help fraging a polyp

peonleon2

Member
I hav a green button polyp and want to try and frag it and give it to m dad. I have like 15 of them all attached to a rock. I want o try and pull one off and give it to my dad. What is the best way to get it off the rock?
Do i cut it at the base and glue it onto another small rock?
do i put a rock next to it and hope one grows on that rock?
i dont know what to do so any help will be usefull.
I can get a pic if anyone needs to see them.
Much thanks
Leon C
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
A couple of choices:
-try breaking the live rock where you want it to split. This is easily accomplished with a screw driver and a little bit of leverage on a porous piece of rock. Once the LR is split, seperate the colony of polyps using a razor blade. The downfall to this method is that it's fairly inaccurate when trying to split the colony in an exact location.
-You can seperate the colony from eachother using a razor blade, and carefully try to get under the mat that anchors the colony. Get the polyps that you want off, hopefully still all attached to eachother, and use superglue gel to affix them to a piece of LR rubble.
HTH
 

reefkprz

Active Member
take a butterknife and use it to pry under the edge lifting the polyp lifting as many as you want then cut between them and the main colony with a razorblade. take a paper towel and dry the spot on the rock you want to glue it to, and put a couple of drops of super glue gel to the top of the rock where you want the polyp. use paper towel to dry the base of the polyp(s) then stick them to the glue it will set almost immediately. dont feel rushed when doing this they can stand being out of the water for a while.(also dont glue your finger to the rock I have done this its no fun
) if you think they are beggining to dry out place a papertowel wetted with tank water over them. remember zoanthids and palythoas (buttonpolyps) have highly dangerous palytoxin in them, wear gloves and eyeprotection when fragging.
 

peonleon2

Member
When you say thy have a highly dangerous palytoxin in them is it dangerous to the tank if it is let out of it?
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
Originally Posted by petieaztec
never thought it was so easy. do you do thid in another tank or in a bucket?
I would take a put a bit of tank water in a tupperware and do it under good light.
 

richarl5

Member
Originally Posted by peonleon2
When you say thy have a highly dangerous palytoxin in them is it dangerous to the tank if it is let out of it?
Highly dangerous as in you can be sent to the hospital if you get squirted in the wrong place (not to discourage you). If you do this, make sure you have gloves on, long sleeves, and something protecting your eyes (or even face). One website that I feel explains the process well is:
http://www.zoaid.com/articles003.php
Good luck!
 
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