Pulsing Xenia Question

I have a small frag that I got from my live rock that I think is making it through my cycle. My Question is this, It is starting to have white tips at the end of it and I am not sure what this means. It seems to be closing and opening during the day and night but as of yesterday it has white tips on all of the little finger ends.

Is this good or bad?

Beamerhack

 

Xenia are really sensitive to pH. Most people over-look it and tend to point more towards iodine and other elements..

Turning white is one sign of a downward spiral.

I had one stalk that went white and the tips fell off.. about a week later, new ones grew in their place and the sucker is pulsing like mad.

If you are during your cycle, you might end up with some dead xenia. But if your closer at the end of the cycle - you just might see the lil guy make it.

Keep your pH in check tho while having Xenia. I have noticed that mine will stop pulsing around 8.1 and just totally reject life at 7.9 .. You should try to keep around 8.3 . That's where I am and things are sweet for me.

GL
-Fritts

 

Yeah,

I think my PH is low but I was told to just leave it alone untill the cycle goes through due to the chem is going to bew way out of wack anyway. I think my PH is around 7.9 8.0 too. I really dont wanna mess with the PH if it might cause the Cycle to take longer, My Ammonia spiked to about 1.5ppm and now has droped to 0.25 ppm and the Nitrites are spiking now. I hope they drop fast cause I would like to have the little guy live if possible.

beamerhack

 

I actually use my Xenia as my first way to see if something is up in my tank. When those lil guys start acting up, I know something is up with the tank and time to start checking it closer.

Once again, good luck!
-Fritts

 

I got a very large colony of xenia last week and dident see that in transit part of them were out of the water. I put them in the tank and hoped for the best. About half of them were white on the whole body and fans I guess you would call it were white. They still pulsed but i swear a gonner. 1 week later they are looking good all over. They still look a bit fuzzy in spots like there was slight die off but made it through it. Good luck with it and id say too that they are sensitive to ph. Mine is at 8.1 but they are still pulsing.

 

In reality, no coral should be in a cycling tank. You said "I think is making it through my cycle" and that is your answer. Now, since it's in there, let's try and help it. First, raising the PH will not affect the cycle so over the next week try to raise it to 8.2-8.4. Alkalinity is a factor and during cycling can fluctuate and that affects PH. Try to maintain a steady DKH of 8-12 but what ever number you get, say 9, keep it there. The Ammonia part is hard on most denizens of the deep but will have to run it's course. For now, also make sure the coral has moderate to semi-strong flow.

 

I have also noticed white tips on my xenia frag, but in the 2 weeks I have had it ,it has almost doubled in size so I just thought that was normal.

 

My Ammonia has started to drop already. It was at 1.5ppm now it has droped to 0.25ppm my Nitrite is very high now though around 2.0ppm I hope it gets through it fast.

 

that would explain allot.
Like mythbusters say "well there's your problem"
but joking aside I wouldn't be adding any corals until your cycling is done.