Pulsing Xenia shriveled, deflated, and not pulsing

[Thanos]

This was the first coral I added to my 65 gallon softy/LPS reef tank, and for the first year or so it seemed to do well and quickly took over the island I put it on. I'm a college student so I'm out of town for most of the year while my parents take care of the tank, and when I got back from college last month I noticed the Xenia appeared to be in really bad condition. The "petals" are shriveled and almost twisted when viewed up close, the Xenia no longer pulses, and when the 2 Nero 3's on each side of the tank are turned off, the thing basically deflates and flops over the rockwork, still not pulsing (as seen in the attached pictures). Parameter checks showed nothing out of the ordinary; considering that it's Xenia I assumed low nitrates but tests with an API kit showed it to be around 5 ppm, and the ongoing Cyano issue on the sandbed also makes me think it's not a lack of nutrients.

All of my other corals are doing really well, which further confuses me. My Zoas, Hammer, GSP, and Leptastrea all seem to be really healthy and have grown rapidly and the only other coral in the tank that hasn't been growing a ton is the toadstool leather above the Xenia, but it doesn't look like it's dying by any means. Additionally, there's a non-pulsing Xenia variety on the other end of the tank and it looks really healthy, so I'm really stumped as to what's going on.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This was the first coral I added to my 65 gallon softy/LPS reef tank, and for the first year or so it seemed to do well and quickly took over the island I put it on. I'm a college student so I'm out of town for most of the year while my parents take care of the tank, and when I got back from college last month I noticed the Xenia appeared to be in really bad condition. The "petals" are shriveled and almost twisted when viewed up close, the Xenia no longer pulses, and when the 2 Nero 3's on each side of the tank are turned off, the thing basically deflates and flops over the rockwork, still not pulsing (as seen in the attached pictures). Parameter checks showed nothing out of the ordinary; considering that it's Xenia I assumed low nitrates but tests with an API kit showed it to be around 5 ppm, and the ongoing Cyano issue on the sandbed also makes me think it's not a lack of nutrients.

All of my other corals are doing really well, which further confuses me. My Zoas, Hammer, GSP, and Leptastrea all seem to be really healthy and have grown rapidly and the only other coral in the tank that hasn't been growing a ton is the toadstool leather above the Xenia, but it doesn't look like it's dying by any means. Additionally, there's a non-pulsing Xenia variety on the other end of the tank and it looks really healthy, so I'm really stumped as to what's going on.

get them off the bottom and into mid tank region in area of moderate light and moderate-med water flow
Water change may perk them up otherwise adding iron and manganese will perk them up

 

[Thanos]

get them off the bottom and into mid tank region in area of moderate light and moderate-med water flow

Given the setup of the tank, moving them up really isn't possible. I don't think lack of lighting is an issue since I've only increased it slowly since starting the tank, and it's directly under a powerhead and the wall opposite of the return nozzle so it should be getting a lot of flow where it's at rn.

 

[Uncle99]

The “on-going Cyano issue” can be triggered by zero nutrients, N and/or P. I see N at 5ppm which is good. What’s P for the record?
Looks very unhappy, starving?
They like higher nutrient tanks and white light.

 

[MyFirstCar]

I'm not a coral expert, so listen to these other super great voices in this forum, but whenever I have a mystery problem, change/add carbon and a 25% water change are my go to.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I agree with vetteguy. But I would also do the water change, add Poly Filter and purchase better test kits than API. Your LFS should have the single sheet Poly Filter for $8 or BRS sells it.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Nitrates of 5 for soft corals is VERY low. It may be starving.

 

[Thanos]

I'll try to raise nitrates as these comments suggest to see if that helps. Just last night I just found a large vermetid snail in the center of the colony, that for months I had mistaken for a dead Xenia stalk. Is it possible that this is the cause of the problem?

 

[Reef By Steele]

I'll try to raise nitrates as these comments suggest to see if that helps. Just last night I just found a large vermetid snail in the center of the colony, that for months I had mistaken for a dead Xenia stalk. Is it possible that this is the cause of the problem?

I wouldn’t think it was causing that much of a problem for Xenia. Mine acts up when I neglect my water changes and think it needs the extras from the salt.

 

[dnb]

I'll try to raise nitrates as these comments suggest to see if that helps. Just last night I just found a large vermetid snail in the center of the colony, that for months I had mistaken for a dead Xenia stalk. Is it possible that this is the cause of the problem?

Stalks seem very thin, meaning it's stretching for light... how's the flow..., do they sway back n forth? Or just getting pounded in one direction? I get a strong boost feeding cyclops to get a quick recovery from my emporer angel feeding off them... sand level does seem to be toughest on them, but they will certainly adapt

 

[Reeflix]

Ignore this, I posted on the wrong thread