Xenia question

[will3245]

I've had a pulsing xenia in my tank for several weeks now. In the past 5 days it has really shriveled up for some reason, I occasionally see a few parts of it move so I am relieved its not dead. Ammonia, nitrite both register 0 and my nitrates hover around 15ppm. The calcium in my tank is >400. It is a 25 gallon tank with 65 watt acintic and 65 watts 10,000k PC bulbs. I've been wondering if the placement might be an issue, I've read conflicting accounts on tank placement and currently it is towards the top of my tank attached with frag epoxy to keep it from being knocked over. I appreciate any advice I could get regarding this, thank you. :help:

 

[ryan]

I have read conflicting posts as well. Mine are placed toward the top of my tank, and in a high flow area. I also supplement my tank daily with iodine which I believe helps a lot.

 

[will3245]

I use iodine as well

 

[tangs123]

nitrates are whats the problem, you have to get them down to 0
thats most likely the problem: do a water change and that will help

 

[sac10918]

I heard they will shrivel when the pH changes. Is you pH stable?

 

[lauras]

Xenia is funny, there are opinions for every situation with these corals. Some people have perfect readings and it still melts. Myself I don't have luck with the pom pom variety but the red sea xenia does fantastic in my tanks. In fact it grows so fast and my tanks are small that I end up fragging every couple of weeks because it grows so big it blocks the veiw of everything else. Good luck, if this one does not make it try a different variety next time you may do better with a different kind.

 

[sebae09]

i think xenia is delicate i havent had any luck with it either.

 

[hardcrab67]

I have Silver Pulsing Xenia and moved it recently to a low-moderate flow area, midway in the tank, it started pulsing more and has now attached a stalk to the back glass and growing another stalk in the streched area. I've had it 4 months and have seen more life out of it in 1 month since the move(originally high flow). I just got my trates down they were very high (80-160ppm) for the last 2 months(they didn't melt). They do like a tank w/ a little trates for growth and proper Iodine to pulse, so I have read. I think the flow affected it too(high/low depending on type). I've read of melts and have been expecting one, but so far so good. The cuttings melted, but were eaten by the clean-up crew that night, so don't know how long it take to recover from propping them.

I need a prop tank!

 

[will3245]

Thank you all for your comments concerning this. My PH is stable, I've never had it drop or increase since back when I was first cycling my tank. Nitrates seem to be my biggest worry however, I can never get them to stay down for long.

 

[ryan]

My nitrates are between 20-30 ppm, and has been that way for over a year. I have 3 different types of xenia and they are all doing well. Good Luck with it I dont know what to tell you since everyone has conflicting opinions.

 

[will3245]

Update....I moved the xenia lower into my tank and it started opening up a little better and has been making progress, slow progress, but hey...I also noticed that a few of the "fingers" were missing. I also have some star polyps around the same spot the xenia occupied. Yesterday I watched my emerald crab stroll up to the star polyps and actually snip one off and eat it! Has this ever happened to anyone else? I'm starting to think the crab was stressing out the xenia and thats why it was faring poorly because nothing else made sense. Now am I completely wrong about this?