Attack of the Xenias

I know this question must have been asked a hundred times but I'm short on free time for searching at the moment. Our xenias are growing like crazy and blocking the light to the other corals and also taking up room needed for the poor corals sitting in the sand. I have read that you can just slice them with a razor blade but then wouldn't it grow back from the stump? I tried to pull on one but it was so slimy and that sucker was on there good and tight. If I upset them will they hurt the water and upset the whole tank? What's the best way to trim them while still in the tank? Thank you for the help, I appreciate it!

 

You could try covering them with reef epoxy.

 

Just cut some frags off with a razor blade

then super glue it to plugs or rubble

 

Xenia can seemingly propagate from just a few cells. I have a very small dwarf cerith with a xenia growing on it... I'll try to get pics.

Any time I mess with xenia it seems to make the tank smell funny. I know they have some kind of slime, and it just smells weird... so if you do go on a cutting spree don't be alarmed.

As for getting rid of it.. yeah, I'm in the middle of that now, it's harder to kill than cyano. Epoxy? You'd have to use a whole lot of it. At this point I'm considering selling my smaller rocks with the xenia attached. If I can get a clean break on the bigger rocks I might just frag off the portion of rock the xenia is on. Otherwise I'll sell them too. LFS usually gives me pretty good credit on big xenia.

 

So if you cut it with a razor blade does it just come right off the rock or do you still have to pull it off? Once it's off you just add glue to the rock or the frag?? I'm having an outbreack of xenia on one of my pieces of live rock and I don't want it to get out of control and attach itself to another rock. Right now it's only on one.

 

I consider myself an expert Xenia harvester. In a 180 I had about 10 years ago I had both pom pom and Elongata Xenia in my tank. The Elongata went absolutely nuts. So much so that I harvested easily a gallon worth every month and gave it away to whomever would take it.

Below is a picture of half the tank followed by a close up of the Xenia.






To harvest it, if you don't want it growing right back where you cut it from you need to get every bit off the rock. I found the best tool to be the trapezoidal carpet cutting blades. They are thicker than standard razer blades and easier to hold on to. The pointed end of the blade also makes it easier to get into rock crevases.

What you need to do is use the blade to get under the edge of the Xenia and start peeling it back. Keep scraping/pulling until you get a whole stalk off. Refrain from cutting. Xenia will release some serious toxins. It got to the point where I would get sick to my stomach after a large harvest. That stuff is nasty and will never come anywhere near one of my tanks again.

 

this is one of the corals I regretted adding.

I'd recommend:

Then covering what's left with kalk paste

(pickling lime mixed with a little water to make a paste)

I ended up nuking a lot of rock to rid myself of xenia, anthelia, and gsp in the long run.

 

I'll come by and frag some for myself = solves your problems.

 

HAHA me too these corals need more trimming then my grass