Xenia corals keep dying

[antonio84]

Hello guys, this is my very first post, so be nice with me (especially for my English).

I have a marine tank, 110 litres (how many US gallons?). Roughly 12 Kg of live rock, and 5-7Kg of live sand. The aquarium is almost 4 months old.

My current stock comprise two clown fish (ocellaris), two peppermint shrimps and three cromis. On the corals side, I have a very happy green mushroom and quite a few zoas (which came along with a live rock). Almost forgot, lights are 2 T8, 36 Watts in total.

Now, I recently bought a pulsing xenia. Long story short, it died after night. I went back to the shop, in case the one I got was actually somehow ill, and they gave me another one, slightly bigger. This seemed to be happy yesterday (it was almost fully open after a couple of hours), but again this morning, all the polyps were smaller and shorter, and it looked like also this one was about to pass away.

I know that I should give you other details, but I really don't know which ones!

Thank you!

 

[scooter31707]

110 liters is 29 gallons. First have you tested your parameters, i.e. Alk, Ca, and Mg? Second, Xenia's are gone sometimes just to melt away so to speak. Third, where do you have it position in your tank. You should have it placed towards the bottom for a few days so it can get acclimated to your lights in your tank. They should have moderate light and moderate to high flow. I suggest give it a few days to see how it responses. IME, my xenia would go in for a few hours and come back out.

 

[antonio84]

These are my parameters (I don't have the Alk yet):
PH: 7.9
NO2: 0
NO3: 5
NH4: 0
Ca: 490
Mg: 1500
Temp: 25°C
Salinity: 1.025

The xenia is near the bottom, but it started to die over night, when the lights are switched off.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Do you have any pictures? They might look like they are dying but actually they are going to sleep. They shrink into themselves for the night.

Your water appears to be fine IMO and with most corals or fish they need time to adjust to your tank and it's parameters. Don't go throw it away because it shrinks up into nothing. They might even do this during the daytime as well. It's all part of them getting use to your tank. .

 

[RA]

Your lighting is very low. I would upgrade the light.

 

[antonio84]

I will take a couple of pictures tomorrow morning. RA, I know that my lights are not ideal for corals, but I really doubt that that's the reason why my xenias keep dying after a few hours at night (when the lights were supposed to be off anyway).

 

[CoralBeauty13]

Mine shrink up to skinny little stalks and then bloom to big and pretty....never found out why it does that but it does.

 

[RA]

The other thing is that your mag is too high. Xenia isn't going to like it at 1500.

 

[lviva003]

Xenia are very hardy... How old are the test kits? I think they might of been closed... Just give them time to acclimate, especially since your tank is new.

 

[RA]

Also what are you using to check your salinity? I ask that because if you aren't dosing anything then your cal & mag are high, which leads me to believe your salinity is higher than you think.

 

[christopher7]

Mine close up every night. They look like little heads of broccoli.

 

[antonio84]

I am using a hydrometer to check salinity. Anyway, I couldn't take any picture because the xenia had melted completely within a few hours. There's nothing left now.

 

[lostintheocean]

xenia generally only pulses with proper ph I would raise it to 8.2/8.3. You also need stronger lighting to grow corals.

 

[Jconsing]

+1 for stronger lighting and maybe a bit more flow. Did you try acclimating them before putting them in or just dump them in?

 

[Qballv1]

I've also found that if KH is too low they wont pulse either.

 

[w00dman]

Hello guys, this is my very first post, so be nice with me (especially for my English).

I have a marine tank, 110 litres (how many US gallons?). Roughly 12 Kg of live rock, and 5-7Kg of live sand. The aquarium is almost 4 months old.

My current stock comprise two clown fish (ocellaris), two peppermint shrimps and three cromis. On the corals side, I have a very happy green mushroom and quite a few zoas (which came along with a live rock). Almost forgot, lights are 2 T8, 36 Watts in total.

Now, I recently bought a pulsing xenia. Long story short, it died after night. I went back to the shop, in case the one I got was actually somehow ill, and they gave me another one, slightly bigger. This seemed to be happy yesterday (it was almost fully open after a couple of hours), but again this morning, all the polyps were smaller and shorter, and it looked like also this one was about to pass away.

I know that I should give you other details, but I really don't know which ones!

Thank you!

Ahhah António, já disse o que tinhas que fazer. A tua ricordea estás prestes a dividir-se

Kill that f****g Aiptasias and get a new light.

 

[NYCBOB]

How mature is ur tank?