HELP!! It looks like my Xenia is dying and idk what to do

That1guy07

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So yesterday, I get home from work. I work at a rehab hospital as a nurse aide taking care of brain damaged patients and the hours are long (12 hours) so at the end of the day I come home looking forward to seeing my reef. I had recently (about 2 weeks ago) bought heteroxenia off live aquaria’s certified captive bred corals section and it was doing fine. However, when I got home from work yesterday, somehow my power head turned off (I live alone) and my Xenia was shriveled up like it was dying. If I can post before and after pictures then I will. Anyway I got the power head working again. The Xenia was like that all night and checking it just now in the morning when the lights kicked on, it’s still like that. Can anyone help me out and tel me what’s happening to it? Is it dying? My water parameters are all perfect as of posting this. All of my other corals are also doing very well, it’s just the Xenia. Someone please help :( 02FED025-AFBD-4AF2-B1F5-F5D1A03D258B.jpeg
 

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SMSREEF

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First, thank you for the amazing work you do. Nurses aides are Angels and the backbone of our health system.

your Xenia definitely looks like it’s not happy but doesn’t look like it’s dying either. Your flow is back, so it can’t be that. I would use a turkey baster and see if there is any kind of slime build up that you can blow off. Maybe change flow so it is getting more flow, but not too much.

What is your nitrate and phosphate levels? Xenia likes nutrients, so if either of this are 0, that could cause problem.
 

Cell

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It will probably bounce back after a day of light. They look like that after being shipped and typically bounce back.
 
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That1guy07

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First, thank you for the amazing work you do. Nurses aides are Angels and the backbone of our health system.

your Xenia definitely looks like it’s not happy but doesn’t look like it’s dying either. Your flow is back, so it can’t be that. I would use a turkey baster and see if there is any kind of slime build up that you can blow off. Maybe change flow so it is getting more flow, but not too much.

What is your nitrate and phosphate levels? Xenia likes nutrients, so if either of this are 0, that could cause problem.
my nitrate and phosphate levels are both 0ppm. Idk how because I feed my fish heavy every day with frozen foods. Should I use flakes and pellets?
 
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That1guy07

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It will probably bounce back after a day of light. They look like that after being shipped and typically bounce back.
I got it a little while ago though? When it first came in after being shipped it looked fine
 

SMSREEF

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my nitrate and phosphate levels are both 0ppm. Idk how because I feed my fish heavy every day with frozen foods. Should I use flakes and pellets?
You can feed more. Or you can dose phosphate and nitrate.
Xenia need nutrients to do their waving and photosynthesis.
Maybe get some reef roids and a syringe and try feeding it.
 
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That1guy07

That1guy07

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You can feed more. Or you can dose phosphate and nitrate.
Xenia need nutrients to do their waving and photosynthesis.
Maybe get some reef roids and a syringe and try feeding it.
It’s starting to look a little better now. I looked at it for like 15 minutes and I found a tiny tiny aptasia that I quickly removed. That may have been the issue
 
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That1guy07

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So yesterday, I get home from work. I work at a rehab hospital as a nurse aide taking care of brain damaged patients and the hours are long (12 hours) so at the end of the day I come home looking forward to seeing my reef. I had recently (about 2 weeks ago) bought heteroxenia off live aquaria’s certified captive bred corals section and it was doing fine. However, when I got home from work yesterday, somehow my power head turned off (I live alone) and my Xenia was shriveled up like it was dying. If I can post before and after pictures then I will. Anyway I got the power head working again. The Xenia was like that all night and checking it just now in the morning when the lights kicked on, it’s still like that. Can anyone help me out and tel me what’s happening to it? Is it dying? My water parameters are all perfect as of posting this. All of my other corals are also doing very well, it’s just the Xenia. Someone please help :( 02FED025-AFBD-4AF2-B1F5-F5D1A03D258B.jpeg
32DE4094-BC55-4933-886F-6142CBE4B56E.png
32DE4094-BC55-4933-886F-6142CBE4B56E.png
I should also note this was the beforepicture . I have now moved it to another spot butstill looks the same
 

xxkenny90xx

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Ime even though xenia is a very easy coral it also is the coral that takes the longest to perk up after being disturbed. If I take the xenia out to frag it takes days to get back to normal.

Oh and get those nutrients up. Maybe add another fish?
 

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32DE4094-BC55-4933-886F-6142CBE4B56E.png
32DE4094-BC55-4933-886F-6142CBE4B56E.png
I should also note this was the beforepicture . I have now moved it to another spot butstill looks the same
I think it’s lack of nutrients. If you truly have 0 phos and 0 nitrate, I’m pretty certain that’s it.

