pulsing xenia help

[jossc]

hello,

I am new to salt water fish but have kept tropical for numerous years. I recently bought a pulsing xenia frag online and when it arrived it did not look good at all, it has been in my tank for three days and trampled on by a clumsy snail or hermit crab and knocked over. it doesn't look good to me at all and wondered if its worth keeping in or just throw it out.

thanks.

 

[sfin52]

Welcome to Reef2reef. Can you tell us a little more about your system. Age, salinity, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and lighting. It will really help us to help you

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

hello,

I am new to salt water fish but have kept tropical for numerous years. I recently bought a pulsing xenia frag online and when it arrived it did not look good at all, it has been in my tank for three days and trampled on by a clumsy snail or hermit crab and knocked over. it doesn't look good to me at all and wondered if its worth keeping in or just throw it out.

thanks.

In my experience, Xenia of any kind, often doesn't travel well. If there is tissue on the plug, then it WILL grow back. Xenia, as a general rule, is very hardy.

 

[VKP01]

It doesn’t look too great at the moment, but usually it will come back. Hard to kill it even if you try

 

[jeffchapok]

I've had some that got nuked by a dying nem, and it came back eventually. There was literally no sign of life for weeks. So leave it be -- I'll bet you it recovers.

 

[vetteguy53081]

they do best under moderate light and flow and need a little nitrate however low phosphate and pH of at least 7.8-8.1
Adding Iron usually perks them up

 

[jossc]

thank you very much for your replies, ill stick with it for a couple of weeks and see if it improves.

 

[UCF Alum]

@jossc
I agree with the others above. I will also say this. Xenia is like a weed that grows out of control. It will quickly overtake your entire tank. Although you like it today, most people find it a major nuisance tomorrow.

All I’m saying is this may be a blessing in disguise.

 

[jossc]

just an update,

so this morning I checked the tank and the coral has all but gone, one tiny speck still remains on the plug but there are traces of it along the sand over the tank, its as if something has tried eating it or just destroyed it for fun. I am going to place the culprit on my red hermit crab. I have two clowns and two turbo snails all which during the day happily pass it and show no interest, however my red hermit seems to be nocturnal and when the lights go out he comes to life and scavenges, so he is my prime suspect.

I am so gutted really wanted that coral to work

 

[jossc]

just thought id add a updated pic, also I spotted something growing this morning between a little cave in the rock and thought id add a photo also, could this be a pulse coral growing it cant be anything else as this was dead liverock that I used with no other coral ever being added

 

[MERKEY]

It's hard to tell from the pic but it could very well be. Once they get scattered by an animal they can end up pretty much anywhere as long as there is tissue still alive.

It also could be aptasia or something else....dead live rock can house hitchhikers longer than we imagine.

But if it is the xenia that's cool!!

 

[AdamB]

Probably is Xenia..
My experience with Xenia.. I like to keep them on an island in sand bed. If you get them on your main rock display and conditions are great for growth such as mine you will have a big maintenance issue! I tried to keep my Xenia in check a couple years ago and found sprouts of it s growing all over my tank and in bad places where I could not get too!
Good luck

 

[jossc]

thanks guys, I really hope it is, il keep you updated, this is a fluval evo 13.5 and so am very limited as to what I can keep in both coral and livestock, im not planning to keep any other coral than xenia as I like the purple colour and movement of the coral. I also hope to have a lot of purple coraline algae to really rock out a purple look but again wether I get that or not is a different matter lol