Attaching a large toadstool

[rssjsb]

I grew out a ORA long-tentacle toadstool from a 1" frag to a full-size specimen that's about 8" across when fully extended. It's truly magnificent when it's expanded.

Anyway, the tank it was in has had some problems with lighting and salinity, and the coral detached from the rock it was on. I've moved it to a healthier tank, but I can't figure out how to get it to attach. Currently, it's in an acclimation box with a rock I had hoped it would attach to. As big as it is, it has about as much mass as a kleenex. If I just placed it in the tank (i.e., in a rock crevice) it would fly all over and probably get wedged somewhere unfortunate.

I would superglue it, but am not confident that it wouldn't just slough off the attached part. It seems too big to use the rubber band trick.

Any thoughts?

 

[cloak]

Here's a good article.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/ac/feature/index.php

 

[rssjsb]

Thanks, but that's not really very helpful to the question I asked. I understand that rubber banding, toothpicks and stitching are commonly used to anchor frags. My problem is that the specimen I'm trying to anchor is really large. I doubt that toothpicks or even thread would be enough to keep the coral in contact with the substrate.

I've fastened it to a large rock with a large rubber band. It was hard to get the tension right, and I'm afraid I tore the tissue at the top while I was trying to get it right. Anyway, its at least secure, so time will tell.

 

[insanefishguy]

I would get zipties and actually pierce the stem an inch or two up and put the ties through and around the rock. I just recently did this with a massive long polyp toadstool. I've done it many times with small ones but found that the large one was too tough to pierce with the ziptie. I used a plastic tooth pick to push through the skin and then again to pierce the opposite side

 

[ibefishy]

I have used the wooden shish-kebob skewers instead of toothpicks for large softies and they work good. About 1" up run the skewer thru the base and then wrap a rubberband around the two ends and the rock. I generally use 2 rubberbands so I can get even pressure on the skewers.