Pulsing Blue Xenia is dying... again.

pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
My pulsing blue xenia started dying, one stalk at a time, about six months ago. The last stalk died just over four months ago. Three tiny pieces of tissue were all that was left of a beautiful colony. From the small patches, new life sprouted, and a new colony formed. Now I am witnessing the death of the new colony, and it's very saddening... to say the least. I have tried dipping the xenia, and I've given it a thorough inspection, and I can find nothing out of the ordinary. I have a small colony that grew from a frag of the original colony in my other tank, so I can always take a cutting from that one if this colony completely disappears. I am hoping it doesn't, but it's not looking too good so far...

First signs of trouble 6 months ago:
191A.jpg


Starting to grow back from the tiny pieces of tissue remaining:
319A.jpg


Video of the new colony pulsing on Jan. 2, 2015:

Starting to die... again. Taken this morning:
20150301_142740A.jpg


This evening:
20150305_161343A.jpg
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Alk 8.1. I never dose iodine, since it's easily replaced with water changes. My parameters are fine. I think it may be due to the fact that my water is getting too clean. Xenia like dirty water, and since I've added a dual GFO reactor and dosing NO3 : PO4 / X, my Nitrate and Phosphate have all but disappeared completely. It's been over a week since I last tested, by my Nitrate was .5 ppm (point 5), and my Phosphate was .16 ppm. I've changed the GFO since that test (last week), so it's probably much lower than .16 now. Other than the xenia, everything in the tank is doing great...
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Maybe try target feeding with a small particulate food? Just guessing here. I did watch your video and fell in love with Xenia. I'm going to have to research them now.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Those polyps don't eat solid food.

However, your suggestion could work. Perhaps the water is too clean and they are starving. They get all of their nutrition from the water column at the molecular level.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
I should have said fine particulate foods like "Reefroids" or "Reefboom". Its a fine powder food for corals. Put a pinch in about 10ml of tank water and disperse with a pipet like a cloud. Not on the Xenia but above it. I use it once or twice a week for my ZOA's.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
I believe your are correct, bang guy. The xenia was one of the first corals I put in the tank 2 1/2 years ago. My Nitrates and Phosphates always ran a bit on the high side, until recently when I started lowering those levels in preparation of diving into the world of SPS corals. I started in the last quarter of last year, and my xenia colony died at the end of the year. It grew back (mostly) and appeared to be doing well, and *boom*... the stalks started falling with a domino effect. I don't know if there's a disease that only attacks xenia, as everything else is doing great. I've researched xenia death, and no one has a definitive answer. They say "it just happens". Well... duh! I've searched for parasites, and have found none. Starvation seems to be the only logical explanation... though it happens very rapidly.

I've always spot fed my soft corals a 50/50 blend of Marine Snow and PhytoPlex... about once every week or two. I don't feed more often as I don't want to create an algae bloom, and I have a ton of micro plankton already in the tank. Night time and a flashlight shows an entirely different world in my tank. It looks like a snow storm with all the critters floating and darting around. Although... I have been dwelling on adding ReefRoids to the mix.
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
+1 seems like u guys have figured it.out.already. Ur xenia is dying.off like seasonal algae bloom.
Just nutrient shifts and changes in ur aquarium. Target feeding coral is something I don't practice and feeding the tank excess nutrients seems like more problem. E.g. U could feed a nuisance algae or critter and get a bloom. Hths
D
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
snakeblitz33 said:
What are you currently feeding your corals?
Click to expand...
Marine snow and reef boom for the filter feeders. Frozen Mysis and shrimp for the rest. Plus what ever they can catch when I feed the inverts and fish. All in all, I feed all the above plus cyclopeez, shrimp pellets with garlic, algae pellets, algae sheets, I've got my own frozen blend with scallops, oysters, mussels and shrimp with garlic. I even feed the lobster a slice of shrimp every other day. Of course I don't feed this all at once but I have a lot of critters so I do feed a lot each time but only once a day.
 
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