Hi, ever since converting my 125 reef to a 500, i have not been able to keep my xenia. all my other corals are doing fine. they are not growing as quickly as before but atleast they are. my xenia are the only ones that have all died off. actually i have a few pieces left but they went from normal looking to whitish and shriveled up. the others that this happened to died off within a couple of weeks when they shriveled up. the last few have been around for about 3 months and havent died yet. i have plenty of lighting...could i have too much for xenia? my nitrates are a little high but i am trying to do more water changes, just expensive with this size of a tank. i do add iodine and strontium. was never sure if i over dosed so i backed off a bit and it still hasnt helped. any suggestions?
xenia problem
- Thread starter speenach
- Start date
fish_taste_good
Premium Member
they typically like dirty water, although people will say they have super clean water and they do fine.
My guess is too much light. They seem to do better under moderate light IMO.
My guess is too much light. They seem to do better under moderate light IMO.
They have enough flow hitting them but not too much like some people do. they are not waving around like crazy in the tank but they do move. only much better when they are completely out and doing well. I originally had 2 power compact lights on them like i had in the other tank. they werent doing good so i upgraded to a MH thats about 3-4 watts per gallon now. still no good. no good after a 100 gallon water change. no good in dirty water.
Chesterfield68
New member
My xenias did the same thing, in fact all of them died. I posted a thread on here last week but nobody seemed to have any good reasons for it. I too transfered mine but they did very well for about 4 months then all of them shriviled up. I don't get it. They went through a stage just before they died of doing extrememly well, and even doubled in numbers. Im not sure If I will buy them again, although I love the way they looked in my tank
Blown 346
Active member
Like said above Xenia likes water with proteins and such, some Nitrate wont be a problem for them as they will act like a macro algae and soak it up.
Xenia has ben known to just crash for no reason. You can have it for years and out of no where not be able to keep it alive.
I have mine in high lighting and medium water flow.
Xenia has ben known to just crash for no reason. You can have it for years and out of no where not be able to keep it alive.
I have mine in high lighting and medium water flow.
SBV
New member
I've got the same problem here but I've never upgraded. I have anthelia that grows like weeds along with a full tank full of softies and LPS's. I CANNOT get xenia to grow in my tank. I've done the dosing deal with iodine. No luck. I've switched my 175 watt MH's back to PC's but still no good. I've went 2 weeks without a water change. No good. This is a strange coral that has caused me to waste alot of money trying to nail this problem down. I just don't get it. Everything else in our tank is growing like weeds but this....I have the red sea pom pom type. I have a 60 gallon tall w/ 20 gallon fuge....Someone help us out!
flowerseller
Premium Member
Mine did and I thought I was blessed, but it's starting to come back
sanjosereefer
New member
I see these threads once and a while, and it seems like xenia is a hit or miss thing. I my tank, I have 3 healthy stalks. Pulse all day, but never spread. I used to want them to spread, but now happy that they say in the same spot. I haven't heard a good reason on why they grow or don't...anybody know the secret? I've heard they like "dirty" water, but others have grown them side-by-side with SPS which like clean water.
Go figure.
Go figure.
XeniaMania
Active member
If you can remove the rock, dip them. I had a xenia that wasn't looking so hot, and I dipped it in a cup of water w/ 1 drop of Lugols and it perked right up within a day. Usually when they don't do well, there's a lack of nutrient in the water. I keep mine under 9wpg and some grow super fast, while others are looking good, just not growing as fast. Their growth has slowed down even more since my nitrates are kept at 0 now. I have a lot of xenias so I'm doing quite a bit of experimenting with them. It really depends on which xenia you have since some like lower lights, while others enjoy the high light.
xeniamania
now we're getting somewhere. what do elongata like? ive kept them with 3-4 wpg before and they did awesome, not this time. i dont think i can keep up with the nutrients in this size of a tank but i atleast put something (iodine, strontium) in every few days. its better than nothing i suppose.
now we're getting somewhere. what do elongata like? ive kept them with 3-4 wpg before and they did awesome, not this time. i dont think i can keep up with the nutrients in this size of a tank but i atleast put something (iodine, strontium) in every few days. its better than nothing i suppose.
SBV
New member
Humm...I have only 2 clowns in our tank. I have 0 trates. That could be my problem, or, one of them. I've tried the lugol's dip to no avail. Kinda weird, the silver branch pulsing xenia grows like MAD all over the back glass and the white pumping xenia (the type xeniamania has in his avatar) dosen't grow at all. I think its got smaller in the 3 months I've had it
:dunno:
:dunno:
