Frag addvice

saltfinsax

Member
Ok I want to try and get this done this weekend and have started waking up at night thinking about it. The rock I got I showed on another thread ( Last Rock), about doing this and some more questions came up as I thought about it.
I want to scrape or lift the Zoa's off or most of them away from the sps and started to think should i keep the rock in a tub of water as I do this or should I leave it out?
What would be the best tool to scrape them off with? I do want to try and save them.
I am trying to save the sps's more then anything but don't want to really kill anything as I am stocking the tank atm.
What would be your guys best way to go at this?

 

howardj

Active Member
try to 'tease' them off the rock by prying the mat up with a razor blade or dull butter knife.
Then send them to me
 

mkzimms

Member
i would frag off a few normally and place them somewhere else incase you end up nuking the whole mat trying to pry them up.
 

flricordia

Active Member
you can use a semi-sharp, thick bladed stainless steal knife to cut just under the zoas a few mm below the rock and scrape it being careful to not cut the zoas. Hold the rock down against the floor and cut away from you and away from the hand holding the rock. You can remove them from the water for a couple minutes.
If the rock is too hard to do that you can get a rustfree chisel and hammer, have a buddy hold the rock on the ground sitting on a clean towel and carefully chisel a few mm under the zoas. Take your time and don't bang too hard as the hard jolts/vibrations can damage the tissue while they out of water.
I have an old Gerber that I use. I dulled the razor edge off of it and it works great.
 

saltfinsax

Member
Will the sps's next to it or the others on the rock be ok out of the water?
I am fine with putting the rock in tub of tank water and doing it in that if thats easer on the sps's.
The rock has so much live stuff on it I hate to leave out for much time. Do Zoa's put any toxins out when you mess with em that much? The sps's are coming back real well and hate stunt them any more then I have to.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by SaltfinSax
http:///forum/post/2628021
Will the sps's next to it or the others on the rock be ok out of the water?
I am fine with putting the rock in tub of tank water and doing it in that if thats easer on the sps's.
The rock has so much live stuff on it I hate to leave out for much time. Do Zoa's put any toxins out when you mess with em that much? The sps's are coming back real well and hate stunt them any more then I have to.
I wouldnt worry about it being out of the water, for ease of working with and your peace of mind you can dip paper towel in tank water and lay it across the rest of the rock while you work on one section to prevent drying as well as occationally dipping the rock in a tub of water. fragging under water is not fun and gcan get very messy. dont return any of the dipping water to your tank.
some zoanthids DO contain palytoxins so appropriate steps should be used when fragging, saftey glasses, gloves, wash hands and arms thouroughly after fragging, wash any towels used immediatly dont just throw them in the hamper.
 

saltfinsax

Member
Thanks a bunch guys. This is the main center pieace of rock so I want to make sure I don't mess it up. I will post a pic when I am done.
 

saltfinsax

Member
Well that went alot better then I thought it would. Most of them where on top of some old plats of sps and came off easy. Some that was on the back and around some sps branches was tricky but had a good tool that worked well. Doing it out of the water Iam sure made it easy, Thanks again guys.
Got them all glued onto a rock now that should make a nice pieace.

 
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