Zenia Spreading

[Cscultho]

How can i slow down or stop my zenia from taking over? Its growing like a weed and starting to encroach on my other corals. The zenia came in on one of my rocks and has doubled in size in the last 2-weeks....

HELP

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

That’s the problem with Xenia.. it doesn’t stop growing and when you try to remove it, any small piece that’s torn off will form a new colony. You’re gonna have to carefully scrape it off whatever rock that it’s on & siphon it out with a hose to make sure you don’t have new colonies form.

 

[Cscultho]

That’s the problem with Xenia.. it doesn’t stop growing and when you try to remove it, any small piece that’s torn off will form a new colony. You’re gonna have to carefully scrape it off whatever rock that it’s on & siphon it out with a hose to make sure you don’t have new colonies form.

OH NO....! I was hoping for an easier solution. This stuff is a nuisance...

 

[ZachsZoo]

If you get any invasive corals like xenia, gsp, or sympodium the only thing you can really do to stop it from growing is to isolate it on a small rock in your sandbed so it can't get to your main aquascape. Here is a pic from my LFS, their tank is covered in sympodium and it only took a couple of weeks.

 

[Mikedawg]

Xenia, kudzu of the ocean

 

[Cscultho]

Can it be killed with bleach or is that not recommended?

 

[jd371]

I wouldn’t use bleach. This is why I isolated them on their own rock. They are spreading onto the back glass, but should be easy to scrape off when the time comes.
I did have some pop up on the main rock from a hole, just a few heads. I was killing some Aptasia with Aptasia-X so I smothered the Xenia with it and it worked. I don’t know how effective this would be because your’re dealing with a lot more. Do a little at a time. I heard about using a kalk paste to do the same.