xenia rotting?

I had some pulsing xenia in my tank up until a few hours ago. It has always grown like a weed to the point that I have to keep it in the center of the tank in order to keep it from spreading. Tonight I come home to my cleaner shrimp picking away at a hole the size of a half dollar in the top of the xenia. The coral was pulled down like it does in the dark and the fingers had a brownish yellow tint to them. I would assume the cleaner was picking at dead tissue, not attacking the coral??? I have heard of people having success with xenia and suddenly losing it. Is this likely what happened? Pieces of the coral were all over the tank, so I decided to chuck it rater than risk nuking my tank. Any thoughts? The only changes I have made in the past few weeks was to get rid of the clown fish who was hosting in the xenia. Could that have anything to do with it? Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

 

It doesn't sound typical for a cleaner shrimp to make a meal of xenia, but if this is the case it's possible the clown that was hosting it was also protecting it's home.

 

Yea, I haven't ever heard of such a thing before. I suppose anything can go rogue. And if the cleaner feels the need to eat something, at least it had the decency to stay out of my ricordea. Hope that isn't the case though.

 

i have found over hte years its hit or miss with xenia...one week it grows like a weed and then for no reason it dies....

 

If it deflates down to a 1/4th the size you'll know real quick it is not doing well. That is not the same as it bringing in its "poms".

 

Well, live and learn I suppose. The rest of my critters seem to be doing well. I guess I will wait and watch...

 

my xenia is a PITA.. one day its thriving, the next day its shriveled, and then back to normal.. Its bipolar I swear

 

Shrivling doesnt mean dead though it may die. When mine died they lost all control of themselves and stretched out really long and loose. Then started to decompose. Of course I had a short on a pump which killed them in about 3 hours so your results may vary =)

 

I believe that behavior is caused from PH and/or Alk swings. You may want to get three readings of each, morn, noon and eve if possible.

 

Im going to agree with Jed

I dont have xenia anymore - I nuked its rock, sick of the spreading and maintenance it caused.

but when I did... mine would kind of fluctuate similarly. When I setup my auto dosing system and my alk (and therefore my pH) became stable it never did it again.

this seems like there may be a connection to me too.