Pulsing Xenia help needed ASAP!

[Frozen Roadkill]

I got a free frag of pulsing xenia from a fish store in Austin Sunday and drove it home 4 hours to Dallas. I have been waiting to get a good looking xenia frag for a while, so I was really happy. It looked fine, even pulsing a bit in its baggie. The fish store guy used a razor blade to pop it off, and a little peice of rock even came with it at the base. I super-glued that sucker on a nice peice of live rock, and content with my accomplishment, put it in the aquarium (I floated it for 30 minutes first mind you). Now, I wasnt aware it liked to be in less current in the aquarium, so it was in a current all night. The next afternoon, much to my dismay, it was hanging on the rock by 1/3 the original stem (it broke off). I touched it to put it in low current, and clear juice seeped out (I could tell the diffrence of liquids, I never took it completally out of the water, even while glueing). I freaked out, but just had to wait. I didnt know if its juice could poison my whole tank. It didnt, but now its looking pretty patetic. It is in low current, but is not pulsing. I know this is a sensative coral. (sorry for my long explanation)

Should I glue the stem down where it broke off? (I didnt know if it would clog any stem things or anything) Is there anything else I can do to try and pull it through?

Any advice is much appreciated!
Liz

[Fat Surgeon]

Hi Liz,
Its undergone a lot of stress from the fragging to the long drive and being put into a new tank. Give it a few days to perk up, add some iodine to the water (xenia love iodine:) ) and put under medium flow, mid-upper tank level for lighting reasons.
Are there any other corals near it? If so, give it a solitary spot and wait it out. Hope it turns out well!

[Fat Surgeon]

Hi Liz,
One more thing. Although a razor blade is somewhat acceptable to frag with, I would NEVER use one. I would make sure next time a coral you want to purchase gets fragged, have the person or LFS use bone cutters. Razor blades can be unclean,messy and may result in only a partial cut if not done correctly. This simply adds to the stress on the coral if it has to get cut more than once.
Single cut = Happier coral. :cool:
Good luck!

[Frozen Roadkill]

Should I be worried about its broken stem thing? Like gluing it down all the way or anything?

And is iodine okay with a mantis shrimp, yellow coris, zoanthids, and Lord Anths.?

Thank you :)

[Frozen Roadkill]

Yeah, I was glad he seemed to cut the rock instead of the xenia.

[Fat Surgeon]

At this point I wouldnt glue it yet. See what happens in the next couple days. Watch for discoloration and shriveling of that specific branch. If it continuers to deteriorate, you may have to operate.
Iodine will be fine with anything you have. Iodine is already present in the salt mix you use, but it doesnt hurt to add the supplement as the iodine in the salt mix gets used up fairly quickly by your system after a water change. Kent makes a great iodine formula, but Seachem or others should be fine also.

[Frozen Roadkill]

Okay. There seems to be some brown happening where the stem broke, and there is only 1 think branch of it. It is at the base. And I can buy bottled special saltwater iodine at fish stores? How much should I add (Ill try and get some soon if it will signifigantally help)

[Fat Surgeon]

Is the entire stem browning? It could be trying to heal itself after the fragging. Monitor it closely for a couple days,sometimes it takes a bit of time for it to heal.
Kent makes the iodine supplement that I use. Look for the red bottle made by Kent.

[Fat Surgeon]

BTW, how big is your system?

On the bottle, it will tell you how much to add. 1 capful for every 40 gallons

[Frozen Roadkill]

Okay. Just a bit of brown, and when I turned on the lights tonight it was pulsing for the first time since I got it home!!! Its a 12-gallon nanocube DX


http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a205/BootWoot/OUCH2.jpg
Out of major current

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a205/BootWoot/OUCH.jpg

[Fat Surgeon]

Liz, that great that it's finally pulsing!

A couple of suggestions;
1) When do you turn your lights on and for how long? (I noticed you wrote that "tonight" when you turned your lights on....). Xenia love light and lots of it, so give it what it wants!

2) Watch for a slight sway pattern to the arms. If it doesnt have any at all, move it to a slight current. Based on the photo and where the Flow director is located and pointing, move the rock towards the front and slightly to the left. The flow looks as though it may hit the front of the glass and come down. If it does, this should be sufficient. Remember that as it heals from being fragged and gets used to its new home, it will be easier to move if you feel the need to do so. Hope this has all helped!

[bobt2]

my xenia is in strong current and high t-5 lighting it spreads like crazy

[Fat Surgeon]

Hi Bob,
How big is your system that has the t-5's and how many watts do you have? I have heard so many good things about t-5's but havent tried them.

