Xenia Ill

[David Hawkins]

Around 4 weeks ago I had what I think was a xenia from my local fish shop. It was a large piece of coral.

I got it home, and to be honest, after the first day, it didn't do very well.

Although I did test the water the day before bought the coral and all was fine, I noticed 3 days later that my pump had stopped working. I hadn't noticed because the addition power heads were still moving the water.

Anyway, my ammonia went up a lot, but came down to normal within 4 days of getting the pump working again.

That was 3 weeks ago. I have done my usual weekly tank clean and on advice from the shop, clean the coral but left the coral to hopefully recover in it's own time.

Some of coral has come out recently (when I say some, I have seen 5 pieces out of the purple base yesterday),

I cleaned the tank tonight and large chunks of it have just fallen off the coral. I assume this means it is dead, but there are several areas which are still tight on the rock. Will these recover at all? Should I leave it in the tank or just remove it?

 

[lando]

Any chance you cna post a pic? Need more info. What size tank. Current water parameters...Temp, Ph, SG, amonia, nitrite, nitrate, posphate, Ca, Alk. Type of lighitng, wattage and tank age. What else is in there with it? Most imporantly...Welcome to AA!!!

 

[David Hawkins]

Trying to get a pic but camera has just decided not to work!

It's 120L, 24 Celsius, PH 8.2, SG 23, Ammonia 0.1, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 50, Phosphate, Ca and Alk I have never taken. I have 2 Bulbs. 1 marine white, one Marine Blue. Tank is approx 12 months old, but approx 4 months since it was changed to marine.

Have 2 very small mushrooms (as in 1 mushroom shape on each), 1 Sea urchin, 1 Red Hermit, 2 Clowns, 1 Rock Goby.

I cleaned the tank approx 3 hours ago. There is now 1 star sticking out of the coral.

 

[theatrus]

You're pretty low on the light scale, since I'm going to assume you have 2x36" bulbs at 30W each. Thats 2 watts/US gallon. Nitrates are high, but Xenia is a rather tolerant species when it comes to that.

I'd figure you need at least 4watts/US gallon to keep Xenia sucessfuly... Mine was thriving at 4.5W/g (just upped to 7.5W/g an hour or so ago. Its like daylight in the living room now )

 

[David Hawkins]

My local shop said my lighting would be fine for the moment and wouldn't help, but have consider some more. Will have to use the T5 Compacts due to a lack of space.

 

[theatrus]

I'm not totally convinced its the lighting, but Xenia is a soft coral which gets most of its energy from photosynthesis, so lighting is an important factor. My Xenia did well under 220W (4x55) in a 55g (210L). We'll see how it likes the just added 2x96 (for 420W total).

Maybe look into a 2x65W compact fluorescent fixture?

Also, I'd work on getting those nitrates lower. How often are you doing water changes? How much LR do you have? Skimmer?

 

[David Hawkins]

My nitrates are a little high, but haven't done a water change in 2 weeks.

Normally do one every 2 weeks.

I have a prism skimmer.

I have approx 2-3 kilos live rock, with about 5-6 in normal rock

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

Your xenia needs ca, and alk right away, they need alk atleast, I didnt have any ca or alk, and one of my colonies died. Then I started to add ca and alk and the other survived, and is still thriving and growing

 

[David Hawkins]

I asked in the shop and they said I would not need anything in the form of additives.

 

[steve r]

sometimes the LFS is wrong. i have found my best and most sound advice has always come from this forum. i usally trump the LFS advice with majority answer from the people here

some wouldnt consider ca and alk "additives" but instead important elements in the make up of healthty reef water

steve r