Do you know xenia?

[squilla]

Please share your knowledge on Xeniidae! Â*Â*Â* Â*Â*Â*Â* Â*Â*
And representatives of this family,such as Anthelia,Xenia and Cespitularia.
Did you know that in 1838 Eh-renberg established the family of the Xeniidae.
did you know that xenia ships better if it is deslimed first.
asexual reproduction in xenia and cespitularia takes place via the lobular 'runners' that go out from the 'parent'The first growths of new secondary polyps form on the upper side of this runner when the 'lobe' has grown to about 1/2 an inch in length.
Here are a few of my questions:
Whats the real name for blue xenia?
Whats the true name for green xenia?
how many types of xenia are there?
how do you know your getting xenia and not cespitularia or anthelia all which are capable of pulsing.
Research indicated that Xenia polyps tend to be more feathery and anthelia polyps originate from the base,while xenia originate from a central stalk.
and the list go's on Heteroxenia species also called the false xenia coral,Octopus Coral(Cespitularia),Umbrella Xenia(Xenia Umbellata),Wedding Veil Xenia(Xenia puertogalerae),Thin Bar,Pulse Coral,Feather Coral,Silver Tip,Pom Pom (Xenia sp.) Tree Xenia(Xenia Elongata),Umbrella Xenia(Glove Xenia) ect.
I know there is a lot of contradictory information out there.
lets see if we can find the facts!
sorry to go on and on but i love xenia!

[Ironreef]

Nice web page CT, just wondering if you had any fish and if you get any hair algae with the frequant feedings by not having a skimmer?

[Reef Junkie]

How about Lucy Lawless, you know, the Warrior Princess. Does she count on the Xen"i"a list? ;P

[Biosystems]

A great topic of one of my favorite corals. For a good description of this family check out Marine Fish Monthly October 1999. Here are a few modified tidbits from the article.


...................Class Octocorallia
....................Family Xeniidae
..................../.............\
...............Sympodium......Xenia
..................|..................|
...............Anthelia.........Heteroxenia
.....................................|
................................Cespiturlaria

The Xenia family can not be found in Hawaii, the Atlantic, or Carribean waters (thus we must import it or propagate it).

Most are found within 20 degrees north and south of the equator.

Each polyp consists of 8 tentacles, an oral disk, and rows of pinnules that gice the polyp its feathery appearance.

To preserve xenia with its polyps open for identification, you must place it in a bowl of seawater allow the polyps to open and then add 10-20 g Magnesium sulfate to prevent nerve impulses from being sent to the muscular system. (I wonder how Mg in our systems effects pulsing of xenia). After 4-6 hours, the xenia can now be formalin-alcohol fixed without worry of contraction and closing.


Has anyone seen/have the blue heteroxenia (not the brown with blue-like tops) pictured in TRA VOL2 p249?

squilla: If you worried about getting Cespitularia instead of xenia, I recently received two types of Clavularia that the MO company ID'd as xenia. I didn't complain b/c it is some nice clavularia. I can see however how they made the mistake due to its long pinnules, but they should have been able to see that it was capable of completely drawing back into the stalk.

Tim

[This message has been edited by Biosystems (edited 11-04-1999).]

[This message has been edited by Biosystems (edited 11-04-1999).]

[This message has been edited by Biosystems (edited 11-04-1999).]

[jimhobbs]

What do they eat, if not phytoplankton?...Zooeplankton?...Organics from the water?..I just got one and was looking for info...Best regards...Jim

------------------
Tank at: members.xoom.com/jimhobbs/reefstats.htm (http://members.xoom.com/jimhobbs/reefstats.htm)

[squilla]

"WOW" Thanks all!
I hope this thread grows like my xenia does.
I recently had some xenia shipped to me and the water became a cool 55 degress and one of the three pieces looked dead it looked like a small piece of chewing gum all the polyps had fallen off,now a month has past and it is growing new poylps.(i wonder how many people have thrown out xenia thinking it was dead)the other two were also in poor shape but had kept most of thier polyps.
i also bought a coral(favia) a while back because on the bottom it had a very small stressed out piece of xenia,since then i have removed it to its own rock and it is starting to pulse and grow again i think it may be xenia umbellata.last week i took some of my other xenia (it has a white stalk with pink polyps) to the LFS to sell and while i was there i bought some BLUE XENIA which i have been looking for for years:-).so far i have 5 different xenias and may be getting some silver tip xenia in the next few weeks. I have a lame web page with photo taken from a 10+ year old camcorder,so the color and quailty of the pictures are not the greatest.check it out http://community-1.webtv.net/squilla/MYREEFTANK

[ignatz]

Wow! Weird timing. I was gonna post about a recent experience, and this seems like the thread to do it on, so here goes.

