Glued The Top Of My Xenia While Fragging/Xeniidae Health 9/9/10
Hello WWM, hope everything is well and thank you for reading this,
<Hello Peter, and you're welcome.>
I have a question about what to do. Firsts of, I was fragging some mushrooms and Zoas today. While I was fragging those, I decided to go ahead and re-frag a xenia frag to a different location because my mantis shrimp liked to use the rock it was on to cover his entrance burrow. I was being careless and after I fragged some Zoas and mushrooms, I started to glue the xenia to the back of my aquarium. I did not notice that I still had glue on my fingertips and I accidentally glued one stalk top of the xenia permanently open. Thankfully it was only one as it could of been much worse. But my question is should I
cut that stalk off that has been glued? Or should I just leave it be and hope the glue wears off? The glue is CorAffix brand gel. It doesn't seem that it will come off by itself.
<I would just leave be, the glued polyp will likely disintegrate/die.>
Thank you once again and have a nice evening!
<You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)>
Peter T
Glued The Top Of My Xenia While Fragging/Xeniidae Health 9/9/10 - 9/10/10
Hello James,
<Peter>
Thanks for the reply pertaining to my Xenia. It definitely put my mind at ease.
Have a good one!
<And you as well. James (Salty Dog)>
Peter

Xenia crash??   11/25/08 Hi crew, I have an urgent problem with my xenia. I have two species that have grown extraordinarily well over the past 6 moths ( from a 1" patch to over 2feet high and wide, with more large colonies all over my tank). Today I accidently knocked a 12v live connector into the tank and didn't notice it for a few minutes. 15 min.s later all my xenia turned yellow at the head, and shriveled up. I done a quick water change - one bucket as that's all I had mixed at the time ( not much for a 6ft tank), and things perked up a bit but have now gotten worse again. <Not an atypical event> Other sessile inverts shriveled for about 1 hour but are fine again now. Inhabitants are 2 10" colt corals, two toadstools, two leathers, Condylactis anemone, colony of star polyps (these are still hiding), two Nudibranchs ( one is a sea hair 8", <... what species is this "hare?"> the other "appeared" last week and I have no idea what it is - its 1.5" bright orange with white edges and very frilly all over and comes out at night. <Perhaps predaceous, a factor here> Live stock 6 Anthias, scooter blenny, mandarin, yellow tang, 1 mono, 3ft snowflake eel, Radiata lion fish, powder blue tang and two Firefish, various snails. parameters nitrite 0.05< nitrate 0.2< KH 9 temp 26deg the water was maybe a little bit misty but smells strongly of what I can only describe as a soft coral or anemone out of water. <Yikes... a good clue... and dangerous> I have added some activated carbon, and my skimmer seems to be working overtime like I've never seen. All livestock is accounted for. What do you think the problem is?? Do you think something may of released some poisonous eggs or something? <A definite high likelihood...> any help would be much appreciated regards Lex <Lex, there are a few approaches you might consider (and soon!) as to how to proceed... Whatever has been added in recent times might be a "trigger" to the allelopathy you're witnessing. Massive water changes, the use of activated carbon, Polyfilter might forestall problems here, raising your RedOx definitely would... You can read re these on WWM... I'd start here: http://wetwebmedia.com/cnidcompppt.htm and the linked files above... to where you lead yourself. Bob Fenner>
Re: Unhappy xenia 8-26-08 I have already read all the FAQs about Xeniids posted on this site. I could not find any answer to the problem I have with my pulsing xenia. Any other suggestions? Thanks <Need water param.s, and husbandry information. Are you dosing Iodide? M. Maddox>

Who Done It? Xeniid death...   1/19/07 Recently I purchased my first coral ( xenia ) and my big rock that they came on is a coral wasteland now. They never opened all the way either... in fact the guy said if I had problems with them he would replace them on Saturday with a new one( so I'm not worried about replacing them.) <...> although I would like to know who knocked them off the rock and to the ground and ate the leaves of them. Here are the only candidates. Porcupine puffer ( generally unless its REALLY food and being put in with a net which he follows back and forth like a little puppy he doesn't pay attention to it what so ever.  Also while on the ground he doesn't mess with them he only likes living food ) <A definite possibility> Dwarf puffers ( they eat anything but haven't taken much notice to the coral ) <Can do so> Unidentified fish..... I have 2 that were gifted to me I'm told they are blue velvet damsels but they are the size of the average 5 month old Oscar and I haven't seen damsels get to <too> large. They change color from a white to navy blue. They bite at the coral corpses on the ground  Hope that helps <Not likely candidates> The anemones have taken hold elsewhere in the tank and haven't moved so they are in the clear. <Mmm, no... can/do affect other life, particularly Cnidarians, distally... chemically> Clowns liked to play with them as if they were anemones but never eat them that I noticed. Green Chromis... they are cute and harmless  ( I think ) never do anything wrong A devil damsel...... generally sticks to himself never really interacts with the tank Coral banded shrimp hasn't to my knowledge crossed the tank from his usual cave to do anything he usually sits waiting for food in his cave. On the lower left while the coral is in the upper right. <Stenopids are opportunistic feeders... could be at fault here> The scallop and snails I don't see doing anything <Some snails...> I just want to know since I am getting another one on Saturday which I should relocate to my sons tank as it could use a few more fish anyway. Just about anything in the tank is expendable to the other tank anyway cept the porcupine puffer the wife loves him... so I can't touch him but the rest I can deal with. <Likely one of the Puffers... but could be none of the above... Environmental lacking... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/xeniiddisfaqs.htm and the linked files above... And re the Systems, Compatibility of this mish-mash aggregation... each species. Bob Fenner>

