Xenia Crash! Help!!!!!

[Zeph]

Hello Dr. Ron,

I came home this evening and my Xenia colony has crashed. The polyps are still pulsing and extended but, they are shriveled up looking. Everything else in the tank looks great with the possible exception of a small section of a large umbrella leather.

My current parameters are:

Temp 78
SG 1.023
Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Does anyone know what causes a Xenia to do this?

I am very worried.

Thanks,

Zeph

[rshimek]

Zeph,

Xenia appears to be prone to "mysterious" crashes, without evident causes. If you searched the RC archives, I think you would find many threads discussing this.

I think every effect has a cause, and I suspect the major causes of these problems are interspecies interactions. For example about a year ago, I watched a single large zoanthid polyp in my tank (Palythoa caribbaeorum} reach over a touch a portion of a Xenia colony that was nearby. Within about an hour all the Xenia were dead. If I had come on the situation at this stage I would have never suspected the zoanthid, as that polyp had retracted and appeared too far away to cause the injury.

My point is that I suspect something attacked the Xenia and it simply was unable to respond. I might add at this time, that most Xenia come from areas that may see temperatures as cool as 78 degF rarely or not at all. At that low of a temperature, its metabolic rate is about 70 percent of what it would be at about 82 degF. It may simply not be able to respond to stresses sufficiently rapidly to fight off problems.