first time fragger needs advice
 

I bought a finger leather coral from Razz, and it's JUST a little too large for my tank. (thanks again Razz, I like this one a lot)

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/fingerleather.jpg

It was just moved from his system to mine. It's displaying it's polyps throughout the day so I'm thinking it likes it's new home. Our water parameters are almost exactly the same.

I want to trim off some of it's fingers. Any advice for a first time fragger? I'm assuming I just cut off the fingers with scissors, and then thread them to a plug using fishing line and a needle? Do I have this right?

Should I do it with the coral outside of the aquarium, or is cutting it inside fine? There IS a stalk underneath all that. Should I try to get some of the stalk when I frag it?

Hey...check out this link. Gives some good info. Also, definitely don't frag in your tank!

thanks for the opinion :)

ok, I don't really have the means ATM to set up a frag tank, but would I be safe to do my cutting outside of the tank (say in a bucket), then keep the frags in my main tank while I wait for them to attach to their plugs?

Yes, I believe so.

Each month in RC's ReefKeeping on-line mag they feature fragging a different type of coral with lots of pictures. This month is SPS.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-01/gh/index.php

It can stay out of the water for long enough to cut it, don't rush because it's out of the tank. What's more important is clean cuts, with a scalpel or razor. Cut off the parts that you want to cut, place them in a container with tank water, then place the original Coral back in the tank. Then you mount the frags with the stitch method, take your time.

thanks guys. will the fact that the coral's been moved recently affect the fragging? should I give it some time before I trim it?

I remember seeing this one and looking at the Dr. Mengala tools ;)

I love the rusty pliers and the comment from the author. I was all freaked about getting stuff that wouldn't rust, etc. frustrating that most of these talk about SPS corals - What about my softies, shroomies? I've found a few, but there needs to be more :)

I've fragged Ricordia, Yuma, Chili Coral, but not my Leather, it's not big enough yet. Shrooms are super easy to frag, and heal quickly. I can do a thread on Softie Fragging if the interest is there, got some Zoas to frag too.

please

Yes, please and thank you!! :) The mushroom I butchered last week taking it off a rock is healing quite nicely, so I can imagine if it's done properly I'd end up with one heck of a frag!

Well...just going on what I've read and what I've been told. I could be wrong.

Okay, gimme a week, I'll have the Wife take pics when I frag some Zoas, a Ricordia, and some Pulsing Hand. That's all the Softies I have that require fragging right now.

You can snip it right off the rock, and the flesh left behind will become a new Shroom. The cutoff can be cut in four quarters, allowed to heal in a glass with rubble (in tank), and in a few weeks there should be four mostly healed Shrooms attached to the rubble. There's some finer points, I'll cover them in the upcoming thread.

you're meaning mushrooms, not toadstools right?

cuz I also got a large 12" toadstool I'll have to frag if I notice it growing. With it being that size, do I have to get some of the stalk with every piece? if so, some of them would be like 4" frags.

I got some forceps and some scalpals today. When i'm fragging, i'm gonna have somone handy, just so i can play surgeon and say "scalpal...forcep..." lol

It does help to have an assistant with big Corals. I was meaning Mushrooms, I've never Fragged a Toadstool. I have heard that when fragging any Leather, there is a greater risk of bacterial infection. If it's attached to a thin, and small enough rock or base, I would cut or break the base, and then set it in such a way that gravity causes a slow split. In this way, it heals as it is fragged, over a period of time. That's what I did with my Bubble Coral, I broke the base skeleton area, tilted it on it's side, and after a couple weeks, two good sized frags had dropped off, without breaking any bubbles.

i read the one method where you use zap straps "plastic pull ties" to slowly cause the leather stalks to split off. attach a strap around each branch you want removed, then each day, you tighten the strap. don't know how i'd do that with a toadstool though... maybe cut off the head slowly that way, then frag it up? I know that would be a LOT of exposed flesh if I cut the whole head off with a knife, with the stalk for the toadstool being 8-10" or so.

Joining the ride. Lots of good info so far.

Next time you're by, Sean, I'll show you my techniques. Super easy.

cool, I'll definately ask next time i'm buy. it'll be soon, too cuz i'm outa salt :)

just today I put a zap strap on one of the branches of the finger leather and tightened it a bit till it was slightly bulging. tomorrow i'm going to tighten it a bit more. I'm assuming this technique is the same old farmers used to castrate their livestock ;) I think there'll be less chance of infection this way. I'm not impatient about it anyways.

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquar...eatherleft.jpg

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquar...atherfront.jpg

it REALLY didn't like me manhandling it to put on the zap strap lol. It's polyps are back out now though :)

on another note, my frag/refugium tank is almost ready to tap into my system. I'm just giving the water in it a day to mix and aerate before I hook it up. Problem I found though is the clearance is so little I won't have room for my MH light :( so I'm gonna hafta watch the buy/sell threads for some t5 or pc lighting. I'll be using my coralife mini 18W lights (x2) and just put whatever frags I get on egg crate way up close to the lights in the mean time.

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquar...01-24/fuge.jpg

ok so I fragged 10 pieces off the mother colony. All the pieces are 1" or larger, some almost 2" in length. Well sized frags. I did the cutting with a scalpal. Albert showed me using scissors, but it would have been hard to get them in there to cut the pieces cleanly. My hands now REEK of the slime they oozed out lol.

I found the slow removal with the cable ties wasn't such a good idea. I cut off the section that was being removed by the ties, and had to trim back the coral because it was yellowing where the cable ties were. Didn't want to risk infection.

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquar...01-26/rack.jpg
the rack's located in the display tank for now in a very
high flow area (strong laminar currents). I don't trust them
in the frag tank with the way it's set up right now. The
lighting's too weak, and the flow's all haphazard ATM.

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquar...-26/mother.jpg
the mother colony wasn't too happy about it, but it's
polyps are out already. It's a MUCH more manageable size now that it's trimmed down.

The large toadstool's the next one. I'm going to do more research, cuz of it's size.

That looks good, you've jumped in with both feet! The cut on the mother is accessable in case there's a problem. The frags look nice, are those plugs they're on? Did you glue them? I've found that most softies kinda reject the glue after a while, but are usually attached to the plug beside the glue, by the time the glue stops sticking. So, be carefull not to blow them of the plugs with flow, as they may loosen up in the next few days.

they're fastened down on the plugs with fishing wire. Albert_dao showed me the technique. the plugs have little holes in them to feed the line through. They're strapped on the plugs very firmly.

I was more worried about getting good clean cuts, than anything. The branches were too bunched up to use scissors, and I even had a hard time with the scalpal.

Not bad, though, i think for a first timer