xenia/kenya tree

dadonoflaw · 12-05-2006, 05:16 PM

first off i got a xenia frag from a local club member that was dying and there was some yellow chunk that came out of it. so i assume it is dead or dying is this so? also i have what i thought was a kenya tree coral but the polyps are purple not brown or cream colored. whats up with that?

saxman · 12-12-2006, 03:52 AM

pix are worth 1000 words...without seeing these, one can only guess.

the xenia chunk is most likely dead.

as for the leather, i've often seen them with interestingly-colored polyps. for instance, we have a nice cream-colored finger leather (originally came as a tiny nub of a hitch hiker) that has bright green polyps.

dadonoflaw · 12-13-2006, 02:40 AM

yea the xenia died but i got another piece and its fine now with what i call synchronized clapping

**CarmieJo** · 12-13-2006, 05:56 PM

Synchronized clapping, what a great description!

***lReef lKeeper*** · 12-13-2006, 07:10 PM

xenia is a VERY picky coral to try to keep. some say that it requires high lighting, while others say that it requires a lot of flow. i think that i am going to do a study on this and see how things go, in a controled enviornment. 3 tanks ... 1 with normal lighting and high flow, 1 tank with intense lighting AND high flow, and 1 tank with intense lighting and lower flow. this should be interesting and fun. now i am off to frag some xenia !!

dadonoflaw · 12-13-2006, 08:44 PM

well i have my xenia attached to a rock on the sand and in a low flow area. they clap more when they are in low flow so... i dont think the light is very high. i have 3 150watt mh's and 4 96 watt pc's but since its at the bottom i dont know. but i have had it for a week and its almost twice the size

***lReef lKeeper*** · 12-13-2006, 09:06 PM

the clapping is actually the coral trying to catch its food from the water column (in case you didn't know that, i don't know you guys yet so i am throwing everything out there). i hope that i am not coming off cocky.
what i meant by low light was less than VHO, T5, or Halides. i have some xenia thriving in a tank with PC's AND VHO's, but i wonder how it would react to one or the other being removed from the tank.

you have had it for a week and it is almost 2x the size it was when you got it ?? !! sounds like you are doing something right.

dadonoflaw · 12-13-2006, 11:55 PM

thank you but i am still young in the game. i learn from the folks on here and before this it was reef central. i must have food in the column because alot of my filter feeding coral are doin almost too well. so i have cut feedings to facilitate a drop in nutrients and i will be replacing my coralife with a euroreef soon

***Rob*** · 12-14-2006, 12:31 AM

another thing to keep in mind is other tank inhabitants
i had xenia that grew like weeds under PC, then frags from that colony great like weeds under MH, then as my SPS population increased, the health of my Xenia decreased.

granted there were many other things that changed in the system, but like many coral they can have negative chemical interactions with others in the tank

and bobby, dont worry about it, i have found that the people here are VERY willing to get info from everyone, so if you have it, we have many sponges here that are ready to absorb it..