Xenia

[ctlachner]

I had a great crop of Xenia that spread over my live rock.
It was doing great for about a year.
About 2 months ago it started to atrophy. Now it is just stubs that will eventually go away.
I have other soft corals in the tank and they are doing fine.
Can anyone tell me what water conditions are good for Xenia.
Mine must have changed in order for this to happen.

[OrionGirl]

Iodide levels, and nitrates. Was it still pulsing? I've never had xenia problems--the stuff grows like a weed. So, Iodide levels are importnat, and they tend to suck up nitrates, so maybe if the nitrates got too low...But I'd hate to contemplate adding nitrates to a SW system!

[Satchmo]

Xenia's a funky coral, some people can't keep the stuff alive, while others (for better or worse) can't stop the it from overrunning our tanks. One thing I've read is that xenia is very succeptable (I probably butchered that spelling) to temperature fluctuations. A fellow reefer in NY had several huge, long-lived colonies crash after his temp had spiked a few degrees due to a fan that failed. Dunno if this is your problem, but it's something else to consider.

[gcvt]

Xenia doesn't do well in low pH conditions either. That's not to say that a slight pH decrease would kill an entire Xenia colony, but most enjoy a pH around 8.2. When the pulsing varieties stop pulsing, that can be an indication that your pH is a bit low.

How's your pH?

[ctlachner]

Thank you for recommending a check on my PH.
It was low. About 7.8

Do you know if it is OK to raise the PH relatively quickly?
Say, in a day or two?
Or, should I raise the PH more slowing, at about .1 per day?

[SpongeBob]

Slowly -- .10 to .15 per day max. Good luck.

[latazyo]

how do you raise ph?

[Fishiebusiness]

Water changes work.