I received a small Xenia frag from a friend. I also bought a clavularia colony. (Biosystems, I ordered mine MO from Jeff's as Thin-Bar Xenia, where did you get yours?). They were both growing like weeds in my tank. The clavularia was so resilent that I was able to simply reach in, pull a few polyps off and throw them in another tank, and that was it. Propgated. Well, all continued along just fine, until something began happening. I watched helplessly as my first my clavularia colony began receeding, then my colt coral, and then my Xenia. I did a 10% water change and added carbon, and left the tank alone for awhile. The clavularia was reduced to just a few polyps, the Xenia was just like squilla described, a piece of bubble gum on the rock. I am very happy to report that I noticed two days ago that the bubble gum, had little dots after a day. The little dots doubled in size after one day. I realized the Xenia is still alive. The clavularia's polyps are extending again. I feel confident that they are both on the road to recovery. Unfortunately the colt is completely gone. During this time, no other corals were affected (SPS, LPS, or a green star colony). Here are the tank parameters at that time:

Temp: 84 degrees
SG: 1.026

Red Sea kits
Ammonia: Trace
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 < x < 10 ppm
pH: 8.4
Alk: 2.8

Salifert kits
Calicum: 500+ ppm
Iodine: 0.02 ppm

The only thing that I am doing differently, is I am dosing less ESV part 2 (lower calcium) and more ESV part 1 (raise the alk). I reduced the temp down to 82, and did a ~1 quart fresh water for salt water exchange to lower the SG 1.025.

Now for the question, what happened? Any ideas?

-ignatz

P.S. I love Xenia too. I want some blue Xenia so bad, but I don't want to chance its health, so any help would be great.

[Larry M]

I had some of this very hardy strain we all have around this area crash in my 40. I let it go until it finally totally disappeared from the rock it was attached to. No idea what caused it.

I would be very interested in how one deslimes xenia for shipping.

Thanks for contributing.


------------------
Larry M

View a list of RC Member's websites at:
http://www.reefcentral.com/membersites.html

[squilla]

To deslime xenia before transport.
the exporter will agitate them by touching them while they are still in the tank,making them contract and give off a layer of mucus and,ultimately,to deslime them.that way they wont slime so much in the bag.

[Biosystems]

Larry:
You can get xenia to slough off mucous prior to shipping by removing it from the water into air for a few minutes until it receeds, then gently wash it over in a fresh dish of tank water with a turkey baster. The re-immersion in water will get it to produce the mucous. Depending on size, you may need to do this a couple of times and/or change the water/increase the volume of water in the dish. Doing so will help save it from bacterial infections, self-produced toxins and suffocation.


Ignatz:
I got my Clavularia (that was ID'd as xenia) from Seaquarium. I knew it would have some Clavularia polyps (clove polyps) on it b/c it was a mixed piece on their hit or miss. As I said though it had three types and the two that were misID'd as xenia are the nicest (one pinkish frilly) the other tan with fluorescent green center and striping down the length of the tentacles (but not the pinnules which are tan). The misID'd polyps are growing and spreading quickly (at least the tan/green ones are) so hopefully I can propagate them soon).

One thing about the problems with the xenia you are having (and I suspect if I write this Ron may decide to refute me, but....) in my tanks and experience xenia can have problems at 84F. I keep my tanks in the range you are speaking of (82-84) and if it hits the high side, I seem to have problems and sometimes die off. Recently, in some pom pom xenia that I just lost ost of-I was down to the last few stalks so I decided to do some trimming and try and save a few pieces. In that case I found a small crab in the afflicted colony that I dont know if it was causing the problem, but since its removal, they have been on a rebound (if you can call a week a rebound-at least they are not hunched over).

Tim

[cjdevito]

Hi Tim.

