I received some Xenia in the mail awhile back and had it a couple of days when it just dissolved into a ba-zillion pieces. The Xenia was awful warm when I got it. Anyway I rinsed the rock it was on off in fresh marine water and tossed it back in the tank. At first there appeared to be a sponge on it, then it changed to brown and is growing steadily. I noticed this morning that it has a small arm starting to grow on it. Could this be the Xenia growing back?
I don't have a good answer for you although from my personal experience, soft corals are rather resilient. If your water parameters are within the range for Xenia to thrive, it could be coming back.
Thank you I didn't think the xenia would grow over a sponge. It looks a bit weird to be a sponge too.
My sponges that have cropped up out of rock are very slow growing. I would suspect that your xenia is back - congradulations. Our former vice president, Marcus, grew some of the largest heads of xenia that I have seen anywhere. If my tank was any good at growing it I would let it cover everything. I is just facinating to watch. When you said its back, it made me think of my flat worms that have returned to my large tank after a year absence. Oh well
Sorry to hear about the flat worm. I found one in my tank about a month ago in some new live rock, it was red, and oblong. Sad they are bad, it was pretty really. I haven't seen any since, and have been obsessed about looking for more, but so far so good. I'm thrilled to know that it's Xenia, It'll be interesting to watch it grow from "scratch"!
Look who is back Yea it could be Xena. The question I have is the base of the growth porous or is it a solid mat? Xena's matt will be solid not like a sponge. 1. As you learned Xena hates heat. It'll be the first thing to die in a warm tank. 2. It loves SUPER BRIGHT LIGHT. My Xenat was growing like crazy under my hqi's 3. Medium to medium low flow. They are filter feeder so the need water movement to feed but with to much flow the won't open and grow. To little flow and I've found that the feed but don't grow as fast. 4. Measure you Calcium & Iodine. I don't like addin chimicals to my tank but I've found that adding those two helped my Xena grow like crazy. Measure because a overdose WILL nuke your tank. Read up and ask 100 questions b/f you do it. I learned my lesson early on with a overdose of calk. 5. The two liter bottle of green juice is your friend. Regular feeding your corals is the best way to keep them happy and growing. Just be sure your system can handle the additional nutrients. If you have a good skimmer like a aqua C you should be fine so long and you have plenty of flow to keep the food suspended till it gets filterd out. I'm sure this is a repeat of the club experts so i'll be quiet for now.
Tiger the info was very useful, thank you! Sorry so long in replying, we've had company in from WA for the last few days so behind on thing's. The mass isn't slick, like a mushroom base. It's got brown shades and is smooth looking to me. I'll see if I can get a picture. I've got it to low in the tank so will move it up, It needs to have a little more flow too. I've got a sea clone skimmer right now but am starting to upgrade in the next couple of month's to a larger tank and set up. Also writing down Aqua C for skimmer. Thank you for all info!
Ahhh, if you plan to move the rock it is on... give the growth a good sniff. A sponge won't have much of a odor. Xena will have a STRONG smell to it. Be careful about rubbing it's slime coat off. If you really want some xena, I'm sure someone in the club has some to sell/trade/give. But keep in mind that xena is like a weed when your tank params are right for it. And it does put off slime/chemicals in your tank that may fight other corals. I found that the xena can/will overpowering other corals in a mixed tank. Dogofwar and myself had some major die off because clowns were sleeping in it at night and the xena was sliming up trying to protect itself. It took me 3 months to get my tank just right for the xena (High Calcium, High Iodine, Feed Phyto, 74-78Degree Tank)
Taking that into consideration, maybe keeping it isn't such a good idea after all. I do have to wait and see for sure what it is tho, that will be interesting.
