Xenia Coral

[cooltank]

Hello,


I purchased a Xenia coral about 1 week ago that was was very healthy in my 20g until now. Some of the heads seem to be turning a slight grayish color and are leaning over. However, they are still opening and closing slowly. It seems that the majority of the grayish color heads are the new growth. Is this normal? If not, what should I do? My tank has been setup for about 8 weeks and my water parameters are as follows:

PH: 8.3
Nitrite: <0.25
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 540
Phosphate: 0
Salinity: 1.023

Please help!!!

Thanks,

Cooltank

[ScruffyRubicon]

Wish I could help you more. Xenia is one of those corals that either do really well and grow like weeds or you can't keep them at all. Others will pipe in soon.

Recheck that calcium. It's really high!!!!!

[Wolfenbuttel]

I second that. Calc is high. And my xenias grow like weeds. My buddys tank he cant kep them. I took his and put them in mine, they are doin amazing. Just th eluck of the draw i guess


Wolf

[jenajet]

Welcome to TRT! What kind of lighting and flow are they in? I will say mine did the same thing and I moved them lower away from the light. What if anything are you adding to the tank as well. I would say they are probably fine. Usually if they are going down hill they look like they are melting. Mine don't even pulse that much anymore but are spreading like the plague.

[cooltank]

I have a 130w power compact fluorescent, and a power sweep 214 (water pump) set on the minimum flow. The Xenia is located close to the bottom of the tank. I would say it is in low current, since the water pump is positioned at the opposite end of the tank. But judging how the heads are leaning backwards, one would think they are in heavy current. So, I'm not sure if they are moving backwards on their own or the current is the cause.
What do you mean by Melting? They look like they are shrinking. Is this what you mean or no?

If you need more info. just let me know.

I add strontium/Molybdenum every four days, Iodine every day, and Corallife Marine Trace Elements every other day.


my fish are:
maroon clown
regal tang
dottyback
firefish
blenny

my coral is:

short colt coral
sun coral
pipe organ
star polyp
xenia


Thanks,

cooltank

[jenajet]

No mine go from short and fat to long and skinny. I mean literally melting, turning to mush, fading away. Do you do frequent water changes? If so you probably dont need to do the additives. Probably why the calcium is so high. I would also add that is a lot of fish for a 20 gallon tank are you planning an upgrade? All in all I think just keep up waterchanges without additives and you will be fine.

[ScruffyRubicon]

I add strontium/Molybdenum every four days, Iodine every day, and Corallife Marine Trace Elements every other day.

Are you testing for the strontium, molybdenum and iodine? If you can't test for it it is not a good idea to dose it. How often are you doing water changes? If you are doing WC often you are more than likely replenishing these elements(no need to dose).

[cooltank]

I generally perform water changes every four weeks. Is this not frequent enough? How often should I change it?

So, during the water change and adding the correct salt concentration will ensure the correct chemical balance of Strontium/Molybdenum, Iodine, Calcium, and various trace elements?

Should I change the location of my water pump to direct more current toward the Xenia?

[ScruffyRubicon]

Water changes are dependent on a lot of different things: Amount and frequency of feeding, nutrient export(skimmer wet or dry), bio-load, etc. I do mine weekly or at worst every two weeks. This seems to keep all of my parameters and levels very good.

As far as positioning of xenia. I couldn't keep xenia in my last tank. The newer tank I have two groups, both from the same starter xenia. One is near the bottom with high flow and the other is very near the top near the MH lighting and almost no flow. Both are thriving and almost out of control.

[weepingtuna]

I have two sets of xenia from teh same parent colony. They are placed in the same tank. One set pumps like crazy and has divded three times. The other set does not pump and has not divded. It has grown.

[jenajet]

yeah more frequent water changes would be good. I do every two weeks on my small tank tho sometimes it will go a month but it all small fish less mess and feeding. The 90 gets done weekly because of my lions and eel They are messy! I quite adding stuff to my tank and depend just on the water changes, everything stays in check. Check your salt tho. I like oceanic because it is high in calcium and I have alot of stoney corals and coraline that use it up. Lot of people like reef crystals. I stick to what has been working for me. If I try to change things something always go awry.

[Wolfenbuttel]

I do water changes every friday. I also use RO water, Dont know if u have 1 or use 1. They are kind of expensive but worth it