Anthelia

[Gryz]

I just turned on my light to see what everything was doing and my largest stalk of anthelia is shriveled at the bottom. This is the second time this has happened, the first time the stalk didn't make it and I had to snip it.

Could it be that my xenia is overtaking the anthelia becuase the xenia have doubled in size since when I got them 2 weeks ago?

[Telco Guy]

It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but it is definately possible that you have some chemical warfare going on in your tank. ;) Any way you could separate the two corals so they aren't competing for the same space?

[Gryz]

They are on the same peice of rock....

[Telco Guy]

Oh. Well then the stronger of the two will overpower the other. Any way you could carefully break off the piece that the Anthelia is on and put it somewhere else? If this is normal coral rock it can be broken fairly easily, especially if you score it with a knife.

[Gryz]

No, the rock is to small to cut at it, I snipped the anthelia and tried to move it to a diffenent spot.

Will 1 coral over taking another cause water quality issues?

[Telco Guy]

Possibly, since the one being overtaken is actually being killed off. And, I'm not certain about this, but they may give off chemicals to try to defend themselves which could affect the water quality or could affect other corals in a small closed system.

[Gryz]

I think I will let it take over the Anthelia, becuase I bought the rock for the xenia, not the anthelia which I didn't even see.

I do weekly water changes so hopefully everything will go well.

I should have taken a pic of the xenia when I got it...I has at least doubled in size. Which must mean I am doing something right.

[Telco Guy]

Xenia will do really well under the right conditions. I got a small piece about a year and a half ago and it has taken over 3/4s of my tank at this point. Some consider it almost a weed because of how it can grow. I am actually planning on propagating it so I am not to concerned about it taking over the tank. All the more for growing and selling to the LFS.

It's also said to be a good nutrient user. Some use it in the refugium to help use up nutrients.

[Gryz]

Thanks

Give me a couple weeks and I'll post another pic so you can see how big it got.