Xenia not doing well

[Austin Weinerman]

I got 2 small frags of Xenia about 5 months ago. They weren’t doing very well in the store - they were under barely any light and were very thin and stringy looking. When I got them in my tank, I noticed they had lost almost all of their color and were basically completely white. I was upset that I wasted $30 on them, but decided to keep it and see how it would do. After a little while, they began to get thicker and regain their pink color. A little while later, they started to attach to the neighboring rock and grow on it, which is what I wanted. It has continued to grow and attach more of itself onto the rock, being healthy all this time. Well, just a few weeks ago, I decided to start dosing my tank using Aquavitro. Previously in this tank, I was only dosing Aquavitro’s Ions to raise the magnesium because that was on the low side, but I decided to start dosing their Calcification and Fuel as I have added more coral to this tank and the calcium and magnesium level had gotten a little low. After a few weeks of dosing, here are my levels currently:
Mag: 1200
Calcium: 400
Alk: 8dkh
Nitrates: 5-10
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
Salinity: 1.024
In the tank are 2 seahorses, astrea snails, 2 nassarius snails, and tons of mini brittle starfish. Anyway, since I started dosing with more of the Aquavitro products, my Xenia has started declining. They had all become thin and stringy as they were before, but this time kept their pink color. Last week I decided that the reason for their decline was probably from the change in these levels, so I stopped with the dosing all together for now to see if this helps. Since last week, the Xenia on the bottom has begun to get thicker again and looks to be on its way to a full recovery, but the Xenia that has climbed all the way to the top of this rock still looks damaged. It looks as if some of its polyps are thick and pink again, but others are thin, gray, and retracted. I realize that my mag is still pretty low and am considering starting to add the Ions supplement again, as I have been doing this for months with no problems. The other corals in this tank (spaghetti leather, toadstool, and branching cyphastrea) seem to not be affected at all through this. I am just wondering if I should expect the Xenia to recover over time of keeping the levels stable or will it likely end up dying?

 

[Coralreefer1]

Xenia is a touchy coral. I know because I have had it on multiple occasions. One week it looks awesome and the next week it looks like crap. It can grow like a weed and then a few weeks later it is dead and gone. Good water flow, moderate lighting, nutrients and iodine dosing helps immensely with ensuring it is healthy!

 

[Austin Weinerman]

Xenia is a touchy coral. I know because I have had it on multiple occasions. One week it looks awesome and the next week it looks like crap. It can grow like a weed and then a few weeks later it is dead and gone. Good water flow, moderate lighting, nutrients and iodine dosing helps immensely with ensuring it is healthy!

Thanks for your advice! I have never dosed iodine, only calcium, mag, and trace elements, so I will try iodine next time I’m at the store. I had Xenia in the past that ended up dying over time, but I assumed it was because I was too indecisive and kept moving it in between my two tanks lol. I was afraid this time it was dying because I was dosing too much, but I checked my levels again today and with the exception of mag being a little low, everything else was fine, so I’m not sure what’s causing it to decline. Iodine dosing won’t hurt to try. Thanks!