War on Xenia

BradB · Nov 28, 2015

My 270 gallon reef is taken over by Xenia! Most posts suggest manual removal (trying, but I swear it grows faster than I can pull it) or lower my nutrients. The problem with lowering nutrients is there aren't any! Both nitrate and phosphate are undetectable by hobbyist kits, and phosphate was below detection on the Triton test. This isn't much of a surprise - the Xenia is probably stripping every molecule it can from the water to fuel growth.

I have overdosed Vodka before, and my Xenia suffered more than anything else. Normally, I only use it when nitrate starts to rise, but I am wondering if I can use it to kill (or at least slow) my xenia? I am tempted to just add a lot, skim the heck out of everything, wait for the Xenia to die and see what survives. Or am I better dosing slowly, and hoping to kill it without affecting anything else?

I am also wondering if I should cut back on feeding my fish? I do have a high bioload (harlequin tuskfish, 3 angels, 5 tangs). I have a goldflake angel that has always looked skinny, so I hate cutting back. I also have a huge squamosa that has to use a lot of nitrate and I don't want to lose.

twilliard · Nov 28, 2015

Fenbendazol will rid your tank of those

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 28, 2015

I don't know of how to reduce xenia (aside from manual removal), and I would not assume nutrient reduction or organic carbon dosing will do it.

They come and go in many tanks, but probably not simply due to nitrate and phosphate availability.

knukles55 · Nov 28, 2015

Some in tank bleach treatment should do the trick

BradB · Nov 28, 2015

I am going to try Fenbendazol. I've already lost as much from the Xenia and from moving everything every week as I might from the Fenbendazol. Does anyone know what dose? I want to start conservatively. Does anyone know what it will do to clams?

LostInTheDark · Nov 28, 2015

Not sure if it is the only reason but my Xenia disappeared after I started Bio pellets. I was in the same situation as you pulling out handfuls every week. With bio pellets they stopped speaking and slowly disappeared.

hatrix11 · Nov 29, 2015

Pics! Vids!

Wiz · Nov 29, 2015

Send me some! I had pom pom and pulsing. Did well for about six months. Grew like crazy. I liked it. I do maitinence every day anyway. Then all of a sudden it turned white and fell apart. First the pulsing then my beautiful pom poms. :-( everything else is great. Wierd

granocompany · Nov 29, 2015

Wiz said:
Send me some! I had pom pom and pulsing. Did well for about six months. Grew like crazy. I liked it. I do maitinence every day anyway. Then all of a sudden it turned white and fell apart. First the pulsing then my beautiful pom poms. :-( everything else is great. Wierd

Hi, I have 2 tanks, one with xenia and another with LPS. I tried to remove xenia from LPS tank even with small piece of live rock but they got back. File fish cleaned all of them, but you have to feed him every day. I sold file fish and after 3 weeks xenia back.
my tanks

biom · Nov 29, 2015

Fenbendazole/ Mebendazole/ Albendazole treating is the only way to get rid of the Xenia. I've tried everything including restart and manual cleaning of all rock in my tank, did't helped in two months Xenia take over the tank again.
To survive Xenia needs some nutrients but easily could flourish even in ultra low nutrient system (like mine) if there is frequent feeding with frosen foods/amino acids/ coral food etc.
I finish my treating with albendazole a month ago and I'm pretty happy with the results, all my Xenia, Clavularia, Blue polyps gone. No ill effect on Acros they show good PE during the treatment and colors did't change significantly. Negative side effects - cycling after Albendazole treatment (cyano), all snails left in the tank died, (yes i removed most of them before treatment but i was surprised to find how many chitons I had). LPSes was't happy during treatment but all survived. Montiporas became brown but color returned in a week. Fish, shrimps all ok, even Clowns eggs survived and develop normally during treatment. Not sure about amphipods, feather worms ok, pods ok, bacteria ok, asterina stars ok. Dont have clams.
I chose Albendazole, because it is easily find here, it is cheap and could be find with good purity, and is more soluble in water than the others.

skydancer · Nov 29, 2015

From personal experience, if you run "cleaner" water, Xenia dissolves. It thrives on phosphates and nitrates.

twilliard · Nov 29, 2015

BradB said:
I am going to try Fenbendazol. I've already lost as much from the Xenia and from moving everything every week as I might from the Fenbendazol. Does anyone know what dose? I want to start conservatively. Does anyone know what it will do to clams?

Good choice.
Now to make the plan

With so much zenia in your tank your DOC's will go out the roof so be prepared with heavy ski ming, lots of carbon and water.
Remove the snails such as turbos, they will perish if left in. Also any starfish.
This will also kill GSP's, cloves
So how much to dose. You will need 500 mg for 270 gallons (total volume including any sumps i take it)
You need to crush it up into a fine powder!
Take the fenbendazol and mix it up with 1 liter of tank water.
Pour it in leaving all equipment running (with no carbon!)
Make sure you have a lot of flow in the tank, you dont want it to settle in one spot.
Leave this running for 24 hours max
After the 24 hours run as much carbon as you possibly can and change water. The goal here is to remove as much fenbendazol as you can and skim wet.
Keep changing water, as much as possible. The faster you can remove it the sooner you can re introduce snails.
And now watch the zenia wither away

Hope this helps!

twilliard · Nov 29, 2015

Oh and this is what you need to get

BradB · Dec 8, 2015

I added 50 mg on Friday, 1/10th of what was suggested, and even more conservative, as total volume including sumps is probably 400 gallons.

Friday night, no noticeable effect.
Saturday, Xenia closed up tightly, polyp extension is poor on all corals, clams are closed.
Sunday night, Looks like Saturday, very few snails visible, but they are moving normally.
Today, Xenia looks even more shriveled. I don't know if this was enough to kill it, but all of my corals being choked out look better. Clams are back to normal. Polyp extension still poor on Acropora.

I don't think I hurt anything except the Xenia, and it is remarkable how little of this stuff you need. I may or may not need another dose, but even if I didn't kill the Xenia, I went from a tank being overrun to a few stragglers that might recover. Manual removal is much more possible, and I can always do another dose (will probably try 100 mg if I need it).