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#1
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xenia cursed to death
i bought a bunch of xenia a few months back. i melted away within 3-4 days. tried again a month or so ago this time with about 8 pulsating xenia pieces and 4 kenyas. all 12 pieces (2-3" each) melted within 3-4 days again. any idea what would cause that? i believe my ph was low around 7.9 at that time. other than that, all other parameters were perfect. think the ph may have been the issue or something else? i have plenty of other softies and all have always done great. the xenia and kenya just kept melting away though. i'll be recieveing a frag of toadstool and a frag of colt soon, so hopefully they wont melt away. (ph now holds a steady 8.2-8.3)
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#2
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Any chance you have some metal contamination somewhere?
Dan |
#3
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not that i know of...
are they extremely sensitive to metals? |
#4
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What is your temperature like?
Xenia don't seem to like high temps 82+ or big swings in temp. |
#5
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PH seems to definitely be an issue. All corals are sensitive to a PH below 8.0.....as far as everything else temps have not been proven scientifically to effect anything with xenia. By this mean whether you run it at 76 or 83 it doesn't really matter and as long as the swings are consistent your fine. Toadstools are a different beast, so thats apples and oranges really.
what are your parameters other than PH |
#6
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sg: 1.025
temp: 76-80 amm: 0 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 0-5 alk: 9dkh cal: 460 ph: 8.2-8.3 phas: 0 |
#7
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I have a 46 gallon tank,xenia grows like crazy.it started dying off one time, found out they need a certian amount of iodine too thrive.Bought supplement from fish store doing great.
might try more water changes?Hope this helps,worked for me. freddy from BC |
#8
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so low iodine/iodide could cause them to melt? i thought it would just prevent them from thriving at most.
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#9
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I don't think it's been proven that xenia are particularly needful of iodide. Natural seawater has about 30ppb (note the "b") iodide -- very very little! And xenia obviously thrive there. I don't supplement at all and my xenia are fine. I do "reasonably frequent" water changes as my main form of supplementation.
Dan |
#10
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dan is right there is no evidence at all that iodine helps--unless someone can show me. so i would doubt that that is it. xenia are very picky--where did you get it from
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#11
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the first batch i got from a very reputable lfs. the second larger batch i got from someone who has a million growing like weeds in her tank. how about lighting? could poor lighting cause them to melt away within 2-3 days? i had 260w pc and 80w no over a 55 at the time of both. the second batch came from a tank with halides. right after the second batch melted my ballasts arrived. i now have 2x175w mh and 80w no over the same 55. all other corals in the tank were doing fine with the pc lighting at the time of the xenia melt down, so thats what got me thinking it was something about my water rather than lighting.
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#12
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yeah that could have definitely something to do with it. flow lighting and levels. the big three. they are halide freaks as far as growth and survival. I actually have never heard of many growing under pc's not that it can't be done, but I have never been a witness to it.
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#13
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Maybe I'll have to try again then since i now have the halides.
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#14
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I don't think lighting has anything to do with it,I could be wrong but I only have a 96w coral life pc and one 35 watt life glow bulb on my 46 gallon and have had xenia for 3yrs, do have strong current though.
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#15
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So they also like strong flow? My tank does lack good flow. Always has. I hate the look of powerheads so I tried a closed loop before, but the pump was always load since it had to suck water over the rim of the tank and then down and up again (not drilled). I'll have to figure something out though soon.
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#16
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I have Pom Pom Xenia in 2 tanks, I have no AC, so my summer temp fluctuates highly. They grow like weeds in my 2 Nanos, 12 and 24 gal. They actually like my 12 gal aquapod Cf lights best with lower flow ... I have to trim them out the toss them in the trash at least once a month. Average flow, good light, and I have NO FISH in either tank. Good params overall, and 10-20% water change per week. They have grown from 1 stalk to a plague in 1 year.
I need to set up a prop tank and scrape them off the glass and sell them. Cheers Fred |
#17
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I have white pom-pom xenias and they do great in my 55 with 260watt cf/half way up at 80-82F as well as in my 29 under t5s 70-72F. I do dose iodine once between weekly water changes.
That said, I've never been able to keep other varieties for more than a few months. I posted some pics of the 55 in the photography section earlier this week if you want to see my setup. |
#18
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Xenia and blue Cesp frustrate me too. I bought 3 stalks of each and first they did really well, 3 stalks became 5-6 then boom they started to melt. Now, I have only a tiny stalk of blue cesp left but the pom-pom xenia start to come back and has 6-7 big stalks.
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#19
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Are colt corals and toadstools similar to xenia? I just received both and they also melted away in my tank, but they were shipped in the cold for a few days bringing their temp down significantly, which is what I've assumed did it.
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