Any tips to get pom pom xenia to pulse more? (1 Viewer)

[KyleH]

Hello All,

I got a frag of pulsing pom pom xenia from the LFS. After 1 month, mine did not pulse as much. When I went back to the store, their xenia seems to still pulse 1-2 times/sec--mine are now pulsing about 0.5-1 times / sec.

There are no fish in my tank, and I supplement my small tank because of infrequent water changes. When I add ca/str/mg, they seem to pick up to 1-1.5 times...but, the LFS seems more obvious.

Anyone got any tips to encourage xenia pulsing? Maybe I lacking something, and I do not mind dosing (if it will help).

The tank has been running for 1.5 years, has other corals that seems to grow, but not prolific. xenia are 3" from 50/50 power compacts. There are small xenia's apearing around the base that seems to be growing positively.

Anyone got any suggestions? I was thinking of trying out marine snow because of my lack of fish, but I don't like putting stuff that I may not need (then get stuck with a bottle of it).

I have some of kent's phytoplankton, but I am thinking of trying to grow some rotifers and live phytoplankton to see if the tank will grow better.

-KyleH

 

[fishboyt]

I think a big part of the problem is your lighting. You should try upgrading to at least T5 lighting (Depending on your tank dimensions).

 

[soymilk]

what is your dKh at? and what kinda flow do you have?

I noticed you say you add Ca, str, mg, but you didn't list ALK.

 

[RocketSurgeon]

Hello All,

I got a frag of pulsing pom pom xenia from the LFS. After 1 month, mine did not pulse as much. ... and I supplement my small tank because of infrequent water changes. .
Anyone got any suggestions?
-KyleH

More frequent water changes? We all know water changes are no fun, but most would agree that if we did them, we wouldn't have to put as many chemicals in our tanks. Less chemicals mean less possibility of error/problems.

what are your parameters? what are your LFS parameters?
If one of your parameters are way different than your LFS, there may lie one problem.

Do you have other coral that may be irritating the xenia?

 

[soymilk]

lower dKh has been known to cause xenia to pulse less. Also try adjusting flow....

 

[KyleH]

Thanks so far..

Thanks for the tips.

I may stop by the LFS to pick up some water to test for comparison. They are using a T5, and I have the weak 50/50.

I fear it may be the light or the lack of any fish. If it is the light, I can accept it just not flourishing. I appreciate any other thoughts from this forum.

I have been using those quick dip test strips, and everything is ideal: 0 nitrate, high calcium, high dKH, etc. After someone suggesting to test, it reminds me that those are very unreliable, I'll take some time this evening and go through the drops to see if anything is irregular. Thanks for reminding me to test correctly!

I am noticing the xenia's are pulsing even less tonight than before. In the last month, I changed my KH source from seachem's powder solution to Kent's Nano pt B. Maybe the seachem is a better answer. I will wait 1-2 days and switch back to see notice a change.

At least you guys are confirming things that I *should* already know. It is a little comforting to know that there is not a secret care element to try.

If things don't clear up, I may just do a 10% water change every other day for 2 weeks to see if my tank needs a flush from all of the dosing.

-KyleH

 

[KyleH]

thanks rocksurgeon...

Thanks RockSurgeon....I am also thinking that something may be irritating it.

I put in 2 cerith snails 4 months ago, but I think they both died from starvation--no visible algae on the glass or leftover food. I *do* have a small outbreak of somatella, bristleworms, little pods, as well as some pesky snails. I wonder if the critters are staying alive by eating some corals. If changes this weeks does not do anything, I'll look into reducing them.

The other things I have in my tank are blastomussa, zoa's, and micromussa. It is very small tank, and I read on Marsh that Micromussa *can* release their digestive enzymes. I am not sure if that is the case or not.

There is something just off in my tank. About 3-4 months ago, a healthy GSP stopped opening. I see recently that the purple flesh is receeding. Around that time was in Nov when the weather was changing, and I also noticed that the zoas seems to be acting up. I think I lost about 10% of my zoa, but so far, I have chalked up with the tempermental zoa behavior due to the cold weather. However, I have some other zoa frags that were not affected and have doubled such as tubs blue and galaxia. Out of 30 blastomussa, 3 looks like they are being eaten in the last month; however, I cannot seems to find the culprit, and only those are affected the other 27 seems to be getting bigger and flourishing.

The only conclusion I have come across is that my MicroMussa multiplied from 2 heads to about 8 heads around that time. The disappearing blastomussa are downflow of the micromussa; although, there 10 unaffected blastomussa that with in 2 inches just not downflow.

Arg...after all of this talk, I am going to drop a bag of activated carbon in the filter to be safe. Maybe it is a KH and carbon thing.

Thanks again RockSurgeon (and all) for any suggestions.

-KyleH

 

[rxonco]

Iodine seems to be one of those things that they like. Other than that, xenia is just one of those strange corals. Some will thrive and take over one's tank, while they'll simply melt away in another's. Some will pulse, some won't. Some will pulse and then suddenly stop for no apparent reason.

I'd try the Iodine though. Don't over-do it, just go with a dosing found on the bottle. Mine seem to love it and I've read in numerous posts that they seem to benefit from it in some way.

 

[KyleH]

Maybe everything is okay.

Hello All,

I stopped by the LFS this weekend to look at the pompom xenia. The LFS looks like before, but after paying closer attention, it seems that they are heavily branched. It looks like each polyp pulses once each 1-2 seconds like mine, but from a distance it is hard to see that thre are 2 polyps opening in the same place. So, it seems that they are pulsing twice as fast.

A smaller colony of mine that is moved to low flow seems to behaving the same. The parent colony is under higher flow, so the pulsing is less obvious.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

-KyleH