Calling all Xenia Experts....

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Greetings,

I have a problem of keeping my Xenia alive as they do well in the first month then refuse to open up then wither away. My current one is showing signs of that. All other corals (open brain, colt, frog spawn, hammer heads, tree, toadstool, candy cane, deadman fingers) are doing well. The Xenia is not placed anywhere near others. I do PWC 20 gallons every two weeks in my 125 gallon with sump. I feed plankyton liquid 13 ml everyday. Water chemistry (tested weekly) and re-confirmed with LFS test.

1. Ammonia and nitrite are zero.
2. Nitrate is 5 ppm. A month ago it got to 15 and was quickly corrected (no more pork chops ever since).
3. Ph is 8.3
4. dKH is 8.0
5. Salinity is 1.025
6. Calcium is 375-425.

I have 8 T5 light bulbs with 6 @ 39 Watts and 2 @54Watts running 12 hours/day. I have 3 Kolia 3 powerheads.

I have polyfilter and phosphate mesh bags(5) placed in the sump. So with what I believe to be excellent water quality, something is making the Xenia unhappy (please don't tell me pork chops...). All the fish are thriving including the difficult to keep Powder Blue. Please advise. DP

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Here's my take ...

Hello all,

I am suprised no one has responded to this question so I did some research online and talked to other aquarists. The general agreement is Xenia can thrive and spread like crazy in the tanks while others find impossible to maintain. I believe Xenia needs to have a certain level of nitrate to thrive. I had a LFS tested their tank water where the Xenia are thriving and the reading was about 18 ppm. Since my tank Nitrate is at 5 at the highest, no wonder why it never got settled in. Also I think Xenia has a short lifespan and that explains why some go into decline for no reasons. DP

 

[GhostKnife]

Why are you running your lights 12 hrs a day. No more than six is needed. Do you have an algae problem. I couldnt tell you about the xenia... however maybe they dont like all the light. Like I said no more than 6. If you have actinic blues wake your corals up gently with these and then blast em with whatever bulb you are using to simulate day.

 

[thincat]

DR. I think that 12 hrs a day is fine. Am I to believe that you are using only T-5's as your light source? Xenia's seem to do better in a dirty tank so to speak. Where in the tank are your's located?
PS: glad to see your fish are off the "Pork chop diet"

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Why are you running your lights 12 hrs a day. No more than six is needed. Do you have an algae problem. I couldnt tell you about the xenia... however maybe they dont like all the light. Like I said no more than 6. If you have actinic blues wake your corals up gently with these and then blast em with whatever bulb you are using to simulate day.

Hello,

You only need 6 hours a day? I thought it should be 12? Yes, I have hair algea in my rocks and they need a shave when I do my PWC once every two weeks. I name my rocks "Little Don Kings". DP

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

DR. I think that 12 hrs a day is fine. Am I to believe that you are using only T-5's as your light source? Xenia's seem to do better in a dirty tank so to speak. Where in the tank are your's located?
PS: glad to see your fish are off the "Pork chop diet"

TC,

I use only T-5 bulbs. When you say "dirty" you mean Nitrate higher than 15? DP

 

[thincat]

Yes...

 

[nemochris]

Hi there pulsing xenia's are funny things i had mine melt on me then next thing you know i had 6 new ones they grow again just from alittle bit of flash left on the rock i don't have a lot of flow and i don't have really high light try moving in darker spot mine seem to be doing really well now but if you read other forum's even some of the really good reef keepers cant keep them alive

 

[Tank2379]

Actually I would have to go the other route I have T-5 6x 54 watts
3 ati blue plus 1 actinic white 1 midday and 1 blue plus special and my Xenia thrive under these lighting conditions- No Nitrate No Ammonia. You did mention that you added Polyfilter and Phophate Mesh Bag. Most Media will Absorpt most or allNutrients and Zooxanthellae that Xenia Thrive on which cause them to die off or stop growing. Especailly if you added your media all at once. I believe a few water changes should take care of it... Here is my Xenia at there best.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Actually I would have to go the other route I have T-5 6x 54 watts
3 ati blue plus 1 actinic white 1 midday and 1 blue plus special and my Xenia thrive under these lighting conditions- No Nitrate No Ammonia. You did mention that you added Polyfilter and Phophate Mesh Bag. Most Media will Absorpt most or allNutrients and Zooxanthellae that Xenia Thrive on which cause them to die off or stop growing. Especailly if you added your media all at once. I believe a few water changes should take care of it... Here is my Xenia at there best.

Greetings,

I spoke to many reef keepers and none of them can come to the same conclusion. Some say temperature (must be less than 84 F), high nutrients, low light, low or high flow, short life span etc... I gave up on Xenia recently because I cannot keep them alive more than a month. My water is best as it can be (for my ability of course). DP

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... You did mention that you added Polyfilter and Phophate Mesh Bag. ....

I didn't notice the "phosphate mesh bag" comment until Tank brought it up. What kind of phosphate remover are you using? If it's the aluminum-oxide based kind (white stuff), there've been reports of it causing problems with several different kinds of soft corals. A better phosphate remover choice would be the GFO (granulated ferric oxide) which is a rust color.

Not sure what kind you're using, but figured I'd bring it up just in case.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

I didn't notice the "phosphate mesh bag" comment until Tank brought it up. What kind of phosphate remover are you using? If it's the aluminum-oxide based kind (white stuff), there've been reports of it causing problems with several different kinds of soft corals. A better phosphate remover choice would be the GFO (granulated ferric oxide) which is a rust color.

Not sure what kind you're using, but figured I'd bring it up just in case.

Hello,

I use Poly filter and 4 bags (the white ones that claim to limit phosphate). My phosphate reading is always zero. Should I not use the white stuff then? What kind of problems did they cause and why? DP

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Here's an article...

Chemistry and the Aquarium

... and you can also do some googling for "phosguard soft coral problems" and find more stuff.

Seachem (maker of Phosguard), of course, says that aluminum oxide based phosphate removers are not harmful to reef aquaria. They've published several papers refuting the problems folks have seen using these types of phosphate removers. Granted... proving a direct cause/effect relationship in our tanks is near impossible, but there's been enough anecdotal evidence from reefers to make a person leary of using aluminum oxide based products - especially when there have been no side effects reported using the GFO products.

Basic problems reported are "withering away" of certain species of soft corals. Since I run GFO, I never really pay too much attention to what species have issues, so I don't know if xenia is one of those that have been reported to have problems.

Now that I think of it... you recently had a leather melt down, didn't you?

 

[Tank2379]

I would remove the phosphate media unless you are really over feeding and have a high Bio-load. Kurt is correct GFO is the way to go which could be found on BRS site which is the best to use... JMO

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Great advice. I am going to toss out all those pouches and try something else. Last night I went to the LFS and I saw a tank full of Xenia (the light pink ones that pulse alot) all over the rocks. I was advised this type is the most undemanding and easy to keep. He told me that these are growing so fast in his tank so I bought one. So far, it is pulsing so I am going to keep an eye on it. He also told me that they will die if temperature gets above 80 degrees. DP

 

[Mitchell0605]

I have a large one that is going... okay. And serveral little ones going great. Maybe it's just a life-span thing.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

I have a large one that is going... okay. And serveral little ones going great. Maybe it's just a life-span thing.

The three frags I have are now doing fine and I love their pulsing action. I think they are the "daisy" variety (short stalk and pinkish in color). I am kind of worried because my water chemistry was all zero (including Nitrate) but so far so good. DP

 

[thincat]

Great, keep up the good work!