Angry xenia

[labrown]

My xenia looks unhappy today, and I'm not quite sure why. Most everything else looks alright in the tank right now. I've attached pictures of what it normally looks like and what it looks like today. Any suggestions?

Here are my parameters:

pH: 8.2

NO2: 0

CA: 560ppm

KH: 214.8ppm (12 dKH)

PO3: 0

NO3: 5ppm

NH3: 0

[+mcallahan]

IMO your calcium and KH seem a little high. Not sure if the Ca would have anything to do with Xenia, but that's my $.02.

[mdavis735]

not sure how it affects xenia,but i'd have to agree on the calcium.

[labrown]

I didn't realize calcium could be too high. We don't dose for it or anything, it just stays between 450 and 550. And we only have two pieces of montipora, everything else is a softy. i've never heard of how to get your calcium down too. Every book I have tells how to raise the CA and KH, never mentions lowering it... Ugh, I don't know what to do.

We put the xenia in our 8 gal biocube last night just to make sure it won't wipe out what is in our main tank. There isn't anything else in the cube so if it does go, there won't be any other casualties. I am gonna try to dirty up the water a little bit just to see.

Thanks for the quick replies!

[GKarshens]

To me the KH is probably more of a concern than the calcium. 12 is pretty high. Water changes with water at a lower KH will help. What salt are you using?

[labrown]

We get our saltwater from RCA. I think they use tropic marine, not sure. We get the nicest stuff they have.

[GKarshens]

They do use TM. However I would look at making a batch of TM Pro. It has a much lower KH level than the regular.