Health of spreading Xenia

[Semo]

Hey,
I have some xenia that has attached its self to a nearby rock and has also started branching...all happening within a week. About a day after it attached to the rock it seemed to shrink in size. I am gonna guess the trunk shrank by 1/4 of its diamater, but stayed the same height.

Is this normal? I am hoping it took a lot of nutrients for the xenia to attach to the rock and I hope it recovers. It still pumps, but just looks weak. Anyone have any experience with this situation?

 

[reefman23]

I dont have much experience with xenia spreading... thats why i keep mine in the sand bed, so it doesnt take over. However i can tell you that these things seem moody; I have a stalk of red sea pulsing xenias that looked like it was dying for a week or two and now looks healthy.

It is possible, too, that after it split, it has become tired and weaker. Just keep an eye on it. If it makes you feel better, people have often failed in their attempts to kill of their dominating xenias... this stuff is hardy as anything.

Jesse

 

[djconn]

Yeah, Xenia is weird but also a good indicator of water quality. The stuff is very tolerant so if it looks bad, I'd say your water quality is off.

Give xenia good water flow (right in front of a powerhead) and supplement with Iodine. It makes the stuff grow like crazy and it will actually 'walk' away from the direction of the current.

 

[Phischy]

I put 1 stalk in my tank and it's walking all over the place. I may have to prune some of it out. It was cool when it was clustered but now it's just becoming a headache. *snip snip* No wonder the stuff was free.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Mine has climbed up my overflow box and wants to escape out of the aquarium. It's literally hanging inside the teeth of the overflow...

It split and the mother colony is not too far below him, They are extremely happy so I'm going to have to consider they like water movement and strong lighting, as they started in the middle of my tank...

I have a frag if someone wants to trade, let me know...

MG

 

[Anonymous]

my zenia only made it a little more then a month in my tank - i fragged it 3 times in that time and it still was spreading like crazy so i cut off a few more pieces and gave them away and eradicated the rest i thought GSP was trouble - that stuff is a crazy grower. it will jump rocks, climb glass, drop off tenicles that then attach and start growing there........ its one of those "careful what you ask for" corals - cause you might just get it

 

[Semo]

Its moving pretty quickly it seems. It has climbed up a rock like 4", leaving a long string that looks like chewing gum behind.. Thats quite a climb in a 12g tank. I am in process of getting a 35 g tank going, so I can fix some of my mistakes in coral choices. I still love this xenia...it actually catches your eye since it moves in the flow so well..