Maybe take some water to LFS and get it tested. If they get 0’s too, you could buy some neonitro and neophos.

But testing error could be issue and if you have green algae growing on glass, you probably have enough nutrients for the Xenia.
 

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How are you testing nitrate and phosphate? If they really are 0 you are at pretty high risk to develop an infestation of dinoflagellates. Been there done that... unfortunately. Not to mention even difficult corals want some of those nutrients... but xenias love 'em.
 
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I think it’s lack of nutrients. If you truly have 0 phos and 0 nitrate, I’m pretty certain that’s it.

Maybe take some water to LFS and get it tested. If they get 0’s too, you could buy some neonitro and neophos.

But testing error could be issue and if you have green algae growing on glass, you probably have enough nutrients for the Xenia.
I did do a water change the day before, could that have been an issue? I do 25% water changes. It’s in a 45 gallon tank. I also have a skimmer that’s rated for 60 gallons. Do you think the water change was the problem? And will it bounce back? The arms are moving slightly but barely so there is still life. There is also a hole in the base of the stem that I just noticed...
 
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That1guy07

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How are you testing nitrate and phosphate? If they really are 0 you are at pretty high risk to develop an infestation of dinoflagellates. Been there done that... unfortunately. Not to mention even difficult corals want some of those nutrients... but xenias love 'em.
I did a25% water change the day before I went to work. It’s in a 45 gallon tank. I think I have dinoflagellates but I’m not sure. It’s like an algae looking substance on my sand bed and has been increasing and decreasing depending on if i feed frozen or pellets/flakes. I do have algae on my glass, filmy algae so idk but it may have been the water change. Would you agree? Would the Xenia bounce back?
 

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I did do a water change the day before, could that have been an issue? I do 25% water changes. It’s in a 45 gallon tank
It could. A water change will decrease NO3 and PO4 if you are using RODI water with no phosphate and nitrate.

Dino’s, depending on which one, may irritate corals and softies too. Dinos thrive in low nutrient conditions. I do not see the brown snot of Dino’s in your pics.

Could you post some pics with white light instead of the blue? If your algae is green under white lights, that’s a good sign.
 
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It could. A water change will decrease NO3 and PO4 if you are using RODI water with no phosphate and nitrate.

Dino’s, depending on which one, may irritate corals and softies too. Dinos thrive in low nutrient conditions. I do not see the brown snot of Dino’s in your pics.

Could you post some pics with white light instead of the blue? If your algae is green under white lights, that’s a good sign.
here are some of the white light pictures

D085A50A-BF1E-48DE-9EF1-266A6B6D55E7.jpeg 25CF1146-B623-4895-8D21-5C7A8D972300.jpeg 71D00A3E-70D6-4E24-8090-8D789B461100.jpeg 2DFBDE66-6FF7-4AC9-9B7E-A17F8201B1EA.jpeg
 
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That1guy07

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Ime even though xenia is a very easy coral it also is the coral that takes the longest to perk up after being disturbed. If I take the xenia out to frag it takes days to get back to normal.

Oh and get those nutrients up. Maybe add another fish?
I have so many fish I might be over stocked
 

SMSREEF

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here are some of the white light pictures

D085A50A-BF1E-48DE-9EF1-266A6B6D55E7.jpeg 25CF1146-B623-4895-8D21-5C7A8D972300.jpeg 71D00A3E-70D6-4E24-8090-8D789B461100.jpeg 2DFBDE66-6FF7-4AC9-9B7E-A17F8201B1EA.jpeg
Looks like normal algae to me, not Dino’s.
I’m at a loss because I think your nutrients are probably ok and not too low, Especially if you have a lot of fish.
Hopefully someone else has the answers for you. Wishing you good luck
 
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That1guy07

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Looks like normal algae to me, not Dino’s.
I’m at a loss because I think your nutrients are probably ok and not too low, Especially if you have a lot of fish.
Hopefully someone else has the answers for you. Wishing you good luck
Thank you for your help, it’s much appreciated.
 

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same thing happened to mine after i dipped it unfortunately it didn't like that and died
 
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same thing happened to mine after i dipped it unfortunately it didn't like that and died
It was probably the water change for me. I typically keep my tank pretty clean for my favia and gsp. I guess it’s not too bad of a loss, I’m going to be getting some birds nest, some softies, zoas, scoly, and a torch coral here on Tuesday so maybe it’s a good thing the Xenia is doing bad since I hear all the bad rep it gets. Idk tho
 
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