# Xenia Soft Coral



## kmwlww (Jul 4, 2009)

Xenia has been doing good for 6 months, growing like crazy. All of a sudden it closed up and appears to be dead. What may have caused this? Is it dead? 

Water Chemistry:
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0 
Specific Gravity - 0.024
Lighting - 2 x 54watt actinic
2 x 54watt white

Any ideas?


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

kmwlww said:


> Specific Gravity - 0.024
> 
> Any ideas?


is that suppose to be 1.024?
do you have any pictures
i had the same thing happen to me but mine melted right away, it is making a slow come back, IME it is just a very touchy coral


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## kmwlww (Jul 4, 2009)

Thanks for yoour help.

Yes I meant 1.024.

No pictures at this time.

I recently installed a much better protein skimmer; a BHE 300F Octopus. Could it be due decreased organics or could current changes have an impact?

By the way, what does IME mean?


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

ok that is better

i can say if it is just closed up and not melting it is still alive 
as far as how to bring it back i am not sure since i cant get mine to thrive in my tank
IME= in my experience


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## marlenez (Jun 27, 2009)

I have a Kenya Tree Coral that does that every so often, it will close up for as much as a week then open up an be all happy again for months. It is exactly the behavior that it exhibited when I first put it in my aquarium. So, probably, something about the water quality, temperature, light, etc. changed that it doesn't like and assuming that you are testing and fixing any differences it should be ok.


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## Imaexpat2 (Jun 17, 2009)

I would venture to say as well if its closed and not melting then its still alive and they sometimes will do this, especially when there is a change in the tank. This could have been induced by the addition of the skimmer or a more effcient skimmer. These corals generall do better in tanks that have slightly elevated nutrient levels as they come from areas such as lagoons which are far richer in nutrient levels than say a reef where SPS corals are often found. On the flip side of the coin, this is a coral that will for no apparent reason that has yet been discovered will "melt down" in mass in the wilds and in the aquarium.


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

Xenia is just a touchy coral. Mine grows like a weed at the top of my tank, and then one day a patch of it closed up entirely and shrank. It stayed that way for about a week and then one morning it was open and beautiful again. There weren't any temperature swings in my tank and my WQ parameters were completely stable, so I have no idea what might have caused that to happen. It seems to happen to people quite often. Just give it some time and see what happens.


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