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Help! Sick Xenia! Yellow Splotches! Pics!

Mine has flourished and is growing like mad...I'm heading to Taunton, weds night, let me know if you need some more.
 
thank you very much for the offer, but i'm gonna hold of on the xenia for a little while... Don't want do become a serial xenia killer :)
 
Hmm. I don't agree.
I've used freshly mixed saltwater in regular 20% water changes a bunch of times with no ill effects.

I respect your opinion. However, I don't rick it on my system. Perhaps with heavy skimming the 02 isn't as much of an issue. But we are talking about a rubbermade tub with no aeration.
 
Ouch.....20 DKH?:eek:
Holy smokes I would have figured and from using the calculator that 1/2 tsp diluted in your water change would have raised it about 3-4 dkh tops.
The little tanks are so hard to dose and keep water parameters stable.:(
The xenia is closed up,but how is the frogspawn?
FWIW I use API for the alk test and it works fine.You might want to check that water right after you mix some to see what it is out of the box.
 
Th frogspawn looks good for now :) it appears very healthy. The xenia is gone except for a couple polyps. The remaining polyps don't look good. We'll see what happens to them, but it looks like I spent WAY to much for a small peice of LR rubble.
 
Th frogspawn looks good for now :) it appears very healthy. The xenia is gone except for a couple polyps. The remaining polyps don't look good. We'll see what happens to them, but it looks like I spent WAY to much for a small peice of LR rubble.

Unfortunitly it wont be your first time. All of us have been where you are and sympathize with you.
 
No kidding,
I bought at least 1/3 of my rock at "premium"price.
I have a good amount of elongata also thriving if you want to give it a shot again.Some folks have it grow like crazy in their tanks and others have no luck at all.I even heard of a guy that had some in two different tanks but sharing the same water through a sump.One thrived and one died out.
But you never know.......it might come back for you.
 
No kidding,
I bought at least 1/3 of my rock at "premium"price.

HAHA! My Xenia has deffinatly left behind a peice of premium LR. There is not sign that a coral was on it at all any more. In fact after the coral totally dissapeared the snail moved the rock to the bottom of the tank. The new position of the rock has given my shrimp more confidence for some reason and because of this he has speant much more time cruising the front of the tank then ever before. I guess it was not a total waste.

A couple days ago I bought a light from another BRS member. The light is way to big for my tank, but the price was good, and my wife and I are starting to collect peices for a bigger tank. The light came with two frags which I debated taking, not wanting to kill them, after my recent problems with Xenia. I did decide to take them and am wondering if you have any suggestions for care.

The corals are a Larry Jackson Purple Tip, and a Blue Tort. I placed them at the very top of the tank, in a high flow area, the LJ Purple tip is almost touching the top of the water and the Blue tort is about 1" below the surface. The Blue tort has extended it polyps and appears very healthy. I have no idea what to look for on the LJ purple tip, nothing seems to extend or move.

The only other remaining coral in the tank is my frogspawn, which appears very healthy! No of the other creatures in the tank show any signs of stress. I have no idea what the problem with the Xenia was, other than as a few people said, sometimes they just dont like certain tanks.

The water test from today was as follows:

Ph 8.2
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Alk 16-17
Salinity 1.024

Any suggestion what to do with these corals? I don't know too much about care for them. I should get a calcium test now, as i understand they need calcium pretty high. How can i tell if the purple tip is alive?

Thank you everyone who offered help with the Xenia.
 
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The water test from today was as follows:

Ph 8.2
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Alk 16-17
Salinity 1.024

THese are not acceptable levels for SPS. Nitrate needs to be at most 5 but more like 0 to .5. Your Alk is out the roof! I bet you have alot of excess CO2 in the tank from high CO2 in your house.

Any suggestion what to do with these corals? I don't know too much about care for them.
Park them in someone else tank until your system can handle them or trade them for something you can take care of now. Honestly, if you can't keep xiena alive SPS is probably not going to work out for you.

I should get a calcium test now, as i understand they need calcium pretty high.
Xenia.

Yes get a Calcium kit. Salifert is a good brand but look through the forums there was just a thread that addressed what CA kit to use.

How can i tell if the purple tip is alive?
Xenia.

It will turn white when it dies.

I know when I started reef keeping I wanted to get all the cool stuff in my tank right away. I think most of us do. However, that often leads to disaster, disappointment, and disillusionment with the hobby. Every time something dies you really feel bad/humbled. Just take it slow and do lots of reading and research. I don't mean to sound harsh I just don't want you to give up on the hobby because you suffer loss from biting of more than you can chew.
 
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Well,that's a pretty good jump from xenia to Larry Jackson Purple Tip, and a Blue Tort. Unfortunately you never mentioned waht type of lighting you have.
These corals require high flow and lighting.They can be very challenging for a new hobbyist.I have been in this hobby for 14 months and would even try something like that yet.But,don't be discouraged,if you have the right lighting,watch you parameters like a hawk it might survive and even thrive.
But doing this is going to be really tough in a 5 gallon nano.
 
I just put these two corals in my tank because they came free with the light, and am hoping they will survive. They were in a tank being torn down, and thought I might as well try. I was very excited about the xenia, and dissapointed when it died. I would have waited quite a bit long before even doing another easy coral, but thought it wouldnt hurt to try these for free. I dont really expect much from them, I know it was to early. If someone in the area (I live in Concord, MA) Is willing to hold them, it would be great.

As for lights I have 2x 18w 9" coralife 50/50 bulbs, powered by a remote Fulham Longhorse ballast. The two SPS corals are as close as possible to the lights, The Larry Jackson is probably within 1.5 inches, and the blue tort about 2- 2.5".

Alk Is very high, but comming down. I had tried to save the Xenia by putting in 1/2 tsp of baking soda. At the time I did not have a test kit, and it put the alk level through the roof. I have done a few water changes, but it is comming down slowly. Nitrates went up when the xenia and frogspawn went in, but have come down steadaly.
 
Just some advice Faz......ok?And i'm not putting down nanos.But,
you really seem to be into this hobby.And that's away cool thing,but a 5 gallon for a new person is not going to cut it.You need to go big or go home on this one.You will never be able to devote enough time to keep this tank topped off.Most of the folks here that have nanos have a good sized sump.
Your water parameters will be all over the place.You can't even dose without fear of overdose.JME....but 5 gallon for a saltwater tank just doesn't cut it........sorry.
 
I do not want to stay with a nano tank for ever. My wife and I have been trying to figure out how we are going to upgrade, and have been talking about doing either a 45 or 65. Based on the room we have we decided we wanted a 36" wide tank. After seeing a 36" light for sale we purchased it, not even thinking about these two SPS corals that came with it.

From reading online before hand I had tried to set up the tank so it had options for the types of corals in it. I put brighter lights and 2 mini jet 404s. So the total flow is very high for the tank, but the two minijets are place at the top of the tank so hig flow, high light corals will have both and low to mid flow and light corals can be placed lower.

The two corals are starting to gain colors back as the tank they were in before was pretty negelected.

I fully admit that I do not have the experience or tank to support these right now. At 3 months I would not have purchased SPS, especially after what happened with my Xenia. If there is someone in the area that can provide a home for these corals I would love to trade. I am looking for beginner corals. I would really like a colony of Green Star Polyps, or maybe some Zoas. I am open to listen to any trades, or advice for my tank. I would like to grow some corals in my nano while i start my bigger tank.

-Adam
 
i had some crazy growing xenia and then i had the same problem.. the xenia seemed to melt.. in my case i used active carbon and then started using AZNO3 to start lowering my nitrates with water changes...
 
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