How do you frag an alveopora?

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cmaxwell39

Guest
I have had an alveopora for a little over a year (long story, guy at lfs said they were one of the easiest lps and I had trusted him). Anyway, it is getting pretty big and takes up almost half the sand bed on my 75 gallon when it is fully exteded. I was wondering what the easiest way to frag it would be, or if I am just risking damaging/killing this sensitive coral if I try. I am including pictures of it open and closed up so that you guys have an idea of the skeletal structure. TIA for any help.


 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
tile saw works great. rotozip works. screwdrivwer and hammer work too but are a little rougher on the coral and you may not get the break you want.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
Thanks reefkprz. What are the chances of damaging this coral when fragging it. Any special precations to take or just chop away? Thanks again.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by cmaxwell39
http:///forum/post/2562601
Thanks reefkprz. What are the chances of damaging this coral when fragging it. Any special precations to take or just chop away? Thanks again.
I would say about 75/25 chance of harm (75% no serious harm 25% chance of protozoan infection or tissue rescession) get a pail of new mixed salt water at the same temp and salinity of your tank to soak the coral in for half an hour after fragging (maintain the temperature with a heater and throw a small powerhead in the bucket pointed upwards to aerate and to help wash away the slime thats going to build up after fragging the coral. after half an hour or a little longer return the coral to as close to the original spot as possible so you dont light shock it. if your water parameters are good your success ratio will improve, if you have nitrate problems or other parameters out of what the chance of problems increase.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
Thanks for the info again reefkprz. I may try it next weekend. The rest of this weekend is pretty busy.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
Well I did it this morning.
Will have pics later. I have all the frags in a bucket healing for now. Everything seems to be doing good.
I do not have a tile saw, but I have the grinder attatchment for the rotozip and had a diamond blade for that so that is what I used to do the cutting. Seemed to go just fine. Like I said pics to come later. Lights don't come on until ~1:30 and I want to put some pics up of how it is doing.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
Pictures as promised.
Pic 1-- The colony before fragging.
Pic 2--The fragging intrument
Pic 3--The first cut. This one there is probably no danger of infection since I cut through some dead skeleton that connected two halves.
Pic 4--The second cut. There was almost a branch coming off the main colony that made for a nice easy place to frag it. Did have to cut through live tissue on this cut so a little more danger of damage or infection. Will have to watch this one.
Pic 5--The three peices back in the tank. This is after the lights have been on for about 45 min. You can see that all three peices are opening up. There is even polyps coming out right at the edge of where I cut through live tissue. Looks like everything is doing good.




 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
Some closer pics of the three peices.
Will post more pics as everything opens up more.


 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
You may beat the odds of you are never supposed to frag an alveopora or goniopora 100% of the time. Sometimes, SOMETIMES, they begin to branch off like that, and you MIGHT be able to seperate the branch as long as there are no "veins" connecting it to the rest of the coral. I said it before 100's of times and I will say it again. With Alveoporas and Gonioporas, if you even damage one polyp, it will mostly always kill the entire coral. That is why they are difficult to keep (let alone frag). It might take a couple of months though.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Ive fragged red goniopora at least 6 times and havent lost a single colony using the methods I described above. I think the biggest problem with them is people dont let them slime off before returning them to the tank leading to protozoan infections on the damaged polyps ending up killing as you said the entire colony.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
So far so good. All the pieces are opening like they were before they were fragged. Even right on the edge of the cut. I will post some more pictures a little later. Thanks again for all the help reefkprz. I will keep everyone updated on this one. I don't plan on doing anything with the frags for at least a couple of weeks to a month to give everything a chance to heal up.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2573403
Ive fragged red goniopora at least 6 times and havent lost a single colony using the methods I described above. I think the biggest problem with them is people dont let them slime off before returning them to the tank leading to protozoan infections on the damaged polyps ending up killing as you said the entire colony.
I was not really talking about infections. I was in general saying that if you kill a polyp, the colony is gone. In one other post that I responded to, I did point out the difference in coloration though. Green ones are the hardest ones to keep. Purple and Red are usually as hardy as Kenya Trees. So I did slip up there, LOL. I was just referencing to the pics though.
Edit: The thing doesn't even look like an alveopora to me though. Looks more like a goniopora because the ends of the polyps aren't flat.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
It is an alveopora. There are only 12 tentacles per polyp not 24. Here is a pic from today. Will update again in a couple of weeks.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
I was trying to count them
, LOL. Must have some decent water flow on them. Most alveoporas I have seen the ends of polyps are flat.
 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
Reefkprz-- Thanks. I will update again in a couple of weeks.
Candycane-- Here are a couple of closeups I took tonight with the flow off. Should be able to count the tentacles in these.

 
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cmaxwell39

Guest
They require medium light. They are a LPS that are closely related to Gonipora's (although some say that they are slightly easier to keep.)
I got mine when I was just getting into reef keeping because lfs said it was a super easy coral to care for. I feel that I have been lucky with this one. I have had it over a year and it has probably tripled in size. There are a lot of stories of them living for 6-8 months and dying for no apparent reason though. It is a beautiful coral, but do some research on it before purchasing one.
 
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