Coral dying?? Please help

[gone postal]

55g display tank, Algal scrubber, Remora pro skimmer, T5 (4 bulbs)

Okay, first let me start this off by saying that I'm not even 100% sure what my coral even is (I know, I know). I believe it's a blue xenia. There were about 50 or so blue "tentacles" attached to what appears to be a clam shell. LFS said that they like flow and are photosynthetic (but I didn't even ask the name). Anyway, I added them 10/13 and all has been great. The shrink up at night and then "grow" during the day, sway in the current, etc.

Well last night I noticed that the back half appears to be dead - it's turning brown, all shriveled up, etc. Today it's not any better and the front half doesn't look too healthy either. It's just "weak" looking - not fully "grown" out and swaying in the current like usual.

The only things that have changed recently are:
A) I got rid of my crappy bulbs that came w/ my T5 setup and added two Blue +, an AquaSun & an AquaBlue - that was 10 days ago.
B) I did a 4g water change on Sunday.

So, checked parameters:
Salinity - 1.27
PH - 8.4
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Temp - 77
Calcium - 440
Carbonate Hardness - 179
Phosphate - 0

Those are all the tests that I have.

Oh, I also noticed this "fuzz" growing on the highest rocks. There are some bubbles trapped in it. I had battled a bad red cyano problem when I had first added it, but it pulled through that just fine. Cyano has been gone for about 2-3 weeks now (algal scrubber seems to really help). The fuzz seems to be growing on the 'dead side' of the clam shell now.

Here's a link to a pic.

IMG_1631 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Dentoid]

Could just be pouting from the change in light spectrum from the new bulbs. I'd try moving it to other spots to see if it responds to a different location. Xenia can be super hardy or super hard to keep.

 

[gone postal]

Well, I moved it that night to a lower spot in the tank and one that has a lil more flow, but not direct flow. I think the kid at the LFS was wrong - I went back there yesterday and he said blue Xenia - I honestly think it's a waving hand. Regardless though, it's definitely dying. The half that I thought was dead now has green hair algae growing on it and the half that was just "weak" looking now looks dead - turned brown, very shrivelled, etc. I guess it's just done, but I'd love to figure out why. Anyone see anything wrong w/ my parameters? I really loved this coral - love to get another, but I want to make srue this never happens again.

 

[Dentoid]

Sorry to hear that, but xenia are one of those corals that either thrive or die. Some systems support them while others do not for no known reasons. For instance, I could not keep xenia in my tank. As soon as I put them in, they would shrivel up, never open and eventually waste away. I tried with different species, several attempts, and no success. So I gave up. My tank is now 2 years old and I just recently tried again with success! So, just because you are not successful now, doesn't mean that you will never be able to keep them.

Xenia lack the necessary means to catch prey and rely heavily on their zooxantellae and direct uptake of nutrients from the water. They require a dissolved nutrient environment, one that would spell disaster for an SPS dominated system and bright lighting.

 

[gone postal]

Just thought I'd update this b/c it's been awhile.

Well, it had completely died off - there was nothing left on the shell that it was once attached to. I was going to throw the shell out, but really just got lazy and left it in the tank (and also b/c I had glued it in place on top of one of my rocks). Anyway, about 3 weeks ago the coral started to come back!! At first, really slow - 1, then 2, but now it's almost completely back to its original glory!! AND to top that off, there is a single "pod" growing on the live rock in its OLD location and for some strange reason, there is a "pod" of about 4 growing in the middle of my sandbed!!! I hadn't even spotted those - my wife did - so today I moved them onto a small piece of rock that I had lying around in hopes that they'll attach and start to spread.....my first frag!! This is truly one of my proudest moments of my tank b/c I can see that it's starting to mature and nature is running her course - corals spreading, etc. Too cool....

Can someone help me out though

What is this coral?? LFS says Blue Xenia, but I think it looks more like Waving Hand. I understand both are "Xenias", but it's also a very large class of coral. My understanding is that Xenias are a large body and the individual "arms" w/ the eight "tentacles" branch off of that. Waving Hands on the other hand are individual "arms" attached to the substrate (rock, etc) rather than having the large "body". Waving Hands are suppose to pulse though. My coral is individual "arms" that are attached directly to this shell (clam shell for what it's worth). Each "arm" has eight "tentacles". It does not pulse - just goes w/ the flow. I guess it'd help if I took a better "alive" pic now rather than it's shriveled dying one, but there has to be someone on here that can help clear this up.

 

[funkpolice]

waving hand is a real generic term. I've heard a lot of things called waving hand. I agree your pic doesn't look like xenia, but I'm not sure what it does look like. Maybe some kind of clove?
bill

 

[nicoleblkwidow]

Yeah shriveled pics are hard to tell.
"Blue Xenia" is actually cespitularia. You may have some blue anthellia.

Like Dentoid said Xenias use nutrients from the water and will sometimes die off without nitrates present. I have heard that they are good for some nutrient export, but can be difficult for some systems. Scientists years back originally thought they were impossible to keep in the home aquarium.
They also don't like high flow areas.

As our water parameters have gotten under control and now have 0 phos and nitrates, some of our silver xenia has shriveled and died. However our blue cespitularia and pink anthellia has remained unphased. Maybe try to find some of these types of softies.

HTH