problem with xenia

[ReeferGoneMad]

hi guys. ok last night im going over my tank inspecting things to my surprise my xenia were just falling apart. the xenia i have came from a colony from petco(lol). i bought it and broght it home a week later it started melting on me. so i decide to just leave it and just see if it dies or comes back. most of it dies but ends up leaving two very small mats of itself behind. so i leave the mats there to my surprise everyday little heads started growing out. so fast foward to about a month after the baby xenia were growing quite nicely and i noticed it fragged itself as i found more xenia coming out of holes in my rocks. so the other day i look at the xenia and it litterally is doin what it did when i first bought the colony. its just shrivled up and then pieces just come off of it. now all this time they were growing it would pulse every second i heard this is a good sign. but now that its melting i decided to test my parameters.

29 gallon mixed reef
orbit pc pixture 130 watts
salinity:30
gravity:1.025
ammonia:0
nitrite:0
nitrate:undetectable
calcium:350-dropped from 420
alk- very low 2 dkh was 3.5 dkh when xenia was pulsing

im using b-ionic and performed a small water change last night to replenish any trace elements. watever xenia that wasnt affected stayed alive this mourning. dont really know now cause im not home.

i have a mixed reef and everything else seems to be doing fine. but i never say never.also any1 with tips to stabilize my water too any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[Deanos]

My xenia colony is sensitive to alkalinity swings. Others have mentioned iodine levels as very important to keeping xenia happy.

 

[ReeferGoneMad]

:scratch: that could explain it then . :scratch: would 10% weekly water changes replensih the used iodine. dean these mats are so small they are literally babies. i would say 10 cm by 5 cmis the lenth of the mat. hmm would an alkalinity swing affect a halimeda algae i have had a few sprouts grow out my live rock that wasnt there when i bought it that just started to take off and then declined after i noticed the xenia. up until i caught on everything was having a growth spurt. so i guess this is what caused the drop.

does any one know how to determine the proper dosage of b-ionic if parameters went off.

 

[fritz]

Woah 2 or 3 dkh!???

I keep mine up around 9 sometimes 11 or 12

 

[DonCisco]

My sentiments exactly. That dkh seems really low. What is your pH? That could be part of the answer that you are looking for.

 

[tosiek]

i'm scared to see what your PH readout is with that low alk.

 

[ReeferGoneMad]

its actually on point 8.2

 

[loismustdie]

What test kits are you guys using that everyone says their NO3 is undetectable? PO4??? I've NEVER registered "undetectable" on either of these tests on top quality kits.
I personally believe that your problem is one of 4 things.
1: Iodine. Xenia need it, but don't dose if you don't test.
2: Kent Marine Coral Vital. The blue bottle. Yes, I said it. This stuff is really good for xenia. I can prove it too. I dosed it in my tank. Xenia grew like crazy. I was bringing all of the excess xenia I could dig off of my rocks to the LFS who shall remain nameless. They kept dying in the LFS tank. They asked what I was doing and I told them KMCV. They started using it and xenia grew for them too. I stopped dosing it and my xenia died off (thankfully since I now consider it a weed).
3: While I do not feel alkalinity will effect it with flucuations... if you dose and the xenia was hit to hard with a concentrated dose, they tend to die off.
4: what's your temperature? Xenia have a natural die-off which usually occurs in the end of summer/early fall time frame. Did you let your temps go high and then drop down?

 

[digitalreefer]

alk- very low 2 dkh was 3.5 dkh when xenia was pulsing

Ummmm.... are you sure you mean dkh and not meq/L
I measure meq/L with my test kit and 3.5 is perfect alk... dkh should be much higher... double check the test kit and determine what you're measuring.