help with xenia please!!!!

[gharner]

i just bought some corals on monday...frogspawn, xenia, zoas. the frogspawn and zoos are doing very well. im having some trouble with my xenia though. yesterday a few of the polys apeared to be dying (shrivled and sagging) but the rest of the coral seemed fine. this morning things were ok but i just looked into my tank and now most of my xenia seems to be dying! i dont know why or what to do, especially since all of my other corals are fine. please help!

 

[perfectdark]

Could be alot of things. Need more info about your tank and what tests you do and what the results are. Xenia are touch and go, move them as high as you can toward the lights for starters. Do you test for calc? Iodine? what are your test results for everything? How often do you do water changes?

 

[gharner]

i do not yet test for calcium or iodine... i know that i should start since im going reef now, but i will eventually. i do a 10-20% water change every week.
sp. gravity- 1.025
temp- 84 degrees ( its warm, i have a 12 gallon aquapod that i am slowly modifying)
ammonia-0ppm
nitrite-0ppm
nitrate-10ppm ( i was thinking that this could be the problem, its a little high)
the only other thing that i could think off is the xenia was partially attached to eggcrate and had to be gently pulled off.
( it was also under mh lighting and is now under the aquapod's stock lighting)

 

[perfectdark]

Your nitrates arent the prob. I have had mine up to 40 for over 2 weeks and my Xenia were fine. I think they are a bit stressed from being removed from the egg crate as you said. Mine fragged off a piece one time and it was barley attatced to another PC of LR and i kinda helped it along.. Well it did exactly what yours is doing. It all came back though so i wouldnt worry to much right now. If it goes for a while like a week or so then i would stat to look into something else for a prob. I dont think the lighting will be an issue as mine were too when I bought them but they arent now. Give it some time and see what happens. Def test for alk, Iodine, and calc though a 12 gal cube can chew those elements up pretty quick. Good luck.

 

[1journeyman]

Xenia are fickle. That's why I never say they they are an "easy" coral.
They do great in some tanks and die out in others. In the tanks that they do well in they grow like weeds.
Maintain good water conditions and lighting for your other corals and hope for the best.

 

[fisherkid91]

Originally Posted by gharner
i do not yet test for calcium or iodine... i know that i should start since im going reef now, but i will eventually. i do a 10-20% water change every week.
sp. gravity- 1.025
temp- 84 degrees ( its warm, i have a 12 gallon aquapod that i am slowly modifying)
ammonia-0ppm
nitrite-0ppm
nitrate-10ppm ( i was thinking that this could be the problem, its a little high)
the only other thing that i could think off is the xenia was partially attached to eggcrate and had to be gently pulled off.
( it was also under mh lighting and is now under the aquapod's stock lighting)
you should also test ph

 

[adroitmind]

I'm willing to bet it's your temp. Xenia don't like hot water. 82 is the maximum most will tolerate. You should shoot for around 79-80 IMO.

 

[1journeyman]

My tank is 81-82 and my Xenia don't seem to mind.

 

[gharner]

yeah im still in the process of controlling the temp. i need to install a second fan. i also test the ph and everything was fine there...i dont remember what it was (im not at home now) but it was within normal range. when i last looked at the xenia it was completely droopy and saggy looking. is there a chance that it will recover?

 

[miaheatlvr]

Originally Posted by gharner
yeah im still in the process of controlling the temp. i need to install a second fan. i also test the ph and everything was fine there...i dont remember what it was (im not at home now) but it was within normal range. when i last looked at the xenia it was completely droopy and saggy looking. is there a chance that it will recover?
Sometimes they drop and die and fall off, just leaving a stump, THEN from that stump aa whole new life appears from that to create an infestation. It is in my opinion that Xenia do better with some nitrates 10-20ppm and you can even small dose with some Iodine as well.

 

[stevechouinard]

I have one 65watt PC and 2 24watt T5's
What I did to control the amount of heat they were throwing off was remove the cover off one end and install a quiet running computer fan all wired in to the timer so when the lights come on so do the fans. My tank now runs 1.5-2 degrees cooler which brought me from 80-81 to the 78.5 range which is exactly where I want to be