Sudden death of Xenia

[damo666]

I had a healthy Xenia bought a month ago, settled in really well. Some moved off the disc it was attached to onto rockwork and looks well. However, the "stem" that remains has suddenly fell to one side and withered. All other corals are in good health. I'm concerned as I was advised that xenia was one of the easier corals to keep. Any thoughts welcome. Thanks

 

[northernreefa]

you say some have moved from the disc on to the rock work, are the ones on the rock work still alive? if so it sounds like the initial location you placed them in your tank was not best suited for them hence the reason why they moved. Pulsing xenia is a hardy coral and will tolerate a lot however like all living things in your tank it will try to move to the best real estate it can for its own prosperity...

 

[cuprajake]

xenia likes dirty water.

as i got my nitrates under control, it melted away

 

[Realist]

To be honest it looks great swaying back and fro with the current but god once it gets hold it spreads like wild fire and its hard to control.

 

[cuprajake]

ive got a pussy coral like that. really needs keeping in check

 

[damo666]

The one only the rockwork is fine, although that is only 2" from the one that's died. I wouldn't class my water as "clean", what sort of nitrate level are we talking? Mine hovers around 20ppm. Thanks for all your feedback.

 

[Gweeds1980]

Should be fine... xenia likes good flow too... tbh I have been reefing off and on since the mid 90s, I can grow acros, keep a copperband well fed and I even have a (still living) crinoid... but I'll be buggered if I can keep xenia alive!! It just dies in my tank lol. I got a load of rock covered in the stuff really cheap as the guy was just fed up with it spreading everywhere... that's down to 3 tiny clumps now, 3 months later!!

Tank thread
http://www.thesaltybox.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164069

 

[Shark]

Same trouble I've always had,Xenia just melts away along with gsp I've tried
Anyone know why

 

[damo666]

Strange things corals, great tho. Guess the only thing to conclude is that everyone's tank is different, introduction of a living organism is going to have different results in each situation.......but that's what makes our hobby fascinating and addictive.

 

[dougamanda]

Same for me,, just melts. Someone once told me it was due to not enough iodine in the water

 

[Gweeds1980]

I did start dosing iodine once as I'd heard that too... at the time it seemed to have no effect on the xenia. My sinularia grew loads, but in a 'thinner' form and Sarcophyton had much better PE but the opposite for my LPS so I stopped.

Tank thread
http://www.thesaltybox.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164069

 

[372xp]

I would be interested to find the cause of this. I am constantly cutting the stuff out of my tank and flushing it. I also have another type of Xenia I want to kill, I'll include a photo, so any ideas on this would be appreciated.
On another note DO NOT dose for something you are not testing for. Iodine and Iodide are trace elements, they make up less than 1% of sea water. So generally if you can measure what you are dosing it is more than likely overdosing.
Now here's that pesky Xenia I need to kill.

 

[Gweeds1980]

That looks a lot like hydroxide, not xenia...

Tank thread
http://www.thesaltybox.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164069

 

[Gweeds1980]

Hydroids lol.

Tank thread
http://www.thesaltybox.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164069

 

[372xp]

Death to all hydroids.