# Pulsing Xenia - how to keep them alive



## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Xenia might be considered a beginner coral, and it's easy to keep. That's what I thought for a while, until they started to disappear from my tank years ago. Since then, I tried to bring them back several times and failed. 

Anyone know why this could be happening?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Very difficult to say. It took me several tries before I found a xenia that stuck in my tank, and now it has taken off like a weed.

Salinity and temperature are both factors that can get easily overlooked. I've had my xenia get shocked when I tried raising my tank temperature too quickly (from 75F to 80F in 12 hours). I've also had them shocked when my salinity inadvertently went outside their normal range.

I've also tried adding iodine to the water (at about 1/3 the recommended dosage). I'm not sure if it's really due to the iodine, but it seemed to have perked up the xenia (and my gsp). Certainly it didn't hurt.


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## Ramez (Mar 4, 2012)

High flow and high lighting spot is key 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Guys, I had Pulsing Xenia almost take over my tank at one point, about 6 years ago. Xenia did not bother other corals, so I didn't mind it so much. Nothing that I'm aware of changed in my tank but all of sudden, in matter of days, the entire population of Xenia was wiped out. I cannot explain it but it happened.

Since then, I wanted to bring them back but everytime I introduce a frag, it slowly melts away again. I have a mixed reef with various softies, LPS, zoas/palys, SPS and none are suffering from the same faith.

I'm trying to understand why it happened and why it's still happening.

Here's the photo from 2010. See those Xenia covering the rock.


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## joeby97 (Jan 22, 2014)

in my experiance they like a little bit dirtier of a water, so if youre trying to keep them with corals who like clean perfect water they might not take off..


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## Yellowtang (May 26, 2015)

*Pulsing Xenia*

I found that iodine is the key for xenia and it really makes them pulse, they also seem to like medium water flow.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

They are definitely a dirty water coral and that's why beginners do so well with them. I've found that they thrive in an environment where the phospates and nitrates are a bit higher than normal.

I had an amazing colony on it's on rock in my tank and it couldn't spread elsewhere. Then one day I decided to add chemipure to the tank and within 24 hours the water was the cleanest I've ever seen it. Within 36 hours all my xenia was dead and I couldn't figure out how to get them back.

Once I moved on to a bigger tank I realized my mistakes and decided to go with a more natural tank (also low maintenance)

My tank has had one water change in 7 months....and the corals seem to be happy


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