 40-60......could this be the dying Xenia causing the problem?
Should I remove the xenia from the tank??
abulgin
Premium Member
I don't think the small animal is the culprit/cause. The webbing is likely mucous thrown off from the dying Xenia.
The nitrate spike could be related to dying/disintegrating Xenia. Also, though, the nitrates may have always been this high but your previous tests may have been inaccurate/fouled. Re-do the nitrates test to make sure you get a consistent result.
I would remove any portions of the Xenia that have sloughed off. If you are pretty confident that the entire coral is a goner, then I would just trash the whole thing. In either case, I would do a large water change and run some carbon.
The nitrate spike could be related to dying/disintegrating Xenia. Also, though, the nitrates may have always been this high but your previous tests may have been inaccurate/fouled. Re-do the nitrates test to make sure you get a consistent result.
I would remove any portions of the Xenia that have sloughed off. If you are pretty confident that the entire coral is a goner, then I would just trash the whole thing. In either case, I would do a large water change and run some carbon.
I test my water every week on Sundays and everything has been fine up until now. I tested it today because of all the die off - I tested it twice it is accurate.
There is definitely a small animal producing the webbing - I can see it move inside its shell and I can see it throw out the webbing.
I have removed as much of the die off as possible without disrupting too much. I have RO water being prepared to do a water change. Although I done at 20% water change on Sunday (that's my water change day too).
I will consult with my husband tonight as to the fate of the Xenia!
There is definitely a small animal producing the webbing - I can see it move inside its shell and I can see it throw out the webbing.
I have removed as much of the die off as possible without disrupting too much. I have RO water being prepared to do a water change. Although I done at 20% water change on Sunday (that's my water change day too).
I will consult with my husband tonight as to the fate of the Xenia!
