xenia problems

[UncleChr1s]

hey guys i'm relatively new to reef keeping  and i currently have a 10 gallon nano tank with

2 ocellaris clowns,

5 blue legged hermits

1 fighting conch

 i recently added some coral frags yesterday (pulsing xenia, green star polyps, and a blue mushroom)

none have opened yet and its been around 14 hours, and i woke up to see the heads of the xenia  have been eaten off, i think it was the hermit crabs

my question is, will the xenia recover, or is it a goner? is there anything i could do?, thanks in advance

[j.falk]

How are your water parameters testing out?  What type of lighting are you providing them?  All of those are very easy to keep corals and should've opened back up in no time provided there isn't an issue with your water or lighting.

 

Some advice:

 

Green Star Polyps - like flow...they need a constant current going over them.  

Mushrooms - don't like flow or a lot of light...put them somewhere shady with not a lot of flow.

Xenia - usually do fairly well almost anywhere.  I keep mine more towards the top of my tank with a medium amount of flow going over them.

 

Blue Leg Hermits - Are the devil.  My advice...get rid of them now before you lose even more things.  As they get bigger they will eat more things.  I used to keep them and every single time I've added them to a tank, I've come to regret it.  These days...no hermits...only snails and now I have no problems with things getting eaten.

[UncleChr1s]

thanks so much for the reply, 

ammonia is currently at 0

nitrates 20ppm

nitrites 0.5 ppm

ph 7.5

at the moments i have a cheap led light but i have a new stronger full spectrum led light coming on saturday

im shocked because everywhere ive read people have said blue hermits where okay

[debbeach13]

I have some blue legs and they never bother my corals. I do feed my fish every day and the tank is old enough that the hermits can graze. Some people try feeding the hermits some sinking pellets a couple times a week. 

[paulsz]

3 hours ago, UncleChr1s said:

nitrites 0.5 ppm

 

are you sure your nitrites are at 0.5ppm? That wouldn't be good for fish and corals. 

 

 

[paulsz]

3 hours ago, UncleChr1s said:

at the moments i have a cheap led light but i have a new stronger full spectrum led light coming on saturday

I wouldn't worry about the light at the moment. I don't think it's an issue for these corals. I've had gsp and mushroom live under rocks and in the sand (not on, but in) when I accidentally lost them while fragging and didn't bother moving the rocks to get at them. And a few months later while cleaning the tank, they were there on the sandbed still going strong. 

 

So in this case, it wouldn't be a problem with the lighting. 

[Clown79]

Blue legged hermits don't eat corals and aren't even aggressive hermits.

 

I always have blue legged and scarlet hermits, in every tank and have not 1 time had an issue with them.

 

Xenia love light. I have not had any success with xenia being under poor lighting conditions.

 

Gsp and some mushrooms will be fine under low light.

[UncleChr1s]

6 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Blue legged hermits don't eat corals and aren't even aggressive hermits.

 

I always have blue legged and scarlet hermits, in every tank and have not 1 time had an issue with them.

 

Xenia love light. I have not had any success with xenia being under poor lighting conditions.

 

Gsp and some mushrooms will be fine under low light.

do you think the  xenia will pull through and survive this?

 

28 minutes ago, paulsz said:

are you sure your nitrites are at 0.5ppm? That wouldn't be good for fish and corals. 

 

 

yeahh thats what it was when i checked this morning

[UncleChr1s]

20 minutes ago, paulsz said:

I wouldn't worry about the light at the moment. I don't think it's an issue for these corals. I've had gsp and mushroom live under rocks and in the sand (not on, but in) when I accidentally lost them while fragging and didn't bother moving the rocks to get at them. And a few months later while cleaning the tank, they were there on the sandbed still going strong. 

 

So in this case, it wouldn't be a problem with the lighting. 

i think the mushroom might be doing okay at the moment just looks slightly faded i think

[paulsz]

3 minutes ago, UncleChr1s said:

i think the mushroom might be doing okay at the moment just looks slightly faded i think

that's normal. It could take a few days for anything to open up. Even the easiest corals get ticked off from travel sometimes. 

 

Keep an eye on the nitrites. What test kit do you use? Test again later today and let us know what it reads. 

[UncleChr1s]

21 minutes ago, paulsz said:

that's normal. It could take a few days for anything to open up. Even the easiest corals get ticked off from travel sometimes. 

 

Keep an eye on the nitrites. What test kit do you use? Test again later today and let us know what it reads. 

okay sounds good, i use API test strips, ive run out if the ammonia ones this morning( i have some more ordered so they should be here saturday also)

[j.falk]

9 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I always have blue legged and scarlet hermits, in every tank and have not 1 time had an issue with them.

My experience has been completely different.  Of the 3 separate tanks that I have put Reefcleaners blue legged hermits in...I have had issues with them killing things.  They don't do it while they are small...but once they are big enough to fit into an Astraea Turbo Snail shell...they seem to go rogue and become aggressive.

 

The blue legged hermits I have had in the past killed Astraea Spiny Ninja Star snails, anemone porcelain crabs and Nassarius snails.  I personally watched them kill and eat all of those inverts (even while being well fed, having plenty of algae to graze on and plenty of empty shells lying about)...which is why I finally got rid of all of the hermits and have had no issues with livestock dying since.

[Tired]

API is inaccurate, and test strips are even more so. You should get a better test kit.