I have a 12g AP that has been running for 13 months, with a E. glabrescens that I moved over from another tank. Some frags that a friend gave me had some Xenia sp. on it, and this Xenia has grown considerably in the last 3 months. Now, my torch is not fully exanding and I can't get it to eat....
Could the Xenia be poisoning it? I moved my torch as far away from it as I can (which is not very far in a 12g AP...).
All my water parameters are consistent. I have had no other problems in my tank. I have no fish.
Thanks in advance for your help!

I think that xenia is mostly a problem when it is touching another coral. Here is an article Aquarium Fish Magazine Article (http://www.petsforum.com/cis-fishnet/afm/G29071.htm) about allolopathy.

I have a 12g AP that has been running for 13 months, with a E. glabrescens that I moved over from another tank. Some frags that a friend gave me had some Xenia sp. on it, and this Xenia has grown considerably in the last 3 months. Now, my torch is not fully exanding and I can't get it to eat....
Could the Xenia be poisoning it? I moved my torch as far away from it as I can (which is not very far in a 12g AP...).
All my water parameters are consistent. I have had no other problems in my tank. I have no fish.
Thanks in advance for your help!

I'd say yes to the Xenia being the cause of the torch closing and acting finicky -- do you see it frequently "deflating and re-inflating" with water? This is a "personal" water change that most corals do from time to time, mostly so the water in their bodies doesn't go stagnant. I know toxic compounds released by soft corals to kill off neighbors and clear substrate for themselves can trigger that behavior in quite a few species of stony coral. I've seen it happen first-hand in Euphyllia sp. vs Xenia sp. battles in my own tanks.

If you want to keep Xenia sp. or other noxious soft corals (eg. finger leathers, toadstools) in there next to stony specimens I'd recommend making activated carbon part of your 24/7 filtration to deal with the chemical competitions that will ensue (excretion allelopathy, mucus shedding, etc..).

For a tank that small you probably wouldn't need more than 2 tablespoons of decent activated carbon split across two media bags, each with a single tablespoon or so. Replace the contents of one of the media bags, alternating weekly (ie. week 1: change bag A, week 2: change bag B, weej 3: change bag A again, etc...). If you can place the torch "upstream" from any soft corals and keep the Xenia trimmed back (sell/give to a local LFS, friends, whatever) along with the activated carbon I'm sure your torch will recover. If it still doesn't look well in 5-7 days you should isolate it (a half-full 5g bucket, small powerhead, and single 11W "cool daylight" spiral CF bulb shining on it will do fine in a pinch for a temporary quarantine, at least until it starts eating and looking healthy again)

But if that torch recovers and you still haven't trimmed the Xenia back and moved any other corals out of it's reach... well, it WILL (eventually) do it for you. I've got two E. glabrescens specimens that were purchased as tiny frags (single polyp heads) just over a year ago and the tentacles on their oldest polyps are now easily long enough to reach across the full diagonal distance of a 12g tank to sting other corals. Every tentacle is a sweeper tentacle on E. glabrescens, and they are lethal. The only livestock I've ever had that withstood sustained attacks from a neighboring torch coral was a 12" wide carpet anemone with an aggressive host clown that would bite the tips off the torch's sweepers. But even that anemone would have lost eventually if I hadn't moved the torch(es) out of reach.

You (and your Xenia) have been warned! :)

Thanks for the feedback. As suggested, I added carbon to see if that helps, and I moved the torch farther away from the Xenia.

Because I have all my rear chambers filled with LR rubble, a protein skimmer, and an extra pump, I don't really have room for carbon in media bags. I picked up some carbon impregnated filter pads, which I cut down to fit in one of the chambers. Anyone have experience with the pads? Are they about as effective as the carbon granules?

Thanks again! This site has always had the most helpful members.

Thanks for the feedback. As suggested, I added carbon to see if that helps, and I moved the torch farther away from the Xenia.

Distance isn't really the issue, yet, (when the torch recovers everything will want to be far away!) just make sure the torch is generally "upstream" from the xenia. So, for example, if you tossed in some flake food the flow would generally carry the flakes past the torch first, and then past the xenia. To explain it another way, you generally want any chemicals excreted or shed by the xenia to be forced to travel the greatest possible distance before coming into contact with the torch, and hopefully give your chemical filtration as many chances to adsorb the compound as possible before passing by the torch.

Because I have all my rear chambers filled with LR rubble, a protein skimmer, and an extra pump, I don't really have room for carbon in media bags. I picked up some carbon impregnated filter pads, which I cut down to fit in one of the chambers. Anyone have experience with the pads? Are they about as effective as the carbon granules?

The pads will work, but not as well as a media bag of granular activated carbon sitting in a high flow area. Remember to rinse the pads regularly with fresh water so they don't develop nitrifying bacteria and shift the balance of your nitrogen cycle (aka "become nitrate factories").

Personally, I'd just remove 2 tiny chunks of LR rubble and toss them somewhere in the main tank... seriously, a tablespoon of activated carbon (even the large pelletized forms) probably takes up less space than your thumb - I'm sure there's ample room for 2 tiny rolled up media bags each with a tbsp of high quality granular activated carbon.

Will do. Thanks again, Doc.

A panty hose works well for holding the carbon.

A panty hose works well for holding the carbon.

Soak the panty hose in a vinegar or a mild bleach/water mix overnight and let it dry before using it. You don't want commercial fabric softening agents, anti-static chemicals, or textile dyes being added to your tank.