My Xenia's Early Demise

[Wreck-Diver]

Hello All,

I wanted to post a quick description of a problem with my tank... I am hoping someone may be able to help me out. Here is a little info on the tank:

It is a 60 gallon that I have had for about a year now... The water conditions have always been ideal, and I have had the same fish and corals in there for about that long... all of them doing very well. The other night I performed a water change, and had also bought a new canister filter (it works GREAT!) and installed it. After the maintenance, all looked great. Next I added trace elements (3 capfuls... the recommended dosage for that tank), and then 1 cap full of Iodine (Kent's). I have never added Iodine like that before, but I did follow the directions. I added it mainly for the shrimp. Soon after that, my Xenia (which had been looking awesome) turned a whitish color, and were quite contracted. The next morning the base had turned almost black on most of them, and they were wilted over. I ran the protein skimmer for a while thinking maybe the Iodine was causing the problems. The next day they were all nearly disintegrated, and I removed them. All the other corals and fish are doing great as usual. So do you think the Iodine may have caused this Xenia's early demise? I just dont know what else it could be. Thanks in advance for the assistance! I know there are so many variables to this stuff, but I just thought it may be something obvious. :roll:

 

[investigator1]

I can tell you that based off of personal experience and a very informative article from Advanced Aquarist magazine that dosing iodine is no good. Most algaes and xenia hold higher levels of iodine. But it is not necessarily a good reason. Studies and personal experience have shown that water changes replace the iodine that is consumed by your reef-tank. Dosing iodine can obliterate algaes. My xenia was dying like crap while all of my other corals seemed okay when I was dosing iodine. I stopped dosing after I read the article and my xenia cannot be stopped now. In addition I never figured out why everyone says mushroom corals reproduce like weeds until I stopped dosing iodine. Since 1 or 2 months after I have stopped doing iodine my mushroom corals have reproduced double from the riginal population. It could be a coincidence but for me it's not. My tank is extremely happy now without iodine dosing.

 

[Wreck-Diver]

Sorry it took so long to respond to this, but I wanted to say THANKS for the informative reply! Very helpful! I will not be adding any more of that to the tank in the near future... that is for sure! My boss at work has a 5000 aquarium in his home (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... genumber=1)... he has been in the hobby for many years... I also mentioned it to him and got smacked over the head for doing that. The link above has some pictures of his on there... it was just set up recently... poor guy upgraded from a 2500 in is old house.

Again, THANKS for the reply!

 

[Wreck-Diver]

Sorry it took so long to respond to this, but I wanted to say THANKS for the informative reply! Very helpful! I will not be adding any more of that to the tank in the near future... that is for sure! My boss at work has a 5000 aquarium in his home (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... genumber=1)... he has been in the hobby for many years... I also mentioned it to him and got smacked over the head for doing that. The link above has some pictures of his on there... it was just set up recently... poor guy upgraded from a 2500 in is old house.

Again, THANKS for the reply!

 

[fredso2003]

I can only say IME I have been dosing w/iodine for 12 weeks and my xenia is OFF THE CHARTS!I mean it,the thing has grown like a weed 4" in height and several new stalks in under 3 months,as for the shrooms the reproduction does seem slower now tht you mentioned iit I was thinking, my shrooms split more before the dosing w/iodine??I dont know if this is a factor or not, but its what happen in my reef!