Fragging Euphyllia

[Crazy fishes]

I have had a massive accident today while building a frame to hold my halide. I was trying it over the tank and went to remove it when it fell through my hand and into the water. I instinctly tried to catch it and ended up hitting harder into the water. In the process I took out two frags of hammer, a colony of Zoa, an elegance coral and, worst of all, my frogspawn. Luckily I think the elegance and hammers got away with a near brush with death. The Zoa are kind of ok. However the frogspawn wasn't so lucky as it has lost some tissue and the base of the skeleton fracture completely . At the moment I have kind of found a way of sitting it on its old footings. It happened a few hours ago and most of the coral has resumed normal activity by partial expanding, but I am very worried. What I wanted to know was the white mucus covered layer on the exterior of frogspawns polyps is it possible to cut through that in order to frag. The reason I ask is because if brown jelly sets in it hits a polyp at a time and 'eats' its way around that white layer to the next, I am thinking to use a craft knife or equally sharp blade to cut through that tissue and then break the skeleton.

What do people think....? All this for a halide what an idiot!!

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

Please if anyone knows can they help with some advice

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

Ski do you know?? I was just reading on reefcentral always frag below the flesh; I am in serious trouble if that is true my 1ft ball of frogspawn is going to become a 1ft ball of goo!! I must say at this time it looks happy fingers crossed

Regards

 

[seffieuk]

Ski do you know?? I was just reading on reefcentral always frag below the flesh; I am in serious trouble if that is true my 1ft ball of frogspawn is going to become a 1ft ball of goo!! I must say at this time it looks happy fingers crossed

Regards

Oh gawd, good luck finding the answer, keeping my fingers crossed for you

Seffie x

 

[Crazy fishes]

Thanks Seffie. It is amazing I am happy to help any number of people with advice and guidance when I can but when I really need some advice nothing!! Talk about annoying!! I really am having difficulties keeping these corals alive and with all the experience in this forum Ski, SH, BigC, Colin T, Barney etc you would have thought someone would have an idea, but absolutely nothing .

Anyway if things go badly and it starts to wilt I will carefully dissect the other polyps and see if they survive as independent clones. It is actually the hammer which is looking the worst at present. We learn thought experience.......

Regards

 

[Lynden]

Heh, I know these things too ya know. Sorry about the lack of responses... I know what it's like to watch things die with nowhere to turn.

I lost nearly all of my LPS to brown jelly, most of which after they were stung by anemones (which are multiplying out of control and now cover more than a quarter of my tank's surface area). I did not have, nor could easily get, Lugol's Iodine, which is said to be a good way of stopping the spread of brown jelly, so I had to work with what I had.

The corals that were saved, such as my now flourishing Torch, were saved by simply snapping the infected heads off. No special procedures, I would just use pure brute force to snap off branches or a pair of pliers when brute force was not precise enough. Do not attempt to save infected heads and try your best to avoid leaking infected flesh into the water column. It's difficult to throw away a living animal, but if it's infected, it's something that must be done. The surviving heads will expand and grow, covering the empty spaces in time.

It's also important to remember that the odd screw up can't really be avoided. It's a pain in the ass I know, but... it happens to everyone sometimes. The LPS I lost cost me over $200. In their place are several bubble tip anemones which get bigger and more numerous by the day.

Furthermore... halides are totally worth it.

P.S.
Remember that there is no guarantee that your frogspawn will get brown jelly at all. Has it infected your tank in the past?

 

[Crazy fishes]

Thanks so much Lynden!!! Really is nice to have just a reply, let alone a reply that is helpful. In the past I did lose a head on the frogspawn. Koralia nano was too much flow and the tissue ripped.... This lead to the demise of a polyp that was in the process of becoming two. The surviving polyp (it originally had two) was also touch and go for about two weeks, then it picked up. It has produced seven polyps now but they are all pretty much connected by that white external tissue. This was what I was asking can you frag through this. At the moment the frogspawn is looking good but I think a hammer polyp is on the way out as it is pretty shrivelled up. On this coral though I have clear skeleton to frag, simple.

I really do appreciate the response really is most helpful so thank you again.

Kindest regards

CF

 

[Lynden]

That tissue can just be cut through with a razor blade. It is not particularly sensitive, from my experience anyways. The infection may transmit through there, though in my cases it didn't. Just slice through it to prevent tearing, then frag as normal.

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, sorry I didn't see this one sooner. Lynden, glad you were able to help CF here

To comfort you some more CF, this kind of thing happens all the time on natural reefs when storms come by. Crashing waves throw debris and rocks around (not halide fixtures) and sometimes this debris knocks off parts of the corals. Usually they survive if water quality is good even if flesh is damaged. The reason people suggest to only frag past the flesh is that if you do things that way you're almost guaranteed success. Cutting the flesh CAN leave the coral open to infection, but doesn't necessarily mean it will get infected. Like if you get a paper cut on your finger you CAN get an infection, but also you may not. Make sense?

Either way your best bet now is to secure the impromptu frags as best you can and keep water quality good

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Would have posted but unfortunately have no experience with fragging an LPS corals so really couldnt help at all. Glad you have got some great advice from Lynden and Ski though and its really useful to know.

Hope they pull through ok.