Xenia is shrinking

[cotter4601]

I've read all the xenia threads, but I'm still a little confused. Yesterday I needed to remove my fish to put in a hospital tank due to ick. In the process I had to remove all the rock I had. My xenia did not like this too well. First it closed up like it normally does at night. Then it started to shrink and quite rapidly. Now it's a very very tiny. It's still standing upright. I did a water change which brought the PH and alk back to where it should be. I use reef crystals so that should have all the stuff I need. Is there still hope of the xenia? Anything I should do? Should I put it closer to the light? I have 120watts of NO. Does reef crystals contain iodine? Should I add this? I do not test for iodine, calc, phosphate, or mag. This is the only coral I have right now. Check out the pic.

 

[fsn77]

Iodine is not a required addition for Xenia to survive. RC does contain a certain amount of it.

I suppose it's not really any of my business, but why don't you test for calcium? I can understand not testing for magnesium or phosphate regularly, but even those are test kits worth having around. If you ever decide to buy a phosphate test kit, get one that measures in the really low range (< 1 ppm), otherwise it won't be all that useful. I wouldn't be concerned about testing for iodine unless you decide to start supplementing it heavily.

As for your Xenia, I'd suggest getting it back up closer to the light. A 55g is rather tall and with NO lighting it's probably struggling to get enough light (although normally this would have it stretching up towards the light more than normal). If you're pH and alkalinity took a big swing with the water change, the Xenia could be trying to adjust to the corrected levels. How low were those levels prior to the water change? Otherwise, it doesn't look all that bad -- looks like it's trying to adjust to the changes more than anything.

 

[cotter4601]

I really apprecate your responses. I am ordering a calcium test kit now. This way I'm not in the dark with it, they aren't too badly priced. I might get a phosphate one too. I'm going to move the xenia when I get home from work to see what that does. Before the water change the PH was between 8 and 8.3 and the dKH was 6 or 7. I thought the PH was about 8, but I can't tell too well with the tetra PH tests.

What is your testing schedule? How often do you test on each test?

 

[fsn77]

What did the pH and alkalinity end up at after the water change?
A pH of 8.0 isn't all that bad, but your alkalinity is indeed a bit low.
I'm with you on the Tetra pH test kits -- those colors aren't the easiest to distinguish between.

 

[cotter4601]

The ph went up to 8.4 maybe 8.6. dKH went back up to 8 or 9. Is dKH the same as alk?

 

[fsn77]

Yep, dKH is a measure of alk.