Do you know what type of Xenia you have? Everyone is speaking as if there is one type of Xenia. There are many verieties some are extremly difficult to keep or propigate and others are like weeds. I have 6 different types of pulsing xenia but do not have Xenia Elongata which is probably what most people are referring to when they say Xenia.
The Xenia I have the most of is the Fiji Pom Pom Xenia (possibly Xenia umbellata) tolerates a wide range of lighting from bottom of a 55 gallon tank with 2 40 watt NOs to 3 inches below the surface dirrectly under a 400 watt halide supplimented with 2 110watt VHOs. They tolerate mimimal current to very forcefull water motion although they definately look different under different conditions. My blue leg hermits and scarlets do not seem to bother them nor do the emerald crabs nor do the perpermint shrimp.
BUT a couple of the good LFS can't seem to keep them a live while they'll thrive at other LFS
Once I brought some back that were badly withering away at a LFS after 10 days and after about a wk of bairly hanging in there in my tank they melted down and in the process wiped out all the pom pom xenias (around 200 xenias) in my 400 gallon system while not affecting any of the other species of Xenias in the system and not affecting any of the other corals, mostly SPSs but a few other softies and a few LPSs. I have no idea why they melt down at some LFS and not at others but once the process started I could not reverse it by placing them in what had been ideal growing conditions for them. And what ever caused the melt down then caused the xenias to give off a species specific toxin (in my opionion) that wiped out the rest of my Pom Poms in that system while other Xenia species flourished. I waited a month after the last Pom Pom totally withered away and reintroduce Pom Pom Xenias and they are doing well in that system again.
It may be that your xenia some where along the line of shipping and handling may have been affected by some toxins of some sort or some other enviroonmental factor and no matter what you tried to do it may have all ready been too late to save them. Do the "bite marks " look clean and sharp or more like sores or irroded areas? If you get a chance after doing some water changes try getting some Xenias direcly from some one who has them growing well and place them in your tank without allowing them to go through any one elses system. That may just work for you, if not then you need to try to figure out what it is in your system that they don't like and that seems to be a major mystry for those who can't keep Xenias. Good luck.
The Xenia I have the most of is the Fiji Pom Pom Xenia (possibly Xenia umbellata) tolerates a wide range of lighting from bottom of a 55 gallon tank with 2 40 watt NOs to 3 inches below the surface dirrectly under a 400 watt halide supplimented with 2 110watt VHOs. They tolerate mimimal current to very forcefull water motion although they definately look different under different conditions. My blue leg hermits and scarlets do not seem to bother them nor do the emerald crabs nor do the perpermint shrimp.
BUT a couple of the good LFS can't seem to keep them a live while they'll thrive at other LFS
Once I brought some back that were badly withering away at a LFS after 10 days and after about a wk of bairly hanging in there in my tank they melted down and in the process wiped out all the pom pom xenias (around 200 xenias) in my 400 gallon system while not affecting any of the other species of Xenias in the system and not affecting any of the other corals, mostly SPSs but a few other softies and a few LPSs. I have no idea why they melt down at some LFS and not at others but once the process started I could not reverse it by placing them in what had been ideal growing conditions for them. And what ever caused the melt down then caused the xenias to give off a species specific toxin (in my opionion) that wiped out the rest of my Pom Poms in that system while other Xenia species flourished. I waited a month after the last Pom Pom totally withered away and reintroduce Pom Pom Xenias and they are doing well in that system again.
It may be that your xenia some where along the line of shipping and handling may have been affected by some toxins of some sort or some other enviroonmental factor and no matter what you tried to do it may have all ready been too late to save them. Do the "bite marks " look clean and sharp or more like sores or irroded areas? If you get a chance after doing some water changes try getting some Xenias direcly from some one who has them growing well and place them in your tank without allowing them to go through any one elses system. That may just work for you, if not then you need to try to figure out what it is in your system that they don't like and that seems to be a major mystry for those who can't keep Xenias. Good luck.
