Help! Red Sea Pumping Xenia Dying Off

[swiseman]

Over the past two days my pulsing Xenia have started to die off. It looks as though they are melting away more and more every day. All of my other corals and my two large Anenomes (Ritteri and Sebae) are doing well.

Now a quick backgroung. All water perameters are perfect - PH, Temp, DKh and Nitrates ect... I have a lot of test kits. I transfered two weeks ago from a 54gal to a 110. The xenia have been perfect up until two days ago.

My two theories. I added a lot of new water to double the size of the tank. Disolved nutrient levels are probably very low so it is possible that they are starving to death. (not a likely theory)
Secondly, I went from NO lighting to MH/VHO. Too much light for the Xenia. I have moved what is left to the lowest part of the tank for now to see if that helps.

I am going to cut away everything that looks dead so I don't have any decaying corals in the tank. Is there any other possibilities or things that I might consider.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[Surfzup2k4]

they are just extremely tempermental, I would just wait. They will probably be ok.

[tsquad]

If you can move it lower, that would be good. It's definitely the lights. If moving it isn't possible, Surfzup2k4 is right. Xenia is very hardy and should probably be ok in a few days.

[redawg]

i don't think it would be the lights.. they climb toward light and they love it.. i have 1000watts on a 125.. believe me.. xenia loves it.

did you switch salts or anything else? what kind of fish in the tank? anything picking on the xenia? if not i'd wait a few days and see what happened

[tsquad]

I have my xenia almost directly under one of my 250w halides, about 12" below...it does love it, and is flourishing, but don't you think that such a quick change in light intensity could have caused his problem?

[swiseman]

Well, the only thing I have added is a small school of blue/green Chromis (8). They are less than 1" each and they would not have touched the Xenia. It cant be a water chemistry issue as I have not changed the salt mix, and have tested every parameter. If anything ever gets a little off the Ritteri is the first to show signs and it has never looked better. Nothing is touching the Xenia. The only thing I can put my head around is that I moved it up about a foot closer to the lights and I moved it back down this evening. Actually, I did add an emerald crab last week, however, I have never seen him on that half of the tank. I will keep an eye on it and try to post a pic. Mabey it will look like predation to someone.

[hisc1ay]

What does your water look like? I moved my tank to a new house last weekend, and everything was great until yesterday. My water is a tad cloudy, and my xenia looks like it's melting. I'm curious to know how these guys made it over the next couple days...

This morning I checked my Ammonia and Nitrate, which are .5 and 0 respectively. The temp when I left was about 81 or 82 (I also had trouble keeping the temp steady for a couple days because the AC in the house broke, but I've got a fan on the tank and it seems to be steady at 81/82). I didn't think to check the pH, but I will do that when I get home.

The only change was topping off. It was a little more than I would have liked but I've done that much before and nothing wrong happened. The difference is before the water came from an ro/di unit, and this time it came from a well. I filled up a 30 gallon tank with water from my hose for my freshies and nothing bad happened to them, so I figured it would be ok to use a little this time. Next time i'm using ro/di.

-j

[SEAFLOWERS]

do check your ph, my Xenia and alot of people that I have spoken to have had problems with there Xenia when the ph drops to low, also I have had Xenia crash for no reason at all, perfect water and everything and it just went away. I believe it's more than likely a ph problem. also my Xenia came back from nothing about a month later.

[Travis L. Stevens]

I still think it was the light switch. Going immidiately from Normal Output lighting to Metal Halides is a shock to any animal. It would be like having your eyes closed and suddenly opening them up as wide as you can without blinking directly at the sun on a clear day. I'm sure some sort of damage was done because of this. But as stated above, the eyes/xenia will adjust and start to come out and enjoy the "sun" more over time. Thats just my opinion.

[Looper121]

My Xenia were doing great, and then after a water change they got all funky, they seem to be coming back. I don't know what it is with these corals, there always seems to be a feast or famine story with different reefers...

[Madoktopus]

mine are a weed. have you tested for iodine as they need it ?

[Looper121]

Originally posted by Madoktopus
mine are a weed. have you tested for iodine as they need it ?

See! see!

[hisc1ay]

Yeah, I dosed Lugols this morning (I usually try to do it once a week, but I haven't for a few weeks), so let's see if that helps when I get home. My xenia has become weedlike because of the size of my tank (10 gal), but I like it nonetheless. I just have to frag it every couple months.

-j

[Madoktopus]

i got annoyed with mine (it was getting sucked into my powerhead) and overrruning my right hand corner so i cut it all off and made frags. the left over flesh on the rocks has turned into a new (shorter) colony.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Are you testing for iodine? If not, you might be over dosing.

[hisc1ay]

I doubt I'm overdosing. The bottle says one drop per 10 gallons once a week, and I haven't been dosing even that much. The dose this morning was only after I noticed my xenia looking like crap. And it wasn't even a gradual change; it was fairly quick.

I do need to get an iodine test kit though.

-j

[Frick-n-Frags]

Iodine? Hmmmm.

Mine grow retardedly without any extra supplements, in any light, flow or water temp the system happens to get to. They don't care. Basically they are a pest and if one gets shredded every scrap turns into more Xenias.

However, I can only keep the red sea pink type and Anthelia. I think they like my water. If I try out some different types like X. elongata or those silver pom-poms etc.(frag swap giveaways :D) They just slowly wither away over like a month.

This looks like there is something in the water that those other types are missing or don't like, but I am not sure that it is Iodine.

[swiseman]

I am going to have to go with the light theory. The xenia that has almost all died is on a 2lb piece of rock that I try to keep isolated so it doesn't spread out of control. This is the piece that I moved to the top of the reef. I have several other small groups of 2 and 3 that have not been moved and are in perfect shape. Anyway, I will have to wait and see if they turn around. Lastly, I did do a PH test and it was around 8 - 8.1. Not ideal, however, not low enough to bother anything.

[fishykidd916]

I think its either light or temperature too. my i have a 400 watt halide on a 40 gallon. . everything was thriving. .but when i left for the weekend ( and it was a hot weekend) came abck and my xenia seemed to melt away. everything else was fine, only the xenia looked in bad condition .. its recoverin.. .but doesn't look the same. I don't know how pplz say their xenia's grow like weeds. . i can't get them to grow that quickly...if anything happens to my tank ..they seem to be the first to be affected..

[tsquad]

Mine has quadrupled in a month, and is picking up the pace! Formed a new stalk this week :D

[shay]

Check your water temperature. May it has gone up over the last few days. Xenia can be extremely sensitive to high water temperatures

[aquaph8]

my xenia seems to do the same thing when iodine levels are low.
also try to target feed them, that usually perks them right up.
good luck

[Frick-n-Frags]

Originally posted by shay
Check your water temperature. May it has gone up over the last few days. Xenia can be extremely sensitive to high water temperatures

Not if they are happy. If they are already stressed by other things, then maybe high temp will finish them off. My system hits the high 80's and once in a while 90+ in the summers and the Xenia are not affected.


Regarding target feeding, Xenia don't really capture food particles. They are nutrient absorbers and are closely connected with the water that way. Which is why I think it is the water. They either like it or hate it and they will show you quickly either way.