jeffsz28 Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 i have had this stalk of xenia for six months and in the past couple pf days the pulsating polpys are dieing off?? nothing has changed with the tank- everything else is fine. only chemical i add is reef complete- could the lack of iodine be the ill cause of this? also it had attached to a piece of another coral- have no clue what type it is- but they have lived side by side all this time with no ill manners and have both grown well. so would would the coral attack the xenia after all this tiem? my star polpys are trying to over grow that same coral to-could it be trying to fight for room or territory because of the other twoi animals crowding it? thanks Jeff Link to comment
robvdv Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 How long has it been like this? Mine go through cycles othat can last a day or two when they're limp and after bounce back. Haven't had great success with Xenia, that said. If you're after something similar I recommend Waving Anthelia. It's like a weed in my tank and close to impossible to kill. Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 Jeff, I think ya answered yer own question.... check iodine levels and strontium. when in doubt, water change it out. they drop heads when unhappy or when they are being bugged by something. often in shipping they drop heads due to low PH. check that too. and of course calcium. hth if it dies, lemme know, i have a xenia farm in my 37 gal that I send out frags from. Quite a few N-R.COMers have myXenia frags and are doing gangbusters. Link to comment
jeffsz28 Posted November 5, 2002 Author Share Posted November 5, 2002 rob- well it has been five days now- today they are kinda small- but still pulsat and i still see dead on them that is falling off from the other day. do u have pictures of the antheila you are talking about ??? they sound cool Dave- well i never use iodine in my tanks and never had a problem yet- some people say that they use alot of chemicals and things grow great others say no difference and alage build up- and i only use reef complete and everything grows pretty fast. now today they are still pulsating and i guess look alittle better - i did a water change friday and did nothing different and the water chemistry is fine. reef complete has calcium,magnesium-strontium and keeps ph at 8.3 - ok thnaks for the offer i might have to take u up on that Link to comment
Crakeur Posted November 6, 2002 Share Posted November 6, 2002 I add iodine and when I do I add it so the flow takes the iodine directly across the xenia. the little bugger goes nuts as soon as it is hit with the infusion of iodine. I would try dosing a little and see how the xenia does. Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 ok, time for a HIJACK... I have my xenia farm, and the heads are not dropping off, but the BASE is rotting and turning white and has puss like erosion. THe coral is acting norlam (yet in the pictures they are closed cause I was just playing in the tank). For the life of me I have not seen this before. I don't think it bacterial, but not rule'ng it out. This is in my 37 collumn. the lighting is 250 W pendant w 2x 32 W pC, and all the other corals are great, so that isnt an issue. the water is clean and I've done 5 galons a week for the past 3 months W/C. the salinity has fluctuated a littl;e from .22 - .26 at times, but this should not affect xenia (as it hasnt in the past). I have harvested (and chucked) all the nasty stuff with exception of what is shown on the glass in this pic and the healthy ones on the rocks. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 dave, are you using lugol's? i believe the free iodine checks the slime bacteria more effectively and is possibly taken up easier than only just the KI in typical iodine additives. are you running a uv on the tank? if not i'd put it on, if so have you changed the bulb lately? other thing is your water source. you've been noting some issues with softies and i'm thinking another possibility is a contaminent seeping thru the ro membranes and di beds. you may want to switch water sources just to rule out that issue. btw what temp are you running at? Link to comment
robvdv Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 I've just started using Lugol's so too early for me to tell what effect it has, but what I did see on the bottle was that it could be used as a coral dip. Concentrated iodine is a strong disinfectant, so there's a good chance it'll nuke whatever's attacking the base of your xenia. Xenia can also handle elevated levels of iodine, so I guess this'll be a particularly effective method of treatment and may even serve to perk the coral up. Also what's your water flow like? Xenia likes a pretty good current. I know with leather corals the bases often start to rot if there's insufficient current around it. Perhaps move it into an area of stronger current? Finally I noticed that my Bali polyps were quietly disappearing and rotting away. When I examined them closely, there was a "bug" of some sort (copepod?) on the base of it, munching away. The slime and junk at the base looked like it was just rotting. I put them in a tank with a rainbow wrasse that pretty quickly demolished the bugs. Also I've read about and experienced predatory nudibranchs that munched my soft corals. Look carefully for that. Best of luck! Link to comment
robvdv Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 Oh yeah and a heat wave killed my anthelia (and a number of other corals). Ouch ouch ouch. I've installed fans on the tank and picked up another small frag of anthelia. You can find a pretty good pic of anthelia at http://www.liquidreef.com/corals/2000-08-0...a/anthelia.html Also, try google.com's image search. cheers, Rob Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 all water params are nominal. CA is 420, temp is 78, and three is a good bit of current... if not even a whipping current on some of the xenia... I'm rigging up a "hang on" 8 watt sterelizer from another tank to a PH this weekend... perhaps the tank is due for a good dousching..... I have a leather in there, and it has stayed transient phase also (shiny all the time) and not going to the "soft look". I'm sure there is some sort of chemical warfare going on..... just cant figure out what. F'N Corals..... Link to comment
robvdv Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 When the autozooids (the longer, flower-like polyps) didn't extend and the body was covered in its "mucus tunic" the problem for me has always been insufficient current. This is mostly for sarcophytons. If your current is good then you're possibly right in setting up a sterilizer -> chemical warfare :-) An alternative to a sterilizer is charcoal. Cheaper, apart from anything else. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 24, 2003 Share Posted January 24, 2003 running the carbon would be highly recommended but not in lieu of the uv imo. i would definitely run carbon irregardless. i run 24/7 and swap out on a monthly basis. dave, i'm assuming you're skimming on this tank already. skimming and carbon i can possibly see as interchangeable tho but i'd go both barrels when possible (kinda like lunchbucket's school of thought). Link to comment
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