Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

For the past couple of days my xenia was doing very well then all of a sudden it wilted over and looks like its dying. All my numbers look good. Just did a water change a week ago. Someone told me that xenia loves iodine. I added some to the tank but the xenia is still not looking any better. What should I do?

Later,
Buzz

Xenia is one of those contrary corals.

It's not uncommon at all to have a die off in a tank that it does fine in, and sometimes it dies back but leaves just enough to regrow. If you haven't been able to keep it for any length of time, and have tried it more than once, your tank conditions may not be acceptable for it. If you skim heavily, and have few nutrients for it, it may not do well. It tends to get everything it needs from the water, and likes good but not direct flow. Don't be discouraged, it may just come back.

Have you had Xenia in your tank for long? BTW, I've heard that about Iodine as well, but the dangers of overdosing are not worth it in my opinion. Regular water changes will add all it needs.

Its funny. When I added the xenia to the tank, it took off like crazy. Spreading everywhere. Two small pieces turned into about 5 in just a matter of weeks. The funny thing is that its not all dying, just some of it. Now maybe its just dying a little at a time but you would think if something was wrong with a water params, it would all die back at the same time.

I guess its been in the tank for about 2 1/2 -3 months now.

Buzz

Sounds like the "die-off" they do sometimes, I have a couple of different types and occasionally a few of one species will die back (generally to regrow, but not always) while the other does just fine. They're pretty hardy little things, even to the point of being a pain when they decide to take over the tank.

this happened to me a yr or so ago... i had 2 colonies that were both about 6inches by 6 inches each that were spreading, then one day they just started melting... 1 yr later and i have NO xenia in my tank now... im one of those people that thought xenia was cool - pulsing hand - oohhh - trippy...

anyway, just curious - whats the temp of your tank? ive read that with xenia its not a matter of if but when it will die, but ive also heard that it doesn't do well if the temp of the tank goes over 77 or 78... just a thought

My pulsing xenia seems to be spreading great even though my 2 tanks run from 80 at night to 84 durring the day.

I'm running a chiller on my tank, so the temp stays between 78-80 most of the time. The really funny thing is that two colonies wilted over but one on the other side of the tank is doing fine.

Buzz

Iodine. Other than that I haven't found anything that causes them to die. I had a large colony of elongata that was dying and there was a lot of red sea or pom pom right next to it that was growing so fast that I had to prune it and throw it away.