In Tank Pruning

[Pistol]

I've gotta in tank prune a weed like growing birdsnest colony, DOs and DON'Ts appreciated.

 

[chrisstevens]

Cut and glue, its a hardy coral it will be fine. The hardest part for me is not breaking other corals in the process.

 

[Shooter000]

Yep most any sps can be fragged in tank, as Chris said though, just be careful not to "frag" something else in the process , lol

 

[AdInfinitum]

Take your cutters and use it as an opportunity to do some bonsai shaping to make the colony the way you'd like. With birds nest I like to open out the middle a bit so it keeps getting good flow.

 

[Kman]

For birds nest I take the cutters and tap the branches I need to prune. Coral tissue is designed to sheer off in break scenarios (like a rock falling on them or storm action) Vs a straight line like cutters. Breaking off speeds up the healing process because of the specialized cells corals have are designed to break off in zagged edges leaving whole cells untouched and will have an irregular tissue edge vs straight line. This keeps sections of cells undamaged and full of their fluids and nutrients. This speeds up attachment as these cells are designed to reattach quickly as they don't have to heal first then attach. They typically are sticky speeding up the bonding to the rock process. Plus sometimes cutters are unwieldy in a tank and you risk hitting other corals with the handle. Sometimes you do have to use cutters if the branches are dense and thick and depending on species and growth form cutters work best. Something like a tabling acro where the calcium core is thick and dense and hard to break except for the growing tips will usually need cutters to cut the main coral body. Corals like birds nest that are branching easily break off. If you have a specific portion you need to cut off, say a side that is touching another coral or you are going for a specific frag or shape you might need to use cutters. As the tap option you don't know where it will break off. I have even used the tap option on LPS like frog spawn, elegance or open brain. For coral shapes like open brain or elegance you can smack them breaking the skeleton allowing the tissue to remain attached to the majority of the skeleton. This allows the coral to release the tissue on its own pace and heal the other portions.

 

[Nemo22]

I have a question about intank pruning or removal of what I think is a colt or Kenya tree coral that has gotten to big now and I want to relocate it if there is a way to do it without having to remove the rock it's rooted to. Its a single stem but it's pretty thick now. Should I just razor blade it as close to rock as possible?

 

[nathan]

Yes you can razor blade as close as you can... but keep in mind that tiny little bit you leave will grow back

 

[Nemo22]

Will the base be solid enough to glue down to some rubble rock or just let it attach itself again like a mushroom?

I guess there is no way to prevent it from growing back without removing rock and brushing it out? Could I glue down a frag over top of what I can't cut out so that it gets smothered out?

 

[nathan]

you can try but its most likely to grow around it anyway

 

[vdubz]

I used to use fishing line. Poke a hole thru the base of the softy, run the line thru, then tie to a frag plug or rubble. Will grow into the rock in a week or so

 

[Nemo22]

I used to use fishing line. Poke a hole thru the base of the softy, run the line thru, then tie to a frag plug or rubble. Will grow into the rock in a week or so

Ok great, thanks for the tip!

you can try but its most likely to grow around it anyway

Ok, thanks for your help Nathan. Cheers guys.

 

[Nemo22]

I finally chopped it at the base. I removed the whole rock and cut large colt Coral (I assume colt from pics and because it has never fragged itself) at the base. I didn't brush the rock it was attached to so I'm expecting some grown but plan to manage it.
I then used needle and fishing line to run through the base and tie it to piece of live rock. Once it attaches I will sell it. It just got too big in my small 24g and was blocking light from other corals like my Bonsai SPS.
Thanks for the advice guys.