xenia

[texasdivegal]

I have a xenia pulsing coral.

It is not standing up straight, not pulsing and looking thin.

It has been in my tank for 6 months. It has spread and seperated out, but now all the branches are thin and limp. It has not lost any polps. None of the branches of died yet.

Water: ph = 8.3
NH = 0
NO2 and NO3 = 0
alk = normal to high
ca = 480
Water flow is right above them.
I feed with vita-coral once a week.

tank: 75 gallon, with prism skimmer. Lighting: 2-65 watt and 2-65 watt 10,000K

I do water changes every 2 weeks.

Does anyone have any suggestion to what I can do?

 

[lando]

Is it close to any other corals? Could it be getting stung by something else?

 

[texasdivegal]

No, I don't have any other corals but mushrooms and feather dusters.

They are all on their own.

I changed the water flow to see if this helps.

 

[hisc1ay]

I'm having trouble with my xenia too. On Saturday I added a few new snails, and by Saturday night one of my xenia stalks was bent. Then Sunday morning the other one was bending, and tonight they're both hanging down pretty low. They had been doing awesome for about 3 weeks, almost doubling in size since I got them. Now they look like crap. I did a 10% water change 4 days ago.

Parameters:
Temp: 77
KH: 5.1
Alk: 1.83
Am, NO2, NO3: 0
salinity: ~1.024
pH: 8

Just in case it's related, I'm having a bout with cyano. I haven't added any external medicines or treatments though.

Any thoughts?

-j

 

[steve r]

from what i understand xenia is kind of like the clown fish of the coral world. they can look really wierd or sick one day and awesome the next. i have only had mine a couple of days but it changes shapes pretty often. it also droops sometime and then picks straight up an hour later. awesome animal though

i have also heard of a mushrooms killing a candy cane coral ( trumpet coral ). i read it on this website somewhere. http://www.melevsreef.com/29g.html. scroll down to the entry for 9/3

steve r

 

[steve r]

one othere thing i have read, some pulsing xenia are need iodine more than others. dosing iodine is a tricky subject from what i understand though

steve r

 

[steve r]

sorry back again. hisc1ay, i may be wrong on this because i am just starting to explore calcium and alk myself. shouldnt your kh be around 9-11 not 5.1? maybe this is throwing your ca / ph balance off a bit affecting the xenia. if i am incorrect someone please straighten me out. this ph/ ca / kh thing is pretty invloved

steve r

 

[hisc1ay]

I know that my KH and Alk are a little off, but it's been that way since the tank was set up so there is consistency. The xenia was acclamated to that and thrived. Maybe it just finally caught up to me.

-j