Xenia problem Hello Bob! Just found your website - and read every FAQ I could find on corals... very helpful! <Thank you. Much more to post...> I recently went on vacation to Australia (maybe I saw you?) <Hmm, maybe! I was the third fish on the right!> and left my 25 gallon tank in the care of a friend who took great care of it.  I have retrofitted compact fluorescents in an Eclipse hood w/filter and also use a protein skimmer.  <Sounds good. Whose skimmer? Could you tell me/us how you retrofitted the Eclipse/top?> I have 2 colonies of mushroom corals (purple/blue and green), colonies of green button polyps, yellow polyps, large toadstool leather with 3 offspring that are growing profusely, large colony of cabbage coral and a Dendronephthya (Carnation Coral?)<Yep, one common name>, 3 scarlet legged hermits, a clown, yellow tailed blue tang, sand and live rock. All corals other than the Xenia are doing wonderfully! <Sounds good so far> I do bi-weekly 5-10 gallon water changes and religiously check my calcium, nitrate, nitrite, etc. and have virtually no problems. Calcium has been stable since I started the tank. I dose with Lugol's Solution once a week as well as feed phytoplankton and supplement with Reef Complete about once a week. My problem started (I'm assuming) when my heater went out and the warm, California weather I had left dropped to 38 degrees - and no heat on in the house. The Xenia had doubled in size in a little over 2 months and was pumping away....until the temperature dropped. Do you think it will come back? Or...sob...should I pull it out? <Yikes... this family of Soft Corals is tough, but what a thermal shock! Don't pull it though... it's been my experience (first and other hand) that Pulsing Corals do rally after/despite tremendous challenges... unless your colonies are flat out dissolving, I would leave them be> Thanks so much for your help! Maryann <Maybe a back up heater with its thermostat set a bit lower would help going forward? "These are the times that try (sic)(wo)men's souls"... You sound strong/perseverant... hang in there. No chemical/cathartic/restorative protocols needed or suggested otherwise. Bob Fenner>

Injured xenia First of all, thanks for providing such a great wealth of knowledge.  <always welcome> I have had fresh and brackish water aquariums for the past eighteen years and have just started my first marine setup. The past 3 months have been quite involved, not just in setting up the aquarium but in trying to digest a huge amount of information available. I purchased the CMA and constantly use it as a reference (great book can't wait for the Reef version) <it may happen sooner than you think <G>> My setup is a 20 gal. reef that started out FOWLR but after receiving a "freebie" Ricordea frag that came with some reef janitors I decided to purchase some additional Frags. All was well until I noticed a cut near the base of a Xenia frag that severed one of the polyps. Within a few hours the frag had shrunk in size and was closed up for the rest of the day. I'm suspecting a crab did more than the usual cleaning......It opened partially today and still responds to light changes but doesn't look good, Is there anything I can do for it?  <infected Xeniids wipe out (as in dissolve!) with blinding speed (hours). If your animal is simply shriveled... be patient and just maintain good water flow and quality. A little iodine wouldn't hurt either> Also, I fabricated a light enclosure that has 2 -28w flat quad compact fluorescents with one 28w actinic quad, I've seen literature that says these 28w bulbs are equal to a 120w NO bulb. What is your opinion on the total wattage I should have available ?  <such figures/marketing are very misleading. In a VERY shallow tank (16" or less) the lights are fine.. else not strong enough to penetrate at depth no matter how many are atop (all to do with intensity... not quantity of lamps)> The tank has Ricordea, Mushrooms, Button polyps, Purple Ribbon and Xenia Frags  <WOW... you have a very incongruous group to survive in the long run. The Purple ribbon needs very nigh water flow to survive long term and the Zoantharians (buttons, Ricordea and mushrooms) and arguably inhibited by excess water flow. Please do research these animals before bringing them home and plan a targeted group in advance (Zoantharians, SPS, LPS, etc)> all are about 8" from the surface and seem to be happy there.  <excellent for the lamps you are using> I am not planning on adding anything else... already depressed about the Xenia. <yes... another incongruous species... high light Xenia while all else mentioned are mid to low light> Thanks for your help, Steve R. <best regards, Anthony>
Re: injured xenia Anthony, Thanks for the reply, Iodine seems to have done the trick !  <very glad to hear it. There is a very strong body of anecdotal evidence in testimony to the merits of iodine with reef invertebrates (antiseptic, improves RedOx, etc). Just know that with iodine like most supplements... more IS NOT better. sudden brown diatom algae growth can be an indication of heavy handedness with iodine> the scarred Xenia seems to be healing and is open today. as for the Purple Ribbon it was not my choice, it came with a frag. package that was recommended when I bought The Ricordea.  <Ughhhh! I just hate hearing that... I just went off on a rant last week about some places (Gulfview and Tampa Bay Saltwater came up this past week) that think this is good business. I swear we get weekly e-mails from people mentioning or having inappropriate invertebrates "given" to them unsolicited to by dealers. A truly dreadful practice in the big picture that kills most of these animals forced to live in ill-prepared or entirely inappropriate tanks> I placed it closest to the water return with the Xenia to increase the flow which is strong enough to make it sway.  <helpful... polyp extension (regularity and/or cycles) will tell in time> The Ricordea and Mushrooms are farthest away from the outlet in a low current area. I have another question, I have noticed white spots approx. 1/8" in diameter on my glass that with a magnifying glass appear to have smaller yellowish color dots inside, Eggs of some sort? Snail maybe?  <many possibilities.. the wonder of live rock> I haven't been able to find any info anywhere. Also have seen a small worm in the gravel that looks like a tiny slinky, haven't been able to find anything on that either........ Thanks, Steve <Hmmm... do browse for your edification/amusement: http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_pages/faq_rock3.htm  and http://www.rshimek.com/odd_critters.htm