Melting Xenia
 

I have a 29 gallon tank that is almost a year and a half old. My Xenia seems to be melting a lot. I have a chiller and my temp stays at a steady temp of 78.6. I know its not my temp so I can eliminate that. I do have a chocolate chip starfish and I know that it is not reef safe, however, it does not go near my corals. I only have two corals a Xenia and a Broccoli coral. My Broccoli coral is doing fine and has grown tremendously since the first day i bought it. I believe I have had the Xenia for almost 2 months. My guess that my water is too clean so it isn't that "dirty". I know for a fact that it isn't dead since it still retracts at night and i do have a small stalk growing on a piece of my live rock nest to the Xenia. I know my Nitrates are high but they are reducing slowly now. I have been lacking on water changes because I have been a little busy. I am doing 5 gallon changes every Sunday so hopefully that will help.

PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024
Temp: 78.6
Alk: 10
Ammonia: 0
NO3/PO4: .75/0
Nitrite: 0
Calcium: 400

I have:
2 Clown Fish
1 Royal Gramma
1 Chocolate Chip Starfish (Always chills on the front and sides of the glass)
1 Broccoli Coral
1 Xenia Coral

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I have never had long term luck with xenia. They do well for a while and then melt away. I would keep up with the water changes it might replenish that missing element that is causing the problem .
Good luck!

Thanks, hopefully the water changes help, if not, I will try to stay away from any Xenia.

same deal; grows great for 6-8 months then it melts away? would like to here from someone who keeps it long term!!!!

Plenty of people complain that they over run their tanks!

That is true they grow like weeds in some tanks and in others they just melt away. You basically have a 50/50 chance with Xenia.

They melt away in my tank too, but I have a bunch of other corals and livestock that are thriving. Oh well

I put one in my tank and it was in a lower light area (I have LED's and there is a small shadow between the 2 units) and it totally melted. I moved it 4 inches into better light and it popped back and is growing like a weed.

My LFS store also says they grow like weeds or wither. No in between.

i went to look at my xenia that i have been trying to nurse back but it just completely melted away, i had a small stalk about less than inch growing on a different LR and it looked healthy and that dissapeared out of the blue.

RIP xenia!

I guess that pretty much ends this thread.

Give it some time and maybe try again but I would not spend much on them.

I have about 12 med. Pieces in my tank for over a year. Looking great but nothing spreading at all.

Wont grow in my tank either.

mines pulsing like crazy. moderate flow real good parameters mg. a little low 1100 other than that all my other corals look great.

Ours did crappy lower in the tank. They go nuts at the top. A few pieces were our first coral in the tank in December 2010 (tank started in October 2010). They withered, lost all their little fingers, shrank up to almost nothing, then I moved them. Our nitrates usually run about 40 ppm.

March 2011
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5224/5...e33aac5a_b.jpg

February 2012
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6...c753e7ff_b.jpg

Not sure what happened this January in our tank (that could be the month we changed bulbs), but we had a huge growth spurt of almost everything in the DT and the fuge, including the xenia (upper left in the following pics).

January 1, 2012
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6...1a302490_b.jpg

February 18, 2012
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7063/6...fcd808a4_b.jpg

Very nice tank, apparently I looked on top of one my LRs and theres a small healthy stalk thats about less than an 1/2 inch growing in a small hole, so I think I am good now lol

Be happy. I put some xenia in a tank I had a few yrs ago and it tried to overrun the tank.
Huge problem to get rid of. Very invasive. I will be starting a build soon and I will NOT be using xenia....

Xenia's are wierd. Some people could never keep em and for some they grow like weed.. Ive always liked to have a couple stalks in the tank and for the second time already they have spread everywhere.

Some of us want it to be invasive. My 55 is a softy tank. The intention is to have a tank full of softies that sway in the current.

Try taking your salinity to 1.025
1.024 tends to be a little low for xenia.
When they take off again,your nitrate will drop too.
9-10 on the alk ,so your alk looks fine.

p.s. I know you mention your CC star stays away from your corals,but I would not rule it out either.

I have one of those tanks where Xenia grows like a weed. I have a rock where they are growing in between a big zoa colony and I can't get rid of them! Cutting them back only slows them down, they grow right back in a matter of days. You have to destroy ALL tissue to kill them, which is very hard to do on live rock cause of all the little holes and crevasses. I swear they will grow from any shred of tissue! I can't get too aggressive with the rock cause they're growing between zoa polyps. It's a real problem.

Xenia is a cool coral, but when they like your tank they certainly can go crazy. If I were to add Xenia again, I'd be sure to do more to contain them right off the bat. They spread by leaning over to touch another rock & splitting wherever they touch. So they generally grow up the rock & when they reach the top they don't know where to go. Don't leave a path to other rocks and you can contain them a bit. You still have to cut them back or they start to shed little stalks that float around until they find somewhere else (like right in the middle of your nicest zoa colony!).

Some aggressive coral can hold the line. My torch coral & pineapple tree coral keep them at bay, but they just grow right over the more peaceful stuff. They don't seem to sting, just smother. Definitely a love/hate thing for me atm.


My param tests from last w-e:

salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.4
temp: 79F
alk: 8.4
ca: 420
mag: 1330
nitrate: b.d.
phos: 0.02

I used to have a serious phosphate problem from recycled sand, and they LOVED it. They also love the light. They seem to grow in just about any flow. Good luck.

Here is a video ive had the xenia for over 2 years and i think its looks alright let me know what you think below the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5tH...1&feature=plcp

I think its an Alk issue with Xenias. I had a tank with Alk levels of 9 -10 and the Xenias would burn over a couple weeks. I had a tank crash with the October power outages in the Northeast and had to start from scratch. My new redo of the tank has a stable Alk of 7 and the new Xenia frag I put in during January 2012 has let me split it 7 times so far and all are growing extremely well. Just my experience. If only I can get my SPS colonies to do as good

I have seen Xenia grow in all dkh ranges. I suppose some colonies do better at certain levels but as long as its stable and within range it should be fine. I have seen it stop pulsing at very low levels though. under 6. which in my opinion its too low for a mixed reef.
Xenia do need iodine in the water so you may want to get an iodine test kit and dose that or look into it and do some research on that.
I have had luck removing it off rocks using a torch! thats right. We took the rock it was on out of the tank and used a propane torch on that area of the rock and it never returned. the torch can be bought at any large store like home depot or walmart for less than 20 bucks.
Hope that helps a bit.

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i too had xenia grow like crazy and all of a sudden started melting. Not sure what changed.

if you want to get rid of it just send me your rock ;)

I bought a xenia frag 2 weeks ago, it is all shrivled up and melted now. Tried it in the back of the tank about half way up, didnt like it. Tried it on the sand in the middle of the tank, shrivled more, moved it up slightly, shrivled more.. now I have it in the front on the sand..

24x3w led on 25g tank about 4" off water, mp10.. run low nutrients with heavy skimming & gfo but feed a decent amount with a home made fish food blend.