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help with Xenia

My Xenia that i have for about 4-5 months. Is now starting to shrivel up and turn blue. My Water is on target every thing else looks
great in my tank any HELP on it or is it pretty much done.
 
Xenia is a funny coral. Sometimes it fails for no apparent reason. Here are a few things to check and do.

Are you using any additives, or water treatments, or medications? I'd especially be looking for the use of stuff like iodine, since it's very easy to over dose the tank on it.

Did you buy any livestock lately, and add the LFS water to your system? Some LFS over dose additives and/or use copper to control parasites in their FO systems. No water from an outside source should ever enter your tank.

Did you change brands of salt? some salts are not consistent in there formulations.

Do you have any fish or anything else that are eating the xenia? Some dwarf angels love it.

Has their been any use of chemicals like insecticides, or paint used around the tank?

What are your exact water parameters, especially nitrate and phosphate? Recheck all water parameters, but don't think that because the test kits don't show anything that your water is good. There are a lot of things that can't be tested for.

I would mane about a 20% - 25% water change and see if the xenia perks up. If it does, keep doing the large water changes, until you have done about 6 of them.
 
And don't despair and have patience. Even if only a smudge of it was left on the rock, leave it and it might rebound and grow again, like my did some months ago. It was almost completely gone, justa few 1/8" crums left and then it rebounded and is still growing nicely.
 
xenia is a very weird coral... my dad has been into reef tanks since 1993... and he could never keep it.. i am not sure and many experts aren't sure what xenia needs to survive and die.. chalk this one up to - no one really knows..
 
I haven't found temp (tried 76 to 84), light, mag or calcium to be important. What I find important is keeping a normal/high pH and keeping it steady. Systems from what I've observed that have low pH OR fluctuating pH and/or ORP levels don't seem to grow Xenia well if at all. You can watch pulsing Xenia change behavior with a change in pH levels. Alk probably plays a part in it too but pH seems to be what I notice having the greatest effect.

Carlo
 
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