xenia still dieing

[goulding.c]

Any help please, I posted this last week with no replies. My xenias started to reattach but when they broke away from there original spots 2 of them rotted from the base up, Now I have one left "Not Cool". They have grown great for a year now spreading to. Everything else seems great. I have one left as you can see I hope, let me know if this pic didn;t work. My water is as follows:
Ph 8.2
amonia 0
trates 0
trites 0
calcium 500
alk dkh 7.5 meq/litre 2.5
temp 78-82 "pending on weather But usually right at 81 82
lighting 3 250 watt mh 20 ks 4 96 watt pcs 2 blue 2 10k
Also I just got the alk kit for dkh, where should I be and should I just add alk booster to get there or baking soda or part b of buffer solution? I have all 3.

 

[kjord97]

Your water quality seems great. I will tell you though, xenias are very weird.

I know that if they are pulsers, then the PH will greatly affect them. Also if you add freshwater to tank to fast and change salanity quickly, it will stunt there growth. I can look at my xenias and tell what PH my tank has. If they have been doing fine and all of a sudden started diein off, maybe you added something or changed something somewhere. Think about it :thinking: , the slighest thing can throw these little guys off. Some people love them like me, and others think they a nusense and grow out of control. My PH dropped on me one night and the next mornin a few of my xenia stulks shrunk up and died. Seems once they seem sick, they just die. Good luck with ya.

 

[sweetdawn]

maybe it is too much light. I dont know what i do to keep mine healthy sry. sometimes i add phytoplankton to the tank for the clams and such. I think I heard something about iodine once I dont use it but I think ive read that somewhere do a search on iodine

 

[t3d]

Do you add Iodine?

 

[kjord97]

I add kent marine Iodine, once a week usally thursday.

 

[sweetdawn]

i knew i had heard something about iodine

 

[goulding.c]

I do not dose iodine but, it is the coral vite I add. I did however start using more alk booster to try and get it up higher, maybe I should have just left it alone. What do you all think about it. Its at 2.5 meq/litre or 7.5 dkh. Thanks for all the advice.
CG

 

[vito525]

My xenias were huge, then began to die. I cut them off at the base about 2 months ago. Now they are regenerating and growing again. Weird.

 

[ssweet1]

Kent marine tech 3 is a slow release iodine that is great for softies. Carrie

 

[mudplayerx]

Broke away from the original spots? Began to reattach? Have you fragged them...or did they fall off of the rock on their own?
Also, are you testing for all of the things you dose, such as the iodine? Make sure that you don't add anything to the water you don't test for.

 

[sandsifter]

Things I have read about xenias seem to suggest that they are very strange. They will do great for long periods of time and then crash for no apparent reason.

 

[goulding.c]

mudplayerx,
I have not fragged them. I wanted to try this wekend but this happened all of a sudden. They seemed to rot from ther base up. The tops would still pulse alittel but be shriveled until the entire op would fall off. I have one good one left as you see in the pic. The only things I have done differant were 3 weeks ago I adjusted heaters to keep temp at 81 82 becaus eit flucuated from 78 nto 82 from night to day with mh lighting. I also added some alk booster the llast 2 weeks but not enough to make a drastic increase in a short amount of time.
CG

 

[mudplayerx]

I've heard of xenia "falling apart" when subjected to a temperature higher that what they are used to, but it doesn't sound like yours fell apart...just kind of atrophied at the base, right?
Have you looked at your tank at night with a flashlight (red lens or lens colored red with a marker)? There might be some critter munching on them at night.
Try getting your alkalinity checked at the lfs or at the science department of your local university. I've found that the less expensive test kits do a really poor job of giving accurate alkalinity readings.
Is it possible the two xenia that are dying were in a shaded area? An area of high or low flow?
What is your specific gravity/salinity?

 

[dragonboy]

Sometimes they are pretty hardy and sometimes all of a sudden a change will effect them pretty dramatically. But even if you have everything perfect and have been doing the same thing for the past year that never seem to effect them in anyway they can just go through a melt down one day for some strange reason. I think cause they go through a process of aging where it is a cycle for them to grow a new colony and die off the old. Mudplayerx
did mention a good point I have that problem as well the pods can start attacking xenia's as they get bigger cause I saw them munching mines at night so I got a mandrin goby to keep population down.

 

[killergoby]

My Pulsing Xenia were doing great for like 6 months split 6 times; growing everywhere. Then 2 of them just melted and the others looked like they were hurting. This was right after I added a fuge w/ Cheateo in it. They came back though and now the smaller ones are growing again too. I think they like some minimal level of "dirty" water. One of the theories on why they pulse is because they filter the water. I believe my Cheateo was filtering the H2O before the Xenia could use it. That's just my theory though.