Dunno if Ron will jump in to refute you, but I will :) I have xenia that has done wonderfully at temps as high as 89 -- and I usually maintain my tanks around 84-ish.

[Biosystems]

cjdevito:
Well I was ready to be refuted, so I'll have to answer your response ;). I was looking for Ron's article on natural temps on reefs (but have not found it yet), as I am sure that I have never seen a number quoting in several articles I have read on the subject 32C (approx 89F) for a reef that was not bleaching. I realize that you said you keep your tanks at 84F (approx 29C) which is about where my tanks fluctuate at 27.5C-28.5C (82-84F). If my memory serves me correctly (and it just may not be) many reefs at 29-29.5C are at the high side of natural temperatures during the late summer months. Although with global warming this may all now be irrelevant data on many reefs.
I still believe that temperature affected the xenia in my case and I have seen many references from others that have said the same. Maybe it has something to do with what types are being kept as I had other types in the tank that were not affected. But the only measured parameter that changed in my case was increased temperature. Whatever the case, I as I think you would as well, definitely not advocate keeping xenia or any coral at 89F :). Feel free to disagree as I definitely do not want to put words in your mouth ;).


Tim

[squilla]

HI BIOSYSTEMS
can you follow this link and see if the blue xenia is the one you were talking of.http://www.inlandreef.com/i_soft.html
this is where i bought mine and they have a better picture than i have on my page.
do you know what the real name is for it?
Thanks

[squilla]

why does xenia pulse?in The practical guide to corals it says it could be used as an aid for gas exchange and feeding.
ive seen mine try to grab stuff as it touches the polyps is it eating or is it only a reflex action.
Its hard to tell what makes xenia crash.
sometimes if it is allowed to grow to dense it will smother itself,im always thinning mine out, so i can trade it at the LFS(i pulled out 4 stalks today).
i have never tested for iodine but i do add reef plus twice a week.i know there is a debate about using iodine,i guess people are saying that you dont need it and that its outdated info like wet dry filters/lower temps ect.i will keep using it!
in the past i have had a few mini crashes by not having enough water flow over them.
by using carbon after not using it for a long time.(so now i always keep a small amount of it 24/7).
another possible reason is terpenoids and other chemicals given off by other corals.
the 3 xenia i got from a member on AL one green,one creme,and a brown.the one on the bottom i bought at paragon and the blue and the white with pink polyps i bought at the LFS.does anyone know the real name of blue xenia? is it xenia puertogalerae?i also wonder if different colored xenias would become defensive to each other?

[cjdevito]

<<I was looking for Ron's article on natural temps on reefs (but have not found it yet)>>
http://www.aquariumfrontiers.com/fish/aqfm/1997/nov/features/1/default.asp

I give it out so often I have it bookmarked :)


The highest "normal" temp Ron lists in the article is for Ontoa Atoll, at 93F or 34C. Jumping down a bit, several areas (including Kapingamarangi) are listed between 87F and 88F, or about 31C. Several temps are just slightly (less then 1 degree F) below this.

Anyway, though, as you say, I'm not advocating anyone deliberately keep their tanks at 89F. 84F is a different story entirely :)


Xenia (at least some species) seems to me to be a bit sensitive to temperature -fluctuations-, much more so then to high temps themselves. But yes, with so many different varieties of xenia, I wouldn't want to generalize, either.

[Biosystems]

squilla:

Nice thread you started here :) !! and by the way thanks for making my lips smack with delight when I loaded that link only to be teased ;)! I had saw several things I would buy for propagation only to go to the home page and see that they will not MO. Any other places on your list/have cuttings that you are interested in trading/selling? I couldn't see them that well with the small pic but at least they were definitely not the brown ones. Well now that I saw that you had listed your web page I've edited that question. You may want to add it to your profile when you get a chance. Thanks again.


cjdevito:
Thanks for the link :) I have it bookmarked somewhere but still couldn't find it until you gave it to me. As you said it is always best not to generalize as so often happens and if my statement came across as such it was not my intention. I too have had temp spikes (probably greater than 90F-interestingly enough it was when I blew up my VHO ballast and went to NO fluor until my new ballast came in) and my remaining xenia that I had after I lost the others did fine. I agree with your assessment on the temp. fluctuations and causing problems with xenia, but IMO and from the data that I have seen on daily temp. fluctuations on reefs,in my tanks 2F is not anything to worry about as they have fluctuated like this for some time without any problem.

