Pulsing Xenia OUT OF CONTROL

[maisysmom]

About a year ago, I brought a tiny little frag of pulsing xenia. Today it has taken over half of my tank. I have tried to grab the little suckers and pull them off to thin them, but they are darned slippery and this has been unsuccessful.

HOW do I thin these creatures?

Thank yoU!

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

hi maisysmom, you would have to pull out whatever they are attached to out of the tank and scrape them off with your fingernail or a razorblade, hope this helps...

[thor32766]

yeah most people use razor blades.

[dodgersfan25]

yeah just scrape them off with a razor blade and sell them back the fish store or to any hobbyists

[maisysmom]

How much can you sell them to the fish store for? I scraped a few off the glass today with a razor and that worked well. I could'nt seem to do it off the rocks

[Cosmo^Kramer]

kalk paste does a good number on them.Just like your killing apstasia.

[supernareg]

mine always died.... they say they like dirty water... guess mine was too clean lol

[joeski3]

Don't pull them. If pcs float away they will root somewhere else and your problem will compound.Even scraping doesn't always solve the problem. Unless you take a thin layer of rock too. They do like "dirty" water. So have a good skimmer, that will help, and for the existing stuff if you can take the rock out of the water,cut off what you don't want and use a propane blow torch and torch'em. It's a guarentee. I was loaded w/ the stuff and now it won't even grow in my tank!

[bguile]

I sold a lot of mine back to the LFS for store credit. I found that if I cut the stalk at it's lowest point (with scissors) it was less likely that it would grow back. Particularly if I immediately brushed the area with a small toothbrush.

[maisysmom]

A blowtorch? Dang, I wish I never added them in.

[vanmo92]

I'm dead serious....send me some. I really want some but the stores i go to have OUTRAGEOUS prices on it. please PM me if you can send me some. (please)

[chrismunn]

sell the rock theyre on and replace them with new ones!

[maisysmom]

chris munn that is a great idea. Maybe the only permanent fix.

[NuclearReefs]

I remember when Xenia Was Cool......LOL

Maisy,, Id take the rocks out and replace them ... easiest way ... Or set up a tank with some big angels and feed them..:)

[spazz]

this might sound stupid but take the rocks out and stick them in a fuge. then add new rocks to your system. you are having a high nuterient uptake with the xenia. if you remove any of it you will have a nitrate spike in your system. the reason its growing so fast is it has lots of food to grow. so removing it will cause another problem in the end. nitrate spike. the fuge will control the xenia and provide a large uptake in nutrents from the water. this in turn will provide you with lots of frags to sell to the LFS. get some acrylic sheets form home depot and chop them up into 3" squares. place them in the fuge and let the xenia spread onto the acrylic. then take a bunch to the fish store to sell. works great and gets you lots of credit to purchase a bigger skimmer. lol
thats just my opinion though.

[spoonerville]

oo ive been looking for xenia for awhile..sell some to me :D

[SuperNerd]

Tweezers from marine depot. The ones i have contain slightly serrated tips, making it easier for me to rip them right off the rock or back of tank. LFSs will give you credit for them.

[Ryanqk]

i'm about to get some xenia, now that i have enough lighting. Would you say they can help reduce high nitrates?
Ryan

[Blown 346]

Even if you scrape them off, they will most likely end up growing back. I did this and Now I have a new colony growing.
I would cut the stalks you dont want, attacth them to some rubble and sell them. Otherwise if you dont want them anymore, the only way to rid of them is to get rid of the rocks they are on.

Ryan: Yes they will help reduce Nitrate, and excess nutrients which is what they partially live off of.

[maisysmom]

Interesting... I had a huge problem about 6 weeks ago where a couple crabs and a shrimp died. I tested the water and it was very high in Nitrate. Had to do several water changes to get it under control. That is when the xenia went crazy.

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8120213#post8120213 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ryanqk
i'm about to get some xenia, now that i have enough lighting. Would you say they can help reduce high nitrates?
Ryan

only to a point. xenia likes alot of nutrients in the water. so by having them in the fuge as a source for nuterient uptake you can reduce the nitrates in the water. it almost no different that having cheto in the fuge. but i feel this takes care of the nuterients before they turn into nitrates. a good skimmer is the real cure and less feeding. i use to have pulsing xenia in my 180 all across the back of the tank. it helped to control the nuterents from turning into nitrates. when started to get out of control i just shaved it off the glass and threw it out. i would harvest an icecream pail at a time. it kept my tank from crashing.

[maisysmom]

Will it crowd out other things or just move around them?

[MasiisaM22]

Two corals I regret ever putting in my tank. Xenia and GSP’s.

What I did with my Xenia was tear the stalk from the base of the rock. Any left over “skin” from the Xenia still on the rock I used an underwater epoxy to cover the parts I missed from the Xenia still on the rock.

The epoxy was used to kill the rest of the Xenia on the rock and a great time to add some frags.

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8121869#post8121869 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maisysmom
Will it crowd out other things or just move around them?

it will either kill or be killed if it touches other corals. its not a very friendly corals to other corals on the same rock. even my clam didnt like them.

[NuclearReefs]

Are you putting Iodine in your tank? in any form other than whats in the salt when you do water changes?

Xenia Loooooves Iodine too.....

[maisysmom]

I do put a supplement... not sure if it has iodine.
Thanks for all the innovative ideas. I'd love to try the blowtorch........

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8123891#post8123891 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NuclearReefs
Are you putting Iodine in your tank? in any form other than whats in the salt when you do water changes?

Xenia Loooooves Iodine too.....

How are you dosing and monitoring?

[Samy]

Hello,

It is not the Xenia who love Iodine.
The bacterium who often kill the Xenia really don't like the Iodine !

Then with Iodine you protect the Xenia.

Sorry for my english i'm swiss !!!

[maisysmom]

No dosing or monitoring.. just put a little spash in every now and again. It's a miracle my tank has made it this long.