soft coral dieing need help

FishFanatic13

FishFanatic13

I LOVE FISH!!!
Aug 25, 2007
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my soft coral is dieing and i dont know why . the name illudes me but the attached photo is what they are...it started to transfer itself from the plate it was on to the live rock and now all of a sudden within two days they are shrinking and stopped moving...i feed them twice a week with phytoplex. they are getting enough light...but i had them for like 2 months in the same spot but after they transfered tot he live rock they are beginning to die...i do a water change once a week and i clean out the protien skimer about twice a week...i check all the water paramiters every two days and everything is good, no amonia no nitrites, hardly any nitrates and the ph is good salinity is around 1.025 and temp is at 80...i am at a loss...i have a blue devil damsel and two clown in the tank...they are healthy and eating fine...i also have a rock of mushrooms tht are doing ok at the moment...please someone help...any suggestions

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Pulsing xenia? I've never had them, but I've read they are really sensitive to any kind of change in water chemistry.
Sounds like everything you are doing is right...perhaps in too high a flow area? Or not enough flow?
 
Yes, it is Xenia. I was under the impression that Xenia does not filter feed / particle feed, so I'm not sure that feeding them phytoplex is doing the Xenia any good.

What the alkalinity (KH) of your tank? I've had Xenia die back at lower alkalinities. At least in my tanks, it doesn't do well if the KH is in the low end of the acceptable range (~7 dKH). It's done better for me when the KH is at least 8 dKH.
 
Are they deteriorating/falling apart or just closed up? Perhap new location is not as favorable as previous location in reference to water movement??

When dosing Phyto, are you doing right on top of by the return spout?

I am guessing pic above is before moving?? If so, any new pics?
 
fsn77 is right about feeding. Xenia doesn't feed in this regard and for all intents and purposes, don't even have a gut (it's there, but highly reduced). They are largely absorptive feeders, relying on that and photosynthesis for their needs. That being said, you are likely experiencing a typical Xenia "meltdown" reaction. It may be related to exhausting some particular nutrient in the tank (as tanks with higher levels of nutrients tend to do better with it), but it is not known exactly why it happens.
 
It's been my experience that xenia may be unhappy for a bit but they are hard to actually kill. I've accidently left mine in an unheated container with no movement when I was moving my tank and didnt see it at the end, found it all jelly (didnt have any stalks or anything) and stunk terrible. A friend of mine on another forum told me it might be ok so I put it in the tank and 24 hours later it looked alot better and within a week it wes better than ever. They don't like to be messed with and take a bit to get used to a new location. they require a fair amount of light and some nitrates. after 2.5 months mine is now over 8" tall. I have mine in alot more flow than most I see, but that doesnt seem to matter. So i'm gonna say its either not getting enough nutrients (light or nitrates) and or its getting moved messed with by something often. maybe a clownfish likes to mess around in it or an active fish often swims by its location and brushes it as it goes by.
 
as far as my fish they stay by the mushrooms the xenia's are above them and none of the fish touch them...i will check all the water again n make sure my readings are good. they have not been falling apart but just shrinking and not moving as much as theyused to...i am keeping an eye on them ill do my water paramiters and ill update again with a pic or two
 
i just tested the water the readings are:

dKh ~ 6 to 7
ph ~ 8.3 to 8.4
amonia ~ 0
nitrite ~ 0
nitrate ~ 1 to 5
salt ~ 1.025

pics will come later when the light is on
 
How often do you feed the fish and how frequent are your water changes? In my 20g I have done 2 or 3 water changes in 6 months and feed twice weekly. The xenia does well. In my 60 I feed sparingly and change 10g weekly. Xenia does not last long in that tank. I know they won't actaully eat food like LPS, but from my and others anecdotal experience, I think they need a tank that's a little dirty.
 
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