Tim



[This message has been edited by Biosystems (edited 11-06-1999).]

[Biosystems]

squilla:
That is a nice python. If that is small I would hate to see it now. The blue xenia in your pic looks like a "silver tip-thats what they called it but it isn't quite" that I got in recently that is kind of a purplish stalk with whitish tips. Is the blue xenia that you have a bluer color or is it similar to what my possibly color blinded eyes are seeing in the photograph?

Thanks,
Tim

[squilla]

BIOSYSTEMS

that phyton got to be about 150 lbs and would eat three chickens a week,i had to find her a new home cuz i have 3 bad disc in my neck and couldnt pick her up anymore:-(
i guess the blue xenia does kind of have a purplish stalk with blueish gray polyps (i will try to get a better picture in the next day or so).in A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CORALS they have a picture of "silver tip" but it has a white stalk with purplish tips.
I wish someone would write a book (or make a web page) on xenia,they could call it..."Every thing you want to know about Anthelia,Xenia,Sympodium and Cespitularia,But were afraid to ask!".
They could make a fortune!
one book i found that has decent info:AQUARIUM DIGEST INTERNATIONAL-COLLECTORS EDITION Hobbyist Guide To Marine Fish & Invertebrates..On page 108-111 there is an interesting artical on cespitularia,and there is a picture of some cespitularia that looks like my "green xenia".this is why i wanted to get this thread going there seems to be alot of confusion about the many different species,its sad that i dont know for sure what types of xenia/cespitularia that i have, and i cant really find any positive info to ID them.anyone else care to recommend good reading on xenia (books or web info)?I dont as yet have the reef aquarium vol 2,does it have any good xenia info?

[Biosystems]

squilla:
I like you wish there was more information. I just made a road trip looking for corals and only found xenia and anthelia today. I came back with three different silver tip color variations that I didn't have and a nice red sea type that is a bit different from the other red seas that I have. I also found some white feathery anthelia that is the nicest anthelia I have ever found. Especially since around here all the anthelia I ever see is brown. I am still however looking for blue, green, and the white stalked with purple polyp silver tip.

TRA Vol2 does have several sections on xenia and relateds as well as discussing xenia and DOC. I guess I can paraphrase it here since Jimhobbs was asking about xenia and food sources. TRA2 suggests that the mucous secreted by xenia acts as a molecular net to capture and trap organic compounds. Thus the pumping action would be used to bring in organic compounds in areas of lower water velocity. This is actually interesting as some people are now experimenting with xenia as filter beds (in a similar arrangement that people have done with sponges). I personally like the idea b/c if it is effective, propagation facilities could propagate SPS corals in one tank and propagate xenia from the filter bed.


Where did you find the book that you are discussing? Sounds interesting. Maybe we could take the time to put together a properly referenced compendium of all the information we can find on this subject with some pics. I have many references here on the subject.

Tim

[Larry M]

So this de-sliming method--this actually works? We are assuming they are not going to re-produce more slime while in the bag en-route? Sounds like it's worth a try, thanks.


------------------
Larry M

View a list of RC Member's websites at:
http://www.reefcentral.com/membersites.html

[squilla]

Tim
The book is by Dr.Chris Andrews and is published by Tetra,Its worth a look for 15.00 dollars(I think thats what i paid for it.)
e-mail me so we can talk about putting an info page together!
Do you have any pictures of your xenia?

Larry
also after they are deslimed you can float the xenia upside down by attaching it to a piece of styrofoam with rubberbands and any excess mucous will settle to the bottom.

[This message has been edited by squilla (edited 11-08-1999).]

[Biosystems]

squilla:
Thanks for the information on the book. I'll email you in a bit.

Larry: If you are able be sure and float the xenia upside down as this prevents them from being suffocated by their mucous and helps in preventing bacterial infections. If you are shipping without oxygen you may also look into "dry" shipping in moistened towels as this aids in gas exchange that does not occur very rapidly at the air water interface in a bag or look into using/acquiring Kordon shipping bags that have incredible airwater interchange.

Tim