Xenia Frag from friend no acting the same

Discussion in 'Soft Corals' started by Yuri Kapustin, Oct 29, 2008.

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  1. Yuri Kapustin

    Yuri Kapustin Coral Banded Shrimp

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    I recently got a frag of xenia from a friend. He has an overgrowth problem with it and wanted to get rid of some asap. His tank parameters were perfect and he had the xenia located very low in the tank with not so much flow. Despite the location, the xenia was very very healthy and pulsing a lot. When I brought it home, I acclimated it for about an hour and then put it in my tank. After 2 days now, it still looks like the attached picture.
    I know that zenias require iodine and i plan on starting the iodine treatment this weekend. On the other hand, I have heard many stories of xenia thriving without iodine. My water was just checked the other day and i am looking very good. The xenia however isnt.
    It is located within 8" of the lights and has a moderate current.
     

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  3. JohnFritts

    JohnFritts Peppermint Shrimp

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    My pulsing xenia's have their up's and downs........

    One day they are pinkish and pulsing like crazy.. The next they are more purple and it looks like their batteries are about to die (slow pulsing) ..

    So I personally dunno what to say, but I am going to monitor this one very close.

    -fritts
     
  4. missionsix

    missionsix Super Moderator Staff Member

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    I never dose iodine. My xenia did too good in my tank. Be sure and get a test kit for iodine if you plan on dosing.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2008
  5. Yuri Kapustin

    Yuri Kapustin Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Thanks. Im just waiting for it to perk up. It might still be acclimating. When you guys got your xenia for the first time, how long did it take to acclimate?
     
  6. longballz84

    longballz84 Spaghetti Worm

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    im no expert...but i have two nice size frags of xenia...and mine do good low in the tank, and not in direct flow, but still in a nice current area...and i use trace elements...
     
  7. Yuri Kapustin

    Yuri Kapustin Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Good news, the xenia is starting to open up a little bit more and is gaining some solidness to its stalk.
    Heres a cool fastforwarded video of my polyp frag opening up early this morning.

    YouTube - Green Star Polyps FF

    Hopefully they keep growing as they have been.
     
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  9. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    Did it ever start pulsing ?
    I moved the flow slightly away from mine and it started pulsing much more.
     
  10. PharmrJohn

    PharmrJohn The Dude

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    Xenia love a dKh around 12. Also, success varies from tank to tank. I cannot grow Xenia for nothin'. I may try again in the next few months. Maybe the fourth time will be the charm.
     
  11. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    Any idea why yours won't grow? Does it at least survive? I got a frag from a guy in the club today ... $10 . I thought it was going to be tiny but ended up being softball size. I have some silver and brown tip both are really cool. My silver has been in there a couple of weeks and it barely pulsed. I adjusted the flow away from it today and it started pumping like it should.
     
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  12. PharmrJohn

    PharmrJohn The Dude

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    Well, the first three times I attributed it to poor husbandry. I let my dKh go up and down from 12 to 8 to 12 to 8 regularly. I started keeping it around 12 consistantly and then my tank started leaking. Five days in a holding tank killed that one frag. So I guess my last attempt was thwarted a bit by circumstance, but I was still a little down on myself for it. Now that I keep my dKh on the higher side, test and dose twice weekly, I think I will have a good shot at this coral. Now I dose to 15 and never let it drop below 12. My Ca stays around 460 and my Mg around 1550. My corals have never looked so good.

    EDIT: BTW, good score.....I want to see a few pics of that frag