Infestation of Xenia
 

Good day folks,

I need some help with an infestation of xenia in my tank.

I did some research on the topic and I have not yet found a remedy that is plausible for me.

I have a fairly large tank that has been established for 18 months. It has a lot of Live Rock and some larger coral heads. This makes manual removal difficult (actually impossible) as I keep knocking over corals and that prevents them from anchoring and establishing properly.

The tank is 28" deep. I have short arms which makes it even more difficult.

Older posts mention the use of Fluke Tabs to eradicate them, but this product is no longer available in Canada as it contains a banned substance.

BTW, I think xenias look good too, but they grow faster than the other corals and they keep choking them out.

I have a similar problem with GSPs...but since GSP grows in sheets, its much easier to remove and control.

Help with the overgrown xenia problem would really be appreciated.

(Yes, I admit that I brought these xenias willing into my tank as a frag and probably deserve what I got!..but every one makes mistakes..and this was one of many I have made).

Thanks in advance for any help you could offer.

Vic

I feel your pain Vic. We have the same issue with a shop tank. We cant frag and sell it fast enough.

My Xenia died off, I started using nitra guard biocubes and it wiped out my nitrates!!!!

I've got 2 tanks, my display is using vertex biopellets and the NO3 is at 5, on my back room tank I'm running a biocube bomb and it does a better job than biopellets... And a way simpler setup to boot.

As soon as the biocubes got running my Xenia started disappearing....

The biocube setup was a $50 investment..... I've got the email of the guy that's selling biocubes if anyone's interested....

H

I have had Xenia in the past and what I have noticed as well as hfp75 is they grew fast when I had a higher nutrient system. I have been running or at least trying to run ultra low nutrient for the past two years they shrivel up and die.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Up until very recently (past two months) I have been running my system with 0 nitrates...I mean 0 ppm ..and I tested with several different test kits...all of them show 0. It was truly an ultra low nutrient system. In fact my nutrient level was so low that corals were sadly lacking in color. But I was not really using any nitrate removal methods other than an oversize skimmer.

The xenia were thriving and multiplying all during this time.


I have a theory:

I have a suspicion that my xenia infestation (which I have had from almost day one) is the reason my nitrates have been so low. I have read other threads were people were using xenias as a method of nutrient export (growing them in the sump).

In the past few months I have been actively removing large clumps of xenia and all of a sudden my nitrates shot up. The coral colors took off and the tank looks 100 times better...but the xenias are still in places where i can't reach.

Although my coral colors are much better, I am actually growing very weary of battling these pests. And there does not seem to be much hope of wining at this point. I spend many hours of every weekend hunting them down only to have them grow back the same amount by the next weekend.

As a desperate and last resort, I 'm think of restarting the tank. ...But I will try removing all nitrates first.

Thoughts on this??

Vic

Put in a product that out competes Xenia for that N03 and Xenia will disappear.

My solution is not to add any of that plauge to my tank :lol:

Agreed. I added this stuff to my first tank. Ended up tossing the rocks it was on, no way I could get rid of it.

PMed. Definitely interested in this product if it's able to reduce NO3 like that.

I had the same issue a while back ago. Just do larger water changes feed a bit less and the xena will regress. Also my Koran angel ate that stuff day and night, so that helped!