can i cut the top off of this gorgonian?

[Mr.Shrimps]

One of my blue legged hermits was swinging around the top of my gorgonian and I tried to knock it off and it looks like he/I damaged the tip. Can I cut it with some scissors? It has been this way for about a month..

Sorry, image is sideways. It is the branch in the middle

 

[Mike Ordner]

If there is no new growth on that part then you can cut it off without any problems. If it is still trying to grow new polyps then I would leave it.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Cut off the damaged tip and it will probably create 2 new branches in time.

You can even cut the tip off a bit further down into the live material. Then take the cutting (frag) and cut most of the dead part off. Put a drop of super glue on a frag plug or a small piece of rubble rock and stick the dead end in the glue. Even though it's now upside down, it should heal up and grow. It's not a plant, it's a colony of animals and they don't care from right side up or upside down.

 

[billdogg]

Cut off the damaged tip and it will probably create 2 new branches in time.

You can even cut the tip off a bit further down into the live material. Then take the cutting (frag) and cut most of the dead part off. Put a drop of super glue on a frag plug or a small piece of rubble rock and stick the dead end in the glue. Even though it's now upside down, it should heal up and grow. It's not a plant, it's a colony of animals and they don't care from right side up or upside down.

What Ron said. I mount the majority of my acropora frags horizontal on frag plugs. Not only is it easier to get them to stay put, they tend to branch out much more quickly and become much nicer looking colonies when grown out.

 

[Ron Reefman]

What Ron said. I mount the majority of my acropora frags horizontal on frag plugs. Not only is it easier to get them to stay put, they tend to branch out much more quickly and become much nicer looking colonies when grown out.

I do that occasionally, but more often I drill a hole in the frag plug so just a drop of glue in the hole will hold up a branch. But doing it sideways is a good idea!

I've even taken a tiny frag of a birdsnest coral, tied a fine fishing line to it and hung it in the tank with a clip on the center brace. The coral can grow our 360 degrees for awhile until it starts to get dense enough that it starts to block light from the lower growth. It seems to grow really well when hanging in the open flow away from all the issues the other corals have to deal with. Then I take it down and mount it on a small rock.