Xenia trouble

I

irishmcdermott

New member
Hello all,

I have a 10 gallon nano with about 10 lbs of LR. Filtration is an Aqua Clear 300 modified into a fuge (thanks to the DIY thread) and there's some rubble in there bot no chaeto yet. It's not overloaded since it has a ocell. clown, a blue devil damsel (nn "Duke") and 2 cleaner shrimp (not sure what type). Nitrates are 0, ph is 8.2-8.4, temp 82 degrees, water flow is moderately strong.

Picked up a xenia 2 weeks (the pinkish ones) ago and conditioned for 2-3 hrs with a turkey baster every 15 minutes. Things were pulsing along well then 2 days ago it started to close up every now and then. Now it doesn't pulse at all. Dead? Splitting? Any suggestions?
 
Some tanks Xenia grows like a weed others not at all. I have also heard that Xenia likes fairly dirty water. If you see it start to melt away through it away.
 
Xenia

Xenia

I’ve had my Xenia for about 2 months now and am starting to notice the feathery part of the polyps “fingers?” is going away. She still comes out all day and has grown is this a bad sign of things to come with her?
 
136391PICT2596.JPG
Xenia Pic
 
irishmcdermott --
Have you noticed a particular reason for the Xenia to close up? Ours closes frequently during the day, usually because a snail, crab, cleaner shrimp, or fish has rubbed up against it. Is it looking ok otherwise (any milky secretions, polyps / heads missing, discolored spots, etc.)?

Robs26reef --
Is it all of the polyps or just a few that the feathery parts are missing from (can't really tell from the pic)?
 
Xenia is a very tricky coral. Some people have great luck and others dont. Luckily it is usually cheap if you can find it locally.
 
all. i also have 2 large feather dusters that started to look "skinny " i mean lack of feather but a fue days ago they looked good and now ther better than before.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8279365#post8279365 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by algundo
Xenia is a very tricky coral. Some people have great luck and others dont. Luckily it is usually cheap if you can find it locally.
Click to expand...


One thing I have found is that they don't like new aquariums. I had a 30 gallon tank with a modified back pack 2, a fluval 304 canister filter running carbon and sponge pads, 4X95 watt VHO bulbs and 2 mazi-jet powerheads. My first trial at 4 months didn't go well. My friend had a 125 that was absolutely covered with xenia and took some of his abck to my tank and in 6 months mine was covered in it too.

I
 
I seem to be having the same problem. Only it is limited to only a few stalks and not the entire colony. The entire hand has seems to melt away and the coral has shrunk considerably....
 
That may be due to trauma, whether from shipping or from fish nipping.
Also check to make sure that now sweeper tentalces are attacking it.
They do this to kill anything growing nearby. if in doubt take a red light over the tank in the middle of the night to check it out.
 
I agree that xenia seems to do better in established tanks. I also think xenia growth has alot to do with water movement and essential minerals. Particularly iodine. Reason I say that is because my xenia would slowly wind down as trace elements and minerals dropped in my tank. As soon as I did a water change (replenishing them somewhat) they would open up fully and pulse again. Keep in mind, I dont use additives of any kind, and rely on water changes to provide what my tank needs. Dunno what others might say, thats just been my experience with it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8287019#post8287019 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thedraven
I agree that xenia seems to do better in established tanks. I also think xenia growth has alot to do with water movement and essential minerals. Particularly iodine. Reason I say that is because my xenia would slowly wind down as trace elements and minerals dropped in my tank. As soon as I did a water change (replenishing them somewhat) they would open up fully and pulse again. Keep in mind, I dont use additives of any kind, and rely on water changes to provide what my tank needs. Dunno what others might say, thats just been my experience with it.
Click to expand...

I don't think there is any reason to dose Iodine in a tank. Iodine can be toxic so I never dose it, besides the test for it is expensive and a pain in the arse to use. Doing partial water changes does work though. 5-10% a week will really keep them growing like mad.

Just look at pictures in the wild. Xenia like current and well oxygenated water. from what I understand from the research I have done, most of the nourishment they get comes from lighting.

Honestly, I think Xenia is a lot easier to keep than you guys think.
Test your water, Make sure you have good lighting, current and it does fine.
 
a 50 percent water change would be what i do first.if the coral looks better do another in 2 days.i never had problems with xenia as long as parameters,and temp is controlled.they can shrivel if you change sg too quickly.fish and shrimp do pick at them but aside from that they are hardy.
 
even though your parameters seem fine if there is a trace element or mineral out of synch xenia will not look good.i noticed that water changes on my frag tank always make xenia look better.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8289251#post8289251 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JamesJR
I don't think there is any reason to dose Iodine in a tank. Iodine can be toxic so I never dose it...
Click to expand...

Thats very true, it can be toxic if used excessively, which is why I dont dose it (read my message carefully). But alot of reputable sources point to proper iodine levels being of particular importance to xenia, which is what I was pointing out. Im sure other minerals are important to xenia growth as well, iodine is just the one most referenced. Sorry if you mistook me.
 
I dose iodine and saw a significant increase in the growth of all of my soft corals. I don't test for iodine, as there's too many possibilities for false readings, even with the kit Salifert makes. Yes, overdosing can be toxic, but iodine is also quickly taken up. The greatest risk of overdosing iodine is not from dosing too frequently (unless you feel the need to dose it more frequently than label directions), but accidentally adding too much during a single dosing. That said, even slightly undosing based upon the label directions can provide results, while reducing your chances of overdosing greatly (in case you don't like testing for iodine, want to use it, but want to be safe).

As far as temps go, our tank stays in the 78 - 82 F range (depeding on the season) and our Xenia is thriving.
 
I dont think 80 ish temp is a problem. I have successfully kept xenia in my tank with temp variances of 77 low end and up to 85 max (hot summer day, I forgot to turn on the AC!!!)

Though a few of my other corals didnt like the temp spike.. The xenia kinda shrunk, the feathers on the fingers twisted up. Buy the next day is had expanded back to normal size, and a few days later it looked totally normal. Also during the heat spike it seperated a small piece from the foot and fragged itself...so it looked like i have more frags without the actuall fraggin..and man the small seperated frag grew like nuts...day 1- just one small 1/4 inch head...day 3-5 eight heads all fully grown and 1/2 inch each in size !

Maybe i just got really lucky but my heat spike actually was kinda good...no other fatalities ! whew....

Also, this was my experience...and i am definately a newbie..so please take my info lightly !
 
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