First fragging attempt and I think I messed up

[Esabasard]

I fragged my devil's armor a couple of weeks ago to trade for some new stuff. I had only had it for 2 months, but it had already grown to about triple the polyps that it had when I got it and was growing off the frag rock onto my rock. I just took a new razor blade and cut the original frag away from the 3 polyps or so that were on my live rock. Since then the polyps got smaller and now there is only one left that opens. Did I kill off my zoas? I thought that cutting the mat between polyps would have been safe.

 

[ddwbeagles]

Time will tell, but that isn't an uncommon reaction, especially since they were probably still recovering a little from the last move or shipment. That or we both suck at fragging as I see that happen sometimes too.

 

[Esabasard]

I guess I will just hope for the best.

 

[90greefman]

Anytime you cut a zoa it opens up a doorway for bacteria to enter and kill them. I think its important to have good water parameters and a clean tank anytime you try to cut away zoas inside the tank.

 

[mfinn]

And when you do frag zoanthids do a dip after. I like to use a Lugols and tank water dip.

 

[Esabasard]

I think my water quality is good, but doing a dip wasn't really an option since I just cut away where new polyps were grown onto the live rock. I still have one polyp that seems happy so hopefully it will start multiplying.

I always thought that the easiest way to frag a colony of zoas was to put a small rock next to a growing colony and cut the mat once they grew onto the small rock. Is that completely wrong?

 

[mdb_talon]

Not wrong and it can be very easy way to do it, but it does eliminate the possibility of doing a dip. I know lots of people that dont dip their fragged zoas and do fine. Personally I dip it whenever possible (ie unless I am cutting them off underwater and the source rock is too large or not reasonable to get removed from the tank).

 

[sjmantis]

I just broke the rock they were on and put it next to what i wanted it to grow on. A couple did rip apart but they are still doing fine

 

[koll12]

I think you did everything correct , but sometimes things dont always do as planned ...next time give them a dip next time

 

[karnivorous]

i just made my first frag as well, i did it a little backwards and went after my mohawks. lol i fragged off two head and they did the same thing

 

[firereef]

Sometimes I'm to lazy to dip and my zoas always do fine. Just get into the dipping habit to be safe.