Removing a lot of Pulsing Xenia

[EBNewbie]

Hi experts,
I have pulsing Xenia taking over my tank to a point where it surrounds my acro and other corals. This creates shadow and hampers their growth. (My birdsnest has a brown tip!)

What is the best way to get rid of 50% or more of the pulsing xenia from my rock without:
- Having it release toxins that will hurt me or the tank inhabitants
- Doing a messy job, leaving scar tissue and will create an ammonia spike.

My take is a 40B with a 29G sump. All my parameters are good, except my nitrates at 20, which I'm trying to fix by doing regular water changes.

 

[justmee]

Following, since I'm experiencing the same. The only way I've been removing is scraping it off my rocks, and it's not fun...

 

[User1]

Well, here is how I go about it. I usually vent the window as my tank is in a small room (my den). Anyway I use a glass or bowl of water, nitrile gloves, and forceps. It goes something like this:

1. Vent window
2. Music of choice
3. Nitrile gloves
4. Ladder (tank 30" deep + 30" stand)
5. Cup or bowl of water
6. Stainless steel forceps (8" or so, curved work best)
7. Reach in tank and gently ruffle the Xenia that I want to remove
8. Using the forceps gently ruffle again and clamp at the base of the Xenia stalk, close to the rock as possible. This is key. Clamp
9. Gently (yes, gently) pull / lift and go side to side - when done properly it will lift up cleanly
10. Pull out of water, place in cup or bowl of water, release, rinse
11. Repeat for 10 to 20 minutes
12. Take a break
13. Repeat if needed
14 Optional - in some cases you may not get a solid or clean tear. When this happens it will grow back. You can use reef safe epoxy and use a small bead of it to cover it

I also do this with Kenya Tree and GHA believe it or not. They trick is really just clamping at the base of the stalk and gently pulling left/right until it lifts. Usually a clean break but a few times I have left some behind. Works for me and hopefully this helps.

 

[PicassoClown04]

+1 on the post above me, I’ve been selling Xenia like this for a long time now. The removed pieces will reattach pretty much over night onto anything (glass, plugs, rubble, literally anything) and you can make a quick buck selling it. I mean, I need to
prune back anyway, so why not make a couple bucks while I’m at it? This is by far the best way, every other way leaves remnants that grow back or fragment them so that the little pieces go everywhere and regrow into new colonies wherever they land.

 

[User1]

+1 on the post above me, I’ve been selling Xenia like this for a long time now. The removed pieces will reattach pretty much over night onto anything (glass, plugs, rubble, literally anything) and you can make a quick buck selling it. I mean, I need to
prune back anyway, so why not make a couple bucks while I’m at it? This is by far the best way, every other way leaves remnants that grow back or fragment them so that the little pieces go everywhere and regrow into new colonies wherever they land.

Good point - I forgot to say give away, sell, frag, etc. They do reattach to rubble easy enough and a good option. Also another one is after pulling from the tank use a napkin, paper towel, or cloth and gently dry the base (only the base). You can then apply a dab of glue to a frag plug, piece of rock, shell, or whatever and count to 20. Once done it will also be attached and take off.

But yeah - great point on the rehoming. It is a popular coral for many reasons and a few online vendors say it still is their best seller.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Good point - I forgot to say give away, sell, frag, etc. They do reattach to rubble easy enough and a good option. Also another one is after pulling from the tank use a napkin, paper towel, or cloth and gently dry the base (only the base). You can then apply a dab of glue to a frag plug, piece of rock, shell, or whatever and count to 20. Once done it will also be attached and take off.

But yeah - great point on the rehoming. It is a popular coral for many reasons and a few online vendors say it still is their best seller.

Yeah, I was doing some research about a year ago when I started to sell it just to kinda figure out how much to price it at, and found that a lot of places have trouble selling it because they kill it trying to frag it ???? Idk how you could possibly kill this stuff by accident but it’s good for me cause I steal their business!

 

[Chewbacca]

If the price is right I am interested in a good size of it let me know

 

[alton]

What Saf1 said. A friend bought my tank which was full of Xenia (which I loved) and in a couple months removed all of it with FW dips/brushing. Just don't try and do all the rock at one time.

 

[EBNewbie]

Thanks for all the advice, I'll try that this long weekend and I'll try to attach them to frag plugs. I do have a magnetic frag rack that I use to acclimate new corals so I'll try my hand at fragging.

 

[EBNewbie]

If the price is right I am interested in a good size of it let me know

I never shipped corals but when I have the frags done, I'll look at shipping some. If I give them away for free (Or the price of the packing material), I can use my company shipping discount for personal shipments. Stay tuned.

 

[Apotack]

Keep a turkey baster nearby to suck up any pieces that break off

 

[laverda]

I use the same method as mentioned above. The reason LFS will buy it is because it ships very poorly and is still a popular coral.

 

[Super Fly]

I've seen on a guy on youtube easily/neatly prune xenia by siphoning them out using a stainless steel straw (or some hard tube that can scrape rock) attached to tip of siphon. This works since xenia is very soft.