Dying Xenia

[chrisnif]

Okay I got a good size frag of Xenia a few weeks ago and it was about an inch tall, had a foot the size of a dime and really enjoyed being near the top of the tank.
The xenia relocated itself to a lower position, and at first seemed happily stretching towards the light and enjoying the flow in its new position.
Now comes a problem, today I noticed the whole thing has shrunk up really small and seems to have lost about 3/4 of its polyps.
All this is in a 5 gallon AGA with a coralife 50/50 20w screw in floursecent light. The Xenia started 2 inches from the water surface, moved to 6 inches from the surface.
I relocated what's left higher up in the water column. Do you think I can get it back? I have a mushroom, GSP colony (growing fast), and a zoo frag that all seem happy enough about 3-4 inches from the surface.
Any advice on how to save this frag....I know they are "easy" to find and keep but I dont really want to think that I managed to kill an easy coral Its bad enough I killed chaeto

 

[mr.clownfish]

the thing with xenia is they like water with nitrate. they like dirty water. i had 2 kinds of xenia, after i hooked up a protein skimmer to my tank, in about 3 months my smaller pink pulsating ones all died. the larger pom pom xenia didnt look to good and looked like they where dieing. so what i did was add Coral Accel by KENT to my tank everyday, and flooded my tank once a week with Microvert also by KENT. i also using Phytoplankton by KENT. they doubled in size and spread like crazy! i started out with 2 nice sized frags and ended up with 20+ frags in about 2 months.

good luck

 

[flower]

Polyps missing indicates something is eating it. Xenia is really fleshy and some critters nip at them. You may have a coral eating worm, they start on fleshy coral like xenia. If you have moonlights…keep a vigil at night to see what is going on.
Moving from the light I have never seen????

They may shrink away from too bright of lights and just stay short and stubby, but not completely move away, they climb up.

 

[chrisnif]

They could have gotten knocked down by a fish
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3184016

Polyps missing indicates something is eating it. Xenia is really fleshy and some critters nip at them. You may have a coral eating worm, they start on fleshy coral like xenia. If you have moonlights…keep a vigil at night to see what is going on.
Moving from the light I have never seen????

They may shrink away from too bright of lights and just stay short and stubby, but not completely move away, they climb up.

 

[ser-specv]

My Xenia is not looking so hot these days either.

it happened before where it shrunk and color looked bad when I added flow and then a few days later it was fine again.

But now it's looking worse... 1 stock is almost gone and looks like it's covered by something (brown stuff). What do the coral eating worms look like Flower? What can be done about them?
Mr.clownfish so what i did was add Coral Accel by KENT to my tank everyday, and flooded my tank once a week with Microvert also by KENT. i also using Phytoplankton by KENT. they doubled in size and spread like crazy! i started out with 2 nice sized frags and ended up with 20+ frags in about 2 months.
Hmm... I think I'm gonna try some of those Kent products myself.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by ser-specv
http:///forum/post/3184488
My Xenia is not looking so hot these days either.

it happened before where it shrunk and color looked bad when I added flow and then a few days later it was fine again.

But now it's looking worse... 1 stock is almost gone and looks like it's covered by something (brown stuff). What do the coral eating worms look like Flower? What can be done about them?
Hmm... I think I'm gonna try some of those Kent products myself.

Brown could be brown jelly disease. I have never had it but meowzer mentioned it once.
A coral eating worm would only be seen at night, so you will need moonlights to spot it.. I am attaching a picture. They can be shorter or longer depending on the worm’s age and time hiding in the tank.
Xenia needs lots of light, so set it high in the tank if you think that is the problem. Also old bulbs will make it shrink into a puddle of goo.

Never bother a dead xenia...if you get the right lighting the puddle of goo will emerge a whole new crop of xenia...I actually had this happen to me.

 

[ser-specv]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3184493

Brown could be brown jelly disease. I have never had it but meowzer mentioned it once.
A coral eating worm would only be seen at night, so you will need moonlights to spot it.. I am attaching a picture. They can be shorter or longer depending on the worm’s age and time hiding in the tank.
Xenia needs lots of light, so set it high in the tank if you think that is the problem. Also old bulbs will make it shrink into a puddle of goo.

Never bother a dead xenia...if you get the right lighting the puddle of goo will emerge a whole new crop of xenia...I actually had this happen to me.
That is one HUGE and disgusting worm! At least I know I don't have that! So you're saying it's best just let it be? Xenias are weird... I can never predict what it's gonna look like from day to day. All my other coral are no problem, just the Xenia act funny so Chrisnif you're not the only one with problems dealing with an "easy" coral.

 

[racingtiger03]

dont google image search for xenia at work looking for more over-run tanks
That aside. I have dark purple xenia in my tank, and I'm super excited because they just started growing up on my glass lol. The rock they are on is about fist sized and its absolutely COVERED. I'm about to start ripping up mounds to trade in at the LFS . Otherwise if anyone wants to do some swapping for some purple xenia around TN let me know haha.

 

[meowzer]

I think it's funny...so many people are throwing Xenia away...I have one small group finally growing in my 54G...have not been able to keep any alive in my 225G
Have not yet tried in my 29G
When the xenia in my 54 grows big, I am going to try the other tanks again...I'm not gonna spend $40 on what others are tossing out...LOL

 

[nuro]

i hate xenia. i prolly spent over $200 trying different kinds a xenia and different schedules for my skimmer etc and could never keep it alive.

 

[chrisnif]

I think when I get my 54 up I'll maybe try 1 more frag, this "dead" frag has 2 stalks left, but the "hands" at the top dont open much, they just move enough that I know it isnt dead. Maybe i'll make a recovery, should I put it in the 54 during the cycle to give it some dirty water (and MH to lighten up its day)

 

[jstdv8]

when I got mine there were two staks on the frag. they shrivled up and turned purple real bad and were only about 1/8" high after they shrivled. within a couple days they started coming back out but alot of the little spines or whatever on the fingers were gone. after a couple weeks the spines grew back. the only problem i have now is that whenever I shut off the lights the darn things shrivel up againa nd it takes all day witht he lights on the next day before they get even close to thier full height. Same thing happens with my kenya tree. Lights go out and within a few minutes they are shrivled right down to nothing and look dead. im always amazed at how bad they look and then how much different they look at the end of the day right before i shut off the lights.