Kiophy
New Member
So when I received my second coral, a rock full of xenia, it was clear in a few days that 2 of the 3 corals were shrinking, or melting.
I read about it online, and many people seem to not understand why their xenia melts when they first get it.
From what I've read and experienced, it seems xenias can react harshly to transportation. The first xenia I received was dead on arrival. The second one, which I will reference here a lot, was fine and pumping when it arrived, but the package's water was somewhat hazy. After acclimation, I put the rock with 3 different xenia on it, in the tank. I didn't dip it at any point, because the LFS said the wholesaler hasn't given them any problems.
I assume my acclimation wasn't proper (40 minutes of drip acclimation) or the water parameters were wildly different (although salinity was very similar), because the xenia slowly stopped pumping. Days it took, and shrank 2 of them did, until one was covered with a brown coverage... I assume BJD. Here's a picture of that:
It is a bad picture, but I'm not adding it here for diagnosis. The other xenia that also shrank hasn't been affected by this. They are a few cm apart, both were so small that a centimeter feels like a meter.
The third one didn't shrink as drastically, only somewhat. From the very start, it acted somewhat different from the other two. They also looked somewhat different. I assume they were different species. This third one, however, hasn't pumped since the day it arrived. It does react to touch and movement though, retracting its polyps.
Now recently I saw its polyps start to slowly melt. I also saw some of its skin bubble and... Bleed? (video on this added below)
Now I'm kinda just making many assumptions here...
STN and RTN are told to affect mostly affect SPS corals. For them it's clear when their skin starts to drip off... But how would that appear on a soft coral? One without a skeleton? The theories on xenias melting seem to much rely on water parameters being wrong, but a specific cause between the cases of many aquarists is rarely found... Could the "melting" be the same as what SPS sometimes experience, AKA RTN/STN?
From what I've read on fish diseases, as well as STN/RTN, elevated stress is the primary cause of disease. This stress would be the drastic change of environment, especially with acclimation to a new tank after a long transport.
What do you guys think of this? Also what is that "bleeding" in the video I added?
My next course of action is to dip this last xenia that is alive, and test and perfect the environment it is in.
I read about it online, and many people seem to not understand why their xenia melts when they first get it.
From what I've read and experienced, it seems xenias can react harshly to transportation. The first xenia I received was dead on arrival. The second one, which I will reference here a lot, was fine and pumping when it arrived, but the package's water was somewhat hazy. After acclimation, I put the rock with 3 different xenia on it, in the tank. I didn't dip it at any point, because the LFS said the wholesaler hasn't given them any problems.
I assume my acclimation wasn't proper (40 minutes of drip acclimation) or the water parameters were wildly different (although salinity was very similar), because the xenia slowly stopped pumping. Days it took, and shrank 2 of them did, until one was covered with a brown coverage... I assume BJD. Here's a picture of that:
It is a bad picture, but I'm not adding it here for diagnosis. The other xenia that also shrank hasn't been affected by this. They are a few cm apart, both were so small that a centimeter feels like a meter.
The third one didn't shrink as drastically, only somewhat. From the very start, it acted somewhat different from the other two. They also looked somewhat different. I assume they were different species. This third one, however, hasn't pumped since the day it arrived. It does react to touch and movement though, retracting its polyps.
Now recently I saw its polyps start to slowly melt. I also saw some of its skin bubble and... Bleed? (video on this added below)
Now I'm kinda just making many assumptions here...
STN and RTN are told to affect mostly affect SPS corals. For them it's clear when their skin starts to drip off... But how would that appear on a soft coral? One without a skeleton? The theories on xenias melting seem to much rely on water parameters being wrong, but a specific cause between the cases of many aquarists is rarely found... Could the "melting" be the same as what SPS sometimes experience, AKA RTN/STN?
From what I've read on fish diseases, as well as STN/RTN, elevated stress is the primary cause of disease. This stress would be the drastic change of environment, especially with acclimation to a new tank after a long transport.
What do you guys think of this? Also what is that "bleeding" in the video I added?
My next course of action is to dip this last xenia that is alive, and test and perfect the environment it is in.
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