xenia coral dying

[YoCamron]

so yesterday i got a frag of xenia coral... when i turned on the lights this morning, it was just 1 little polyp and what remained of the dead xenia coral. this has never happened to me before so i just wanted to know what could have happened and if i should let the polyp stay in the tank to see if it will grow...

 

[reef4beer]

Your goniopora on the top right doesn't look too well either.

Can you provide some water parameters, water temp.? There are several things that can be affecting your corals.

 

[ngvu1]

I have seen xenia growing back from a little tiny piece left after I peel it with my nail.....is anything eating it?

 

[Tru REEF]

2 things could have happen. one it could've detached itself and is going to pop up in the tank somewhere later. And 2 something ate it because i have never seen xenia do that especially over night. And if u leave it, it may grow again or may not, but leaving it wont hurt anything.

 

[YoCamron]

Your goniopora on the top right doesn't look too well either.

Can you provide some water parameters, water temp.? There are several things that can be affecting your corals.

they just looked like that because my lights had just turned on and i moved them around. nitrites are 0, nitrates 2.5, ammonia 0. 79 degrees for water

 

[Josh King]

I bought a Pom Pom Xenia a few months back with a bunch of other frags. All the other frags some mushrooms, ricordea, etc. did well and are now multiplying. The Xenia however withered and died overnight. Not sure what happened? I've heard your water can be too clean for them to grow. I have 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate every time I test. I don't have a low range test kit so they are probably close to zero. I am interested to see what others say. I also have some sps which are doing well.

 

[YoCamron]

2 things could have happen. one it could've detached itself and is going to pop up in the tank somewhere later. And 2 something ate it because i have never seen xenia do that especially over night. And if u leave it, it may grow again or may not, but leaving it wont hurt anything.

i was thinking it deattached itself too. nothing in the tank would have eaten it IMO, but i think one of the snails could have agitated it

 

[YoCamron]

I bought a Pom Pom Xenia a few months back with a bunch of other frags. All the other frags some mushrooms, ricordea, etc. did well and are now multiplying. The Xenia however withered and died overnight. Not sure what happened? I've heard your water can be too clean for them to grow. I have 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate every time I test. I don't have a low range test kit so they are probably close to zero. I am interested to see what others say. I also have some sps which are doing well.

very strange. this is the first coral that has just died out of the blue on me... heard a lot of different things could have happened

 

[ngvu1]

Not trying to scare you off, but if you stay in the hobby a bit longer, you will find that many other corals, specially the ones you pay an arm and a leg for, just die out of the blue!
If you were near me, I would replace that coral and few other things for you to get a feel of how weird these things are

very strange. this is the first coral that has just died out of the blue on me... heard a lot of different things could have happened

 

[YoCamron]

Not trying to scare you off, but if you stay in the hobby a bit longer, you will find that many other corals, specially the ones you pay an arm and a leg for, just die out of the blue!
If you were near me, I would replace that coral and few other things for you to get a feel of how weird these things are

i've been in it for 10 years but only doing reef tanks for 4, and usually the only thing that dies on me out of the blue are nudibranchs! i have had great luck so far (knock on wood)...

 

[Tru REEF]

Just pay close attention it may pop up some where in the tank. I have never seen a whole coral die over night unless something was eating it. And my pulsing xenia has split 7 times 5 remaining the other two shriveled and died but it took like 2 weeks for it to actually disappear.

 

[ngvu1]

LOL, Sorry and forgive me for my ignorance. I had the exact experience when I first started out. I could not keep xenia or pretty much anything. Now, I can't remove xenia and gsp fast enough due to my lazyness!

i've been in it for 10 years but only doing reef tanks for 4, and usually the only thing that dies on me out of the blue are nudibranchs! i have had great luck so far (knock on wood)...

 

[YoCamron]

all good! i just found out what the problem was! a baby camel shrimp snuck in with a piece of coral!

 

[YoCamron]

Just pay close attention it may pop up some where in the tank. I have never seen a whole coral die over night unless something was eating it. And my pulsing xenia has split 7 times 5 remaining the other two shriveled and died but it took like 2 weeks for it to actually disappear.

it was a baby camel shrimp that snuck in! gotta be more careful and dip my corals!

 

[YoCamron]

I bought a Pom Pom Xenia a few months back with a bunch of other frags. All the other frags some mushrooms, ricordea, etc. did well and are now multiplying. The Xenia however withered and died overnight. Not sure what happened? I've heard your water can be too clean for them to grow. I have 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate every time I test. I don't have a low range test kit so they are probably close to zero. I am interested to see what others say. I also have some sps which are doing well.

just found out it was a baby camel shrimp that was doing the damage... removed it before anymore damage was done

 

[Retro Reefer]

IMO camel shrimp won't kill Xenia.. Looks to me like it probably got stung by your anemone, they look pretty close together in a couple of those pic's.. Xenias and anemones can stretch out a lot

 

[YoCamron]

i saw him eating the last few polyps. it was far away from my anemone when it was alive, just moved it next to it when it was dead cuz there was less flow back there

 

[Tru REEF]

Yeah well, chamel shrimp will eat corals for sure. I had a peppermint shrimp that ate my baby torch. Luckily you caught him. I literally had to let my calcium drop so it would die when molting .

 

[YoCamron]

theyre very hard to catch... had to take apart almost everything to get it out