Encrusting monti's always die after fragging

[xroads]

Tell me what I am doing wrong.

My encrusting montis usually die off after fragging. Everything else looks good and I dont have a problem with other SPS.

 

[organism]

Are you giving them decent flow after fragging? That's usually the main cause, low alkalinity can sometimes do that too.

 

[Dave & Monica]

From my experience, size, not too small. One thing I noticed as sometimes I glue small, I mean really small pieces onto plugs that are more or less debris after fragging, and if I put them in normal strength lighting, they always bleach and die. If I put in really low light and good flow for a week, the heal. Give that a try, lower the light at first. I also mostly try to frag 1" by 1" at a min.

 

[xroads]

Thanks, alk is always stable, and I am cutting at least 3/8 of an inch plugs. I put them to the side this time in lower light & most still bleached out. I will really try to get them in some low light and see what happens

 

[polywise]

are you fragging anything else? and if so, what results do you have with those?

 

[1987]

Are you dipping them in iodine to heal?

 

[organism]

Are you dipping them in iodine to heal?

because if so, that would definitely stress them out enough to kill them.

The low light idea is good though, all my frags go under low light for a week and everything heals up nicely

 

[xroads]

I frag tons of other stuff with success.

I dont dip anything. Cut with saw, glue to new tile, get back in water asap. I try to put them back in the same area they came from. I have even tried moving them away from the center of light

 

[tanksfishtank]

Do you cut the monti with a saw or just break it off?

 

[xroads]

a grypon saw. It is the encrusting type I am having a problem with.

 

[polywise]

By any chance, are you man handling the colony that you are cutting? you could be injuring the coral.
also how long is the coral out of water ?

 

[organism]

What kind of blade are you using with the saw? The original Gryphon C-40's and a few others come with a copper blade that's ok with plating corals but slowly kills off encrusting corals.

 

[Dave & Monica]

Any update on this - problem identifed and solved or is this still hapening. I just use bone cutters and don't have a saw. Was the blade the issue?