[bobt2]

i have a mixed 75 with a tec 6x54 on cable hangers. truly happy with it. i have softys, lps and 1 small sps frag. rock is a tbs package 150 lb of mixed gulf and keys

[ewaldm]

Xenia has amazing abilities to grow from small pieces. When I was given a frag of xenia, a similar thing happened to me. The coral completely separated from it's base. I was able to attach the xenia frag, but I still thought that the base of the coral might survive even though it was just a piece of flesh with no polyps. I put it in an area of moderate flow, and high light. Within two weeks, it sprouted new polyps and is a nice little colony.

[Frozen Roadkill]

Yeah, it looks like the base might be growning. The main 2 stalks (still attached together) have attached to the rock. Now its like it was when I first glued it, the stem just being shorter. So I think ill have that peice, and maybe a new peice growing from whats left of the base. Good deal. :) Thank you for you help ReefCraze!

[Fat Surgeon]

My pleasure Roadkill. Reefers (especially "Softie reefers) stick together.:) Good luck on the continued growth!

[Frozen Roadkill]

I brought some kent idodine today, and since I only have a 12 gal, added a couple drops. It says do it once a week, so I will, and will hopefully see SOMETHING happeneding ;)

My xenia is still looking iffy, but is growing(?!) The broken stem is definatally growing, and I see new little flower things, the things that pulse, growing on the existing stalks. Yay!!!

[Fat Surgeon]

Sounds like the Xenia is healing. They have a remarkable track record for bouncing back quickly after being fragged. Your Xenia
sounds like it is doing fine and should see lots of growth soon! The iodine will certainly help as well as regiment water changes
(in your case 1-2 gallons every week) . Post pics again soon.:)

[Fat Surgeon]

BTW, I underwent a name change. Azreefcraze is gone and is replaced with Fat Surgeon :)

[PowderBlue518]

I got a few frags of Pulsing Xenia and I just dropped into my tank , let it sink to where it wanted and it attached itself right to my LR and it spreads like weeds, but looks great in my tank.

[Nataku]

Xenia doesnt glue very well. You can put the frag in a clear plastic cup with some sand. Let it attach to the sand in about a week and then glue it to where ever you want. as for fragging softie is razor is better than a bone cutter. save the bone cutter for when you move on to fragging sps ;)

[Frozen Roadkill]

Ugh. My pump broke today. After only 2 month, metal in the impellor rusted and broke in two. My yellow coris came out today at around 8:30 AM. My mom was like, 'Wow, look who woke up early," because usually he is asleep under the sand till like, 10:30 AM (if only I could sleep till then too *sigh*) Anyways, a minute later, we looked in and he was on the ground, gasping for air. The pump wasnt working, and he was suffucating. Luckily I have 2 freshwater aquariums, and a few extra small freshie pumps and air stone w/ air pump. So we stuck in an air stone tube and hooked it up, and stuck a pump to the side, and withing 10 minutes there was oxygen in the tank again and all was well. I got a new pump this evening, and its working okay, the current is just a little weaker than my last. But my Xenia didnt fair to well, and 2 of the stalks are wilted, with the flower things blowing off easily (just like regular flowers) One tiny stalk remained okay, but I think it got loosed a bit. Anyways, Im hoping for the best. My poor xenia has had a rough start!

Anyways, all is well. My zoo's are fine, and I noticed a tiny baby next to my favorite single pollop :) My Lord Ant. is growing by the day, my snail, which was sick, is doing better, and the fish is fine (though he did hit the hay early tonight, and I bet he will sleep way in) The only thing that is worrying me is my mantis, who has failed to show up today. He usually will stick his head out and try and get me to feed him at least once, or you can here his construction under the rock. No such luck today. Im crossing my fingers for him and my Xenia!

(BTW, I think iv named my mantis after over a month of thinking. Ill go with my original, Ty. What do ya think? He immediatally went to work on his house (He has chipped through rock to make a new door) So I though of Ty Pennington of extreme home makeover. Haha!

Ill try and get pictures soon of my poor xenia!
Liz

[Fat Surgeon]

Man Liz, you are having it rough arent you? What brand of pump did you buy? If the current is not as strong as you want, try a maxi-jet 600 or 900 or an iwaki 15 for your nano. The Maxi-600 will push about 160gph , the 900 around 240gph and sit internal. Ebay has them for around 10-15 bucks. I also found a couple of Iwaki 15's on ebay for about 15- 20. From what I gather, the iwaki's last for years (like 10-20) before they die and they are an external pump. Good luck!:cool:

BTW, I run 5 Maxi-jet 1200's (300 gph) on my 125 and they put out ALOT of flow. Great pumps.

[Frozen Roadkill]

Okay. Ty is fine, just p.o.ed. He came out today and DEMANDED food, and was flaring up in his aggressive stance at my mom all day. The xenia is definatly gone, it melted away. I am going to the Virgin Islands for a week this summer, but then I will hopefully have a job and I am going to buy more xenia and a kenya tree frag, yay! But for now, the xenia is no more :(