My first fragging!

Today I performed my first fragging so I thought I would share.

This whole process began because I noticed a huge red glob growing on the side of some green zoanthids. This glob looked squishy but was in fact very hard to the touch. I tried to pull it off by hand but was unsuccessful. Thus the need to cut it off. I thought since I will already be doing some cutting I might as well frag them as well. So here goes.

I started by setting up my operating table.



Things I used
-large towel (used as a placemat)
-small towel
-safety goggles (had to borrow my wifes)
-super glue (locktight gel)
-plastc bowls
-gloves
-disection kit from the local college which included
-scalpel
-tweezers
-scissors
-a metal tool with a flat side and round side (not sure name but useful)

I placed the two colonies into one of the plastic bowls and a flat piece of rock in the other.

Zoanthids contain a substance known as polytoxin, which can cause many different health problems. Therefore take extra precautions when handling zoanthids of any kind.


You can see here the red growth that needed to be removed.



I used the scalpel to cut around the base of the growth, taking a little bit of the rock with it. I then used the tweezers to pull the growth up from the side I cut. As I pulled up I continued to cut the base free from the rock, making sure to cut some of the rock as well.



You can see the growth on the plastic lid after it was removed.



After successfully removing the growth I then proceeded with fragging the colony.
-I began by using the scalpel to cut in between the polyps at a 90 degree angle to the rock through the zoanthid mat. I even cut a little ways into the rock. While cutting, it is better to make one pass rather than multiple passes to ensure minimal tissue damage.
-I then used the scissors to cut this piece of rock off. If the rock is too large to use scissors on you can use the flat metal tool to scrape under the zoanthid mat to remove the polyps from the rock taking a little bit of the rock with it.

This picture shows the frag and rock that the frag will be placed on.



-I then placed a small bead of super glue onto the rock and bottom of frag.
-I quickly placed the frag onto the rock



-Give the glue about 10 seconds to cure and then place the frag into the bowl. While the glue is curing it will begin to heat up. Placing the frag into the water will help keep the frag cool.
-Leave it in the water for about 10 seconds then pull it out of the water to let it finish curing in the air.
-After about 3-5 minutes you can place the frag back into the bowel of water.

At this point you would be ready to put it into you frag tank, QT, or DT. (I only have a DT so this was my only option.) But I decided to add a few more frags to this rock.



All frags glued on and back into the DT!



Give them some time to heal and they will be happy for the extra leg room.

 

Hope your new colonies do well,
What was that red growth?

 

I have no idea! That's why it had to go. I couldn't find anything about it off the net.

 

Very cool and very nice documentation, I love it when people include detailed images.

Nice job.

 

Great job!!!


Love Should NEVA Be Limited©
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Yes,very nice instructional.Thanks for sharing and good luck with them.

 

Very cool

 

Thanks!

 

Good job, and nice attention to safety details

 

sweet safety glasses!