xenia prblems. any ideas?

[dorian965]

man, this xenia i got is growing like crazy. not sure what kind it is but lately its started to look really bad. they polyps have gotten extremely long,(some are over 5 inches long), and very thin and stringy looking. the one in the pics is not in a high flow area but i have some that i fraged about 2 months ago getting strong current and they are all looking like this. the polyps are so long that they dont even stand on their own.


ph: 8.2-8.3
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20
sg: 1.028
ph: .5
im trying to get the sg down slowly

 

[Brenden]

Looks like anthelia to me, not xenia. NO3 is also high.

 

[dorian965]

cool. whats making it look like crap.

p.s. it was sold to me as palm xenia.i dont know.

 

[Brenden]

No it is not pom pom xenia. Looks like to much flow. Nitrates also high.

 

[dorian965]

they are in a low flow area and will not stand on their oun. just wondering if i should get rid of them. i dont want them to die and kill anything else. when i got them they were tall but thick. now thin and im pretty sure dieng.
i wasnt disagreeing with you, i just didnt know.also, the lfs that i got it from runs his tank with nitrates at 20-30 and his do not look like this.

sorry for al the questions but this stuff has gotten at least 6 times the original size in 3 months and ive fraged it into 3 pieces.if its going to be a problem im planning on getting rid of it before it becomes a problem. :?

thanks for the help

 

[Fluff]

I agree it looks like anthelia. Mine loves flow. You could try doing some extra water changes and see that helps. My corals usually perk up after I do one.

 

[Fluff]

Oh, forgot to add, when I first got mine, it went through a few down times where I thought it wasn't gonna make it. But it perked back up. I wouldn't give up on it just yet.

 

[dorian965]

fluff, how long did your polyps get? these things are like 5-6 " long.do they stand on there oun?

 

[dorian965]

any pics?

 

[Brenden]

My stalks are around 3-4" long and about 1/2 size of a pencil. Not sure why they would get so long and thin. Just a theory but are they getting much light?

 

[dorian965]

im running no bulbs. 160 watt in a 55 but they are about 3-4 inches from the surface-about 8 from the light.do you think maybe too much light?

 

[Brenden]

I would think too much light would keep them short. It was just a idea do not take it to heart. First thing I would try is a WC. Mine are under MH lights so too much light is probably not the problem. You stated you had several frags in different locations. Seems like the only common factor is water.

 

[Scottm]

I think he thinks it might be reaching which is possible given the fact that you have NO lights. I don't know how much light it requires but I know my xenia likes to be near the surface and I have 7-8 watts per gallon of PC light.

 

[dorian965]

the shop i got them from was running mh lighting but they were at the bottom of a very dim tank.not sure what the deal with his lights are on that tank but its pretty dim. mostly this stuff, shrooms, kenya trees,and stuff.

im almost done setting up my new ro/di unit so i will be doing a few large water changes to get rid of nitrate and a phosphate problem ive been dealing with for a few months.also lower sg a bit. trying to get back down to around 1.024-5.

if you guys-gals think they will be cool , ill leave them and do the water changes to see what happens this weekend.thanks for all the help.



by the way. could someone post a pic. whenever you get time so i can see what they sould look like.thanks alot, dorian

 

[Fluff]

I agree with only NO lighting, your corals may be suffering. I have mine under 260w of PC lights and it's doing great. Here's a blurry pic. I can turn of the ph's and try to take a better one but I think this one gives you an idea.

 

[ellisz]

I had some in a 10 gal with 64 watts of PC lights and they turned a whitish color. Turned more pinksh gray when I added them to my larger display.

It is hard to kill, IMO. I have scraped it off rocks only to have a nub re-create it self

 

[dorian965]

it did seem to be a lighting issue. i forgot that i had cut back my lighting to about 7-8 hours due to algae problems so i up it to 12-13 and they seem to be getting better every day. thanks for all the help guys and gals.
dorian

 

[Phyl]

Xenia is one of those corals that either you can't keep or they grow out of control. I'm in the first camp. I had some waving hand xenia (definitely not what you have) and some pom pom xenia (also not what you have, I'd have to agree with the Anthelia--similar enough though for the purposes of this discussion). All of the waving hand slowly melted away. They just stopped opening and melted. The others continue to survive, but barely. They always open, they always pulse but they neither spred nor grow. Craziest thing, really. But I don't complain. Not after having seen some rather large scale tank takeovers! Good luck!

 

[MarineFlake]

Xenia is usually a good way to gauge a tanks health. The best way is of course through testing. Both your xenia and your tests are telling you no3 is high and they don't like it. Also corals near it with sweepers can cause the xenia problems when the sweepers come out at night and sting the stalks. Some corals use chemical warfare to make their point. Finger leather (aka sphaghetti leather) releases toxins that over time will cause corals in the tank to start to decline. This is where water changes and carbon filters come in handy. If you have some high quality *activated* carbon, use it. As mentioned before its wc time too with that no3 reading.

Peace.