stressed xenia

[free_loader]

I bought realy nice but small xenia last night .. it looked very good in the tank at the LFS.. I acclimated it for over 3 hours and checked my water .. everyhting looked ok, so i added it to my nano yesterday .. hoewever today it looks sad .. it's sort of jsut hanging there ... it doesn't look dead ... but very inactive .... is this normal ... will he perk up with time? ... thanks

Jay

here's a pic i just added .. sorry for the poor quality .. i had to use the crappy digi cam at work

 

[Ben1]

Could be current, iodine, or even temp swing. If you have a nano is the temp closely monitered? If it got to chilly last night that could be the problem. Xenia is a weed for the most part and should bounce right back, if not I am sure you can find a local reefer to give you some for free.

3 hours is a long acclimation if it were brittle stars or shimp this may be needed but IMO for corals or fish a simple drip acclimation is fine. I usually just float the bag in the sump for 15 minutes then increase water in the bag 25% a few times over anoughter 20 minutes then add the coral/fish ect.

I think a 3 hour acclimation is more stressful then helpful in the case of fish or corals, JMO.

 

[free_loader]

Xenia is a weed

if not I am sure you can find a local reefer to give you some for free.

damn expensive weed ;-) that little peice cost me nearly $40


oh well .. i suppouse if i felt it was worth it .. then i got my money's worth


thanks

 

[Ben1]

If it was the white red sea pom-pom xenia then it was worth it. This type will grow very large heads and look great. Other types, xenia microspiculata, x. elenagata for example are weeds. Some people use them as filters though as in large numbers they help export nutrients.

 

[free_loader]

wish i knew what kind od xenia it is .. unfortunatly lps only said xenia ...

as far as it's problem .. the part that concerains me is ths hole in its side ... perhaps where a frag was recently cut off? .. but that's jsut a guess .. here is the hole

 

[cdeakle]

Xenia are awesome! I have a pulsing xenia frag I bought thats already spreading. Soon I will have frags to trade. People call xenia a weed because of how fast the mutiply, isn't that what we wanted all along? :wink:

When I acclimated my xenia and put him in the tank he looked the same way for the next day or two. Then he bounced back and now he looks great! Give it some time and he should bounce back 8)

 

[free_loader]

awesome ,, thank's 420puffer ;-) .. i was abit worried on day 2 ... i'll check back n in a few days and let up know how the lil guy's going.

 

[tangir1]

That wound you circled is not due to fragging. When you cut across a Xenia, the honeycomb structure quickly close up and heal. It is not like a tree that you break a branch off.

The opening is due to laceration of the two main branch, and maybe bacterial infection that turn the tissue into brown "pulp" in matter of hours.

But all this is just my best guess from looking at the fuzzy pic.... Xenia is very sensitive to changing parameter, and mere fact that you move it from your LFS's tank to your tank, no matter how perfect yours is, is sufficient to kill it.... Good luck.

 

[MDboyz]

If you do a search on Xenia, you will come up with alot answers for it. It's like a hit and miss with many different people. Even some with perfect water sometimes can't even keep Xenia alive. I bought a piece of live rock with Xenia from this guy. When I was home it was late, so I just dropped it in my tank w/o acclimating. Next day, I woke up.. and there the Xenia was pulsing. It is still looking healthy in my tank for almost 3 weeks now.

 

[MDboyz]

Here is some picture of them.
I have two kind of Xenia.

 

[MDboyz]

The another one.

 

[K9coral]

I cannot keep it alive for anything. Ive tried several times and every time something weird seems to happen that ends up killing the d@mn thing. I wish I could find a local to give me some for free now that my MH lights are in!!!

 

[MDboyz]

Did you try to dose Iodine?
It helps for some people including me.

 

[Anonymous]

MDboyz the second pic is the same xenia i have..i bought a frag with two stalks now it is all over looks pretty much like your pic actually.. :wink: i hear that iodine supping is just a wives tale with xenia..i dont supplement at all and i have no problems...and DLART i had it originally under PC..they are now under MH's and they seem to be growing a tish faster now but they definitely do spread under PC if thats any help..

 

[K9coral]

I will probably try again with a different system under the MH lighting. I might even try the "wives tale" of dosing iodine.

 

[Anonymous]

Mine are doing fine under pc's

When I first put it in I thought it died then I saw a head or two now i have over 20 heads and I see new little heads sprouting daily. I only add aragamilk to boost the corraline algea growth. The frag was little more than a pin head size and now it gettin bigger and bigger everyday. I am super happy with it.

 

[Anonymous]

ohh and I got it for free

 

[K9coral]

I will try dosing iodine just to see.

 

[Anonymous]

I just started using Kalk..i dont have drip system yet or maybe at all...i kinda mix it in with my top off...my fuge is still under construction..all i need now is the return plumbing since the power head returning the water has a smaller output than my pump..(i totally forgot about this the other day at Lowes..) i was really ticked off since i spent a good deal of money that day preping..i was hoping to have it up and running Wednesday...anyways sorry about the sidetrack....Xenia sp seems to be pretty hardy if you can get it acclimated right

 

[tangir1]

I don't think dosing a little iodine going to hurt, but it is not going to make any difference if it dies within two days.

Where ever people mention anything about Xenia or other soft coral, the very first reaction is definitely "Iodine!"