I must be an idiot......

sterling

sterling

Member
because I cannot keep xenia's alive. What is it with my tank that they melt away.
My water parameters are fine, these are the other corals that I have that are thriving:
colt, frogspawn, cup corals (3), brains (2), leathers (2), ricordias, mushrooms, plate, pipe organ, montipora caps (2), candy cane, acro's (4), montipora dig., polyps (various), tubinaria (2), clams, feather dusters, gorgorian......
so why can't I get xenia's to do well? Sounds like they grow like weeds in everyone else's tanks.
I had them at one time and they did ok for months, then suddenly "melted" away. But then, a few months later, one bunch started coming back, but when i gave away my condy a couple of weeks ago, those went too, so don't know how they're doing now.
Any thoughts on the matter?
 
sterling

sterling

Member
Nicky, I tried them before i got the MH's when I was running the PC's, and tried them since, same thing happened both times.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
some people juat cant sustain it in their tanks and really never found a reason behind it other than it died or melted away..
who really knows.
Mike
 
ryebread

ryebread

Active Member
BTW- You should also look for some Xenia that has been aquacultured.........Xenia that is several generations away from wild-caught is much more likely to take off than right out of the ocean. Good luck.........I hate the stuff now. :)
 
sterling

sterling

Member
Ryebread, I do work at keeping the calcium/alk/iodine levels good. Maybe finding "aquacultured" ones is the route I should try.
Thanks everyone for responses. Any other ideas are welcome.
 
searcher

searcher

Member
I've read that they tend to do better in tanks with higher nutrient loads. (Borneman and Sprung) Thus, they don't always do very well in protein skimmed sps tanks.
They've been growing nicely in my tank but I've only had them since March and April so I don't know how well they'll do long run.
Both species have split and I inadvertantly propagated one when I tried to move it. I don't use a protein skimmer nor do I have sps or strong lighting.
 
flamingkingofhe

flamingkingofhe

Active Member
i agree iodine is a key element in keeping xenia as well as calcium not only is iodine important but to me the only one that really helps the xenia to thrive is the loguls solution it will live on like a kent brand of iodine but seems to do best on the logulos also just like stated above a captive raised piece will do best as well they seem to have a better survival rate and seem to grow better and be less picky another thing you need to do is make sure the spot you have them in is suitable to there needs as far as light and current and proximity to other corals they do not handle being stung by other corals vary well either
also xenia can be a test kit for calcium and alk if either one is off the let you know
hope this helps
ps: it is all about getting the right piece for you when you buy a piece dont look for the biggest and perdiest look for the healthiest
 
bigred

bigred

Member
I joined that club about 4 monthes ago. I had some beautiful pulsing Xenias and even spreading on to other rocks. I gave some to one of my friends and his did the same thing. One day they just started to shrink and then just disappeared. I add all of the stuff to the water and still haven't had any luck. I got some from a friend and over night some of them disappeared. I'm wondering if the fish aren't eating them?
 
flamingkingofhe

flamingkingofhe

Active Member
alot of fish especially dwarf angels like to nip at xenia also sometimes a clown will bond with it which can result in the death of the xenia
if it seems like the fingers which are the pulsing part are unequally sized meaning some of the fingers are longer than the others than that could be a sign something is niping at it
 
richard rendos

richard rendos

Active Member
A lot of people are under the impression that xenia eat through their polyps. That they open and close hoping to snag food. They are actually doing this for gas exchange purposes. They are not known to "eat" at all. As far as calcium goes, I can't see why they would be very dependant on that since they do not have a calcium based skeleton. Iodine is one of those things that is in great debate even among pros. Some say yes, some no. I have found that my xenia do best in areas with good water current (maybe it helps with gas exchange). They seem to do better in higher salinity (1.025-1.026), and I think iodine is a key factor, but it has to be monitored closely. The only problem with that is that test kits for iodine aren't very good. Sorry to hear yours are dying while others can't seem to control their growth. Best of luck.
 
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