Xenia Melted Away

[Sick_man]

Hi all, my xenia has been doing phenomenal until the past couple days. It shriveled up and I noticed that the stalks were basically cut in half in height. My tank is a little under two months old and I already noticed some coralline algae on my rock and I was surprised. I thought that this was an indicator for a tank that was coral ready. However, I do not have a test kit for calcium and alkalinty and etc but I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate. Other corals are doing well along with fish.

 

[Nick428]

Xenia use to popular years ago for phosphate export. Maybe your phosphates too low. Do you feed them directly?

 

[Rickybobby]

Really? I can’t kill Xenia if I try. You should test some parameters and see what’s up

 

[Sick_man]

Xenia use to popular years ago for phosphate export. Maybe your phosphates too low. Do you feed them directly?

I got some reef roids a few days ago and I squirted some on it but there wasn't any response. I also got a new canister filter to replace my hang on back and my water looks so much cleaner. Is this why?

 

[Nick428]

Probably is there new carbon and phosphate remover in the in canister?

 

[Sick_man]

Probably is there new carbon and phosphate remover in the in canister?

I added in some chemipure blue into my hang on back 2-3 weeks ago and it was doing fine. However, I'm using my old media along with the chemipure in the new filter.

 

[Pistondog]

Pretty young tank.
How's your lighting?
In a year you'll be using the xenia.
They do like some phosphate and nitrates.

 

[Sick_man]

Pretty young tank.
How's your lighting?
In a year you'll be using the xenia.
They do like some phosphate and nitrates.

Lighting isn't intense at all and is only capable of lps and softies. It was a budget friendly option until I upgrade. I really don't plan on keeping any sps either. I think max par is 100 and 10,000K. Its doing what its supposed to because my frogspawn has already started to grow another head.

 

[Sick_man]

Also, the xenia is kept in moderate flow, it sways a little bit but it pulsed.

 

[Nick428]

Could be lag between the time the chemipure blue was added and the xenia shriveling maybe its now finally starving. Im not sure if i can recommend removing the chemipure if everything else is doing great.

 

[Sick_man]

Could be lag between the time the chemipure blue was added and the xenia shriveling maybe its now finally starving. Im not sure if i can recommend removing the chemipure if everything else is doing great.

Yeah I may have to give up on the xenia. I don't want to wait a full year for my tank to fully establish with an empty space that could be used for more vibrant corals. If it keeps melting do I just throw it away? How do I dispose of a coral?

 

[Nick428]

I would leave it. See if it bounces back. I know i have had colts corals and leathers close up for days and then bounce back. I doubt it will hurt your water too much. They usually are alive and keep shrinking till they are gone. But they dont instantly rot away all at once.

 

[Sick_man]

I would leave it. See if it bounces back. I know i have had colts corals and leathers close up for days and then bounce back. I doubt it will hurt your water too much. They usually are alive and keep shrinking till they are gone. But they dont instantly rot away all at once.

Hey I just looked at my tank right now and the water got a bit cloudy. My last water change was 3 days ago. Is from the xenia rotting away?

 

[Nick428]

Pictures would help but if you touch him and its like mush then hes rotting away.

 

[Eleni18]

Xenias also need quite high mag. How is your mag level?

 

[Sick_man]

Pictures would help but if you touch him and its like mush then hes rotting away.

It doesn't mush away but it is way smaller. The stems are practically gone.

 

[Sick_man]

I dont have a test for mag yet either

 

[Nick428]

looks fine. for some reason they stop pulsing and elongating but i dont know why.
White cloudy water is usually from bacterial bloom or calcium precipitation which will pass.

I would say the chemipure had an effect on the xenia. I think its a tough balancing act keeping them with other corals that like cleaner water.

 

[josephxsxn]

I always had issues in my clean new tank keeping it alive.. In my old neglected frag tray it grew like a weed. Yours looks pretty good to me so far, maybe to much flow?

 

[Sick_man]

I always had issues in my clean new tank keeping it alive.. In my old neglected frag tray it grew like a weed. Yours looks pretty good to me so far, maybe to much flow?

I've had it in this flow for a long time and it was so much bigger last week. It probably 1/3 or 1/4 the size it was before. And just about now it has shriveled up and closed again.