Xenia dieing should i pull from tank

[MissNano]

Well pretty much says it all in the heading.. my xenia is dieing, it is all shrunk over and its tips fell off and its stalks have holes in them as if they were just dissolving.. should i pull from the tank? Will it crash my tank...

 

[Alysiak00]

ABSOLUTELY! If your xenia is "melting" and "dissolving" (terms we like to use) then yes definitely take it out. It would necessarily "crash" your tank but its a lot of added nitrates and ammonia. Do you happen to know what caused it? also do you have a picture

 

[MissNano]

yeah, it the damage was done in between my nitrates and ammonia getting out of wack, or from the resault of me having to do a massive water change because of the ammonia and nitrates getting out. However when i did the water change it dropped my salt level A LOT to a 1.016, i guess i messed up and didnt mix enough salt. I am currently getting it up slowly, it is at a 1.019 now... UG this is a disaster, i am loosing a lot because of this

 

[Alysiak00]

Holy crap. I'm sorry to hear that. Wats your setup and what changed recently to spike ur parameters?

 

[drew1]

Was there anything else that took a hit except the xenia? My experience is that a dieing xenia isn't going to impact your tank, unless the tank is small and the xenia is really big. However, I also have found that once the xenia starts to go bad it doesn't usually turn around. However, if your parameters are back where they should be, and a your existing xenia starts dropping its fingers, these fingers will often take hold somewhere else in the tank. But it doesn't sound like your parameters are where they belong yet anyway. What caused the ammonia to begin with?

 

[MissNano]

I have no idea what happened to my tank. I dont know what died or what happened i Just tested it cause my anemone was not looking the best and noticed everything was out of wack, started doing small water changes and but it was not doing any good so i did a massive water change. Yes, i lost two of my bulls eye corals and my anemone is pretty bleached and i cant get him to eat. However my starfish is doing excellent...

 

[tzhanks]

Keep that xenia rock in a small container and once it has all fallen off put the rock back in the tank and in about a month or two you should notice the xenia starting to grow back.

 

[expyman]

I cannot seem to keep xenia in my tank for long periods of time. It used to flourish everywhere like a weed. Now it just withers away.

 

[Kyle555]

I have the exact same problem...only thing that seem to grow wild in my tank these days are zoas....xenia die within a week

 

[rwb500]

i second the post about saving the rock. xenia can come back from seemingly nothing. if its a small colony i say just let it die in the tank.

 

[blasterman789]

Xenia is one of those strange critters that either drives you nuts as a pest, or you can't grow it. Xenia is actually sensitive to water parameters and short term changes that won't bother LPS/SPS.

Biggest thing that will hurt Xenia is a sudden jump in temp. I've lost Xenia when my A/C went out when my tank jumped to 84F in a few hours, but my LPS/SPS could have cared less.

Sudden ammonia spikes.

Sudden pH drops.

Xenia actually thrives under high nitrate.

 

[scuba guy ron]

Xenia in my tank have reached plague proportions. I have to prune about 30+ heads per month. Once a year ill get one head in the tank that randomly just starts to turn brown and wither away.I've noticed that it is one of the older heads in the tank. Since it has always seems to be an older one to go and I never seem to see any issued with the wrest of them or anything else in my very well stocked reef I wonder if it may just be a life span issue meaning old age. I haven't been able to find any info on their lifespan so don't quote me on this.