Rotting Xenia...Please Help

carribear

carribear

AC Members
Nov 24, 2008
76
0
0
47
Cali
I noticed earlier today that two of the hands on my Xenia seemed to be rotting. Well, I went to work tonight and when I got home, the whole arm looked dead and the trunk is all shrunk up and half white. I have many other corals including other Xenia and they look o.k. All levels seem to be in check. Any advice. I was thinking maybe my frogspawn was really reaching, but it just doesn't seem like a sting to me. Please help before I lose it. It's hard to tell in the pics as my lights were off.

DSC00161.JPG
 
I've never been able to stop this. It is a shutdown reaction and it spreads rapidly, taking out most or all remaining colonies. Any number of things theoretically cause it, so it is difficult to narrow down. The best advice I can give you is to place it in higher water motion and see if that helps. Unfortunately, I doubt it will.
 
It sounds kind of harsh, but what if I cut off as much of the dead arm as possible? I moved it back to the location that it was at for about a year, but was outgrowing it. The dead hands are just falling off and it seems to be putting up a fight. the trunk looks a little thicker this morning, but its still leaning over pretty good. Thanks for the tips. I will keep you posted.
 
Yes, take a razor blade and cut as much as the dead stuff away. If it is an infection causing the problem it will only keep spreading unless you cut off the dead stuff. Although from the picture it seem like it is dying right at the base/stalk which like Amph stated is usually fatal.
 
I would cut it off at the base, about 1/8th inch below the white on the stalk leaving just the base of the Xenia behind. Then take out the head and put it on a table and cut off the dead stuff on the other side of the stalk if you can and stick the heads somewhere in the tank preferably rubber banded down to a rock if possible. I really don't think the top of that xenia is savable myself though. If you have other Xenia in the tank already you may want to follow Amphs advice and just take out the problem xenia so it doesn't spread to other healthy ones. If it were me I would just toss the entire top part of the xenia and just leave the base behind and hope it regrows.
 
O.K.! I fragged the other two heads off. They didn't have much of a base because the Xenia was really shrunk up but they look ok. I netted them to a rock. I will let you know how it goes. I did my best to make sure there was no white on the frags. Any idea what causes this? I know you said earlier that you weren't sure, but could it be a sting from the fragspawn? I'll post pics when I take the netting off. Thanks for the advice.
 
A sting doesn't usually manifest itself like that, IME. It usually curls up, but doesn't disintegrate. Also, Xenia is fairly sting resistant.

As far as causes, lots of things are implicated. This includes a lack of nutrients or a particular limiting nutrient. Also, one colony could die for an unrelated reason and cause a shutdown reaction to the rest. Particles may be released that cause this chain reaction, known as VLPs or virus-like particles. I don't believe much research has been done with VLPs and Xenia, but I doubt they are unique to stony corals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom