Fragging Log: Bubble Coral (Plerogyra sinuosa)

[Travis L. Stevens]

Fragging a Bubble Coral (Plerogyra sinuosa)

Prepartions Before Fragging
Before you start fragging, you'll need a few supplies. Here is a short list of things that you will need.

Personal Protection
Goggles or Safety Glasses: To protect your eyes from flying debris and spray
Dust Mask: To protect your nose, throat, and lungs from flying debris, dust, and spray
Gloves: To protect your hands in case any tools accidently slip
Other: Things like towels, wipes, hydrocortizone if you get stung, etc will be good to have near by.

Fragging Tools
Rotary Tool with a Cutting Wheel: Used for cutting through the hard skeleton of the coral
Prying Tool (IE Chisel, Screwdriver, etc): Used for the final break of the skeleton
Razor Blade: Used for cutting tissue
Other: Things like bowls, extra water, frag mounts, etc come in handy.

Selecting the Specimen
Choosing a healthy and vibrant specimen is crucial to the survival rate of the frags. In this case, we chose a very nice neon green Bubble Coral. Let's call him Mr. Bubbles.

Preparing the Specimen
After selecting the best coral, we'll need to aggitate the coral so that it deflates and retracts into its skeleton. This will decrease the chance that it will damage itself as you take it out of the water and handle it. After causing it to retract, carefully take the coral out of the aquarium and into a bowl with aquarium water in it.

If you would like to clean up any extra rock or skeleton on the coral, now would be the time to do it. We chose to clean the bottom up.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Fragging the Specimen
After you have the coral prepared and clean, it's time to get down to the fun part. Let's hope Mr. Bubbles feels the same way! First, start out by cutting just below the tissue line making sure to cut perpendicular to the growth of the mouth.

Slowly work your way to the other side making sure to go lightly.

Repeat going back and forth until you either can't get the cutting wheel in any deeper or if you reach the tissue line. You don't want to cut through the tissue at this point. You should have a nice, even, deep cut laterally through the skeleton.

Now, proceed by taking the prying tool that you chose and inserting it into the groove.

Now, make sure that you have a hold on both pieces and gently pry open the gap. It will eventually break what is left of the skeleton. Make sure that when the skeleton snaps that you don't drop the skeletons, or accidently pinch any tissue between them.

Lastly, this would be the point where you would take a sharp razor blade and cut the tissue. But, we chose to take a different, more natural approach. Instead, we decided to mount the coral to Frag Spikes and set it in the sand. Every few days we will seperate the skeletons further apart to let Mr. Bubbles split his tissue by himself.

Conclusion
Bubble Corals seem like a very difficult coral to frag because of their unique growth form, but really it isn't too bad. With the assistance of power tools, it really is an easy job. Fragging Bubble Corals is really not much more difficult than fragging many other LPS. As a last word of advice; don't be scared and just get in there and enjoy!

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Update on Mr. Bubbles

As the night drew to a conclusion, I took a few shots of the progress of Mr. Bubbles. Adam will help keep us updated on the progress as well. Here are some pictures of Mr. Bubbles in a short time sequence.

Five Minutes After Fragging
He doesn't look too good, but that's to be expected right after fragging.

Fifteen Minutes After Fragging
Amazingly enough, he is really starting to come around. He looks like he's trying to tell us that he isn't very happy Seriosously though, there was a small air bubble that got trappen under the tissue of the coral. We eventually worked it out.

One Hour Forty Five Minutes After Fragging
Right before I left Adam and Mr. Bubbles to head home to Stillwater, Jess called us back into the fish room to show us the progress that Mr. Bubbles has already made less than two hours after fragging. Needless to say, I was completely awe struck at his recovery.

 

[purza_00]

I like the safety gloves. Bet you didn't wear the goggles or mask either. Just kidding, thanks for the tutorial. Can i do a frogspawn the same way, just cut thru the skeletal stalk.

 

[tslabaugh]

Wow very informative! Even though it looks so easy, I'd still be scared to do it on mine. lol

 

[papagimp]

First thing this morning, bubble looked as good as he did last time I entered a pic in the POTM contest. Lot's of sweepers and looking great as usual! Travis did such a phenominal job fragging this guy and keeping tissue damage to a minimal. Just a small smidge in the front (as can be seen in the 5 mintues after frag part above.) No signs of recession and/or brown jelly. This weekend during my next water change I will be shimming the skeletal pieces apart further and see what happens . This was by far my favorite frag made yet! Kudos for Travis!!!


fwiw, I don't think the bubble meant any offense to me with that middle finger (or bubble). I think he was aiming that at Travis. After all, he did wield the dremel, lol.

oh, one last thing. Travis, you definatly did a better job posting this than I would have. Well done!

 

[cmc0814]

I wouldn't do that to a frogspawn simply for the fact that the frogspawn will readily split heads on its own. (and it is a very small fragging surface) But I'm sure it can be done!

 

[papagimp]

Now if it was a non-branching frogspawn....yes you could. But it's a very delicate process. Take all precautions and do your best not to damage any tissue whatsoever. The big thing about this method is letting the coral frag itself. You just motivate it to split by strechting the tissue and separating the skeletal structure. Keeping the skeletal pieces separated and off set, one higher than the other, will yield best results...from what i've read. This is my first attempt at this type of frag as well.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9048302#post9048302 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by purza_00
I like the safety gloves. Bet you didn't wear the goggles or mask either. Just kidding, thanks for the tutorial. Can i do a frogspawn the same way, just cut thru the skeletal stalk.

Ya, ya, ya. I know. I REALLY should have been wearing my safety equipment. FWIW, I had the goggles, face mask, dust mask, and gloves right next to me, but I just didn't wear them I did have my eye glasses on though. If it wasn't for that, I would definitely be blind. There was a lot of sea water, skeleton dust, and possibly even tissue from inside the skeleton that was wizzing at my face.

As far as fragging your Frogspawn, it depends if it is branching or not. With a branching Frogspawn (E. paradivisa), it's better to cut the branch off where it meets the stalk. Try not to cut very close to the head because there is a length of the polyp that runs down the center of the skeleton. If it is a ridge Frogspawn (E. divisa), then you can frag it just like the Bubble Coral.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9051516#post9051516 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by papagimp
First thing this morning, bubble looked as good as he did last time I entered a pic in the POTM contest. Lot's of sweepers and looking great as usual! Travis did such a phenominal job fragging this guy and keeping tissue damage to a minimal. Just a small smidge in the front (as can be seen in the 5 mintues after frag part above.) No signs of recession and/or brown jelly. This weekend during my next water change I will be shimming the skeletal pieces apart further and see what happens . This was by far my favorite frag made yet! Kudos for Travis!!!

fwiw, I don't think the bubble meant any offense to me with that middle finger (or bubble). I think he was aiming that at Travis. After all, he did wield the dremel, lol.

oh, one last thing. Travis, you definatly did a better job posting this than I would have. Well done!

Thanks, Adam. I know you could have done it, too. And yes, I'm very sure that Mr. Bubbles was intending his offensive communication towards me. That's why he puffed up before I left, he thought I was on my way out the door :lmao:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9051987#post9051987 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cmc0814
I wouldn't do that to a frogspawn simply for the fact that the frogspawn will readily split heads on its own. (and it is a very small fragging surface) But I'm sure it can be done!

Yes, for branching Frogspawns, it's easier to just wait for a new head to form and grow out. On the other hand, if you are VERY careful, you can do this same type on branching Frogspawn. In fact, that is how Coral Tissue Grafting works in Euphyllia species.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9052190#post9052190 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by papagimp
Now if it was a non-branching frogspawn....yes you could. But it's a very delicate process. Take all precautions and do your best not to damage any tissue whatsoever. The big thing about this method is letting the coral frag itself. You just motivate it to split by strechting the tissue and separating the skeletal structure. Keeping the skeletal pieces separated and off set, one higher than the other, will yield best results...from what i've read. This is my first attempt at this type of frag as well.

Agreed. I can't wait to see what is going on. Adam, if you will entertain the thought, I would like to drop by before or after the meeting for another quick photo session with the tank.

 

[papagimp]

ABSOLUTELY Travis!!! My fishies love the photo sessions.

 

[purza_00]

Yes it is branching. There are 3 major stalks one with a single head, one with two heads, and one with three. And yes I was only thinking of separating stalks far from the heads. I understand it is best to separate a branch near the main stalk. Thanks for the info and advise.

 

[papagimp]

Frag Update:

Frag Update:

Separated the skeletal pieces for the first time last night. I wanted to give the coral some time to calm itself down before doing this. I'm sure it was a stressful procedure for him, although he looked great just a few moments after fragging. He didn't take to the movement to well, but got over it quickly. I have noticed more sweepers during the daylight hours than normal but he was relocated in the tank as well and may be simply trying to stake his claim of the area. I lost a few froggie heads last time he pulled this stunt. This guy has some extremely potent sweepers. When people say give them at least 6 - 8 inches, they aren't kidding.

 

[tslabaugh]

Adam,

Hows the bubble doing? Mine seems to have hit a growth spurt and is getting huge! I may be fragging mine soon also.

 

[papagimp]

tslabaugh, he's going okay still. He's got a good 2-3" gap in the skeletal chunk we split, but he doesn't seem like he's actually splitting yet. But I expected this process to take some time and am being patient with him. I'll try to get a updated photo soon.

 

[Johnwayne]

what nothing after that

 

[madkat]

Travis,
DO you mind if we post this write-up on the mycomas site?

 

[mskohl]

Hey Travis and Adam, it's good to see your avatars again.

Nice write up, guys and the pics really help clarify what you are describing.

I saw on the GARF website that, in their experience with using this method of propagation, the coral can take anywhere from 10 days to nearly 3 weeks to complete the split.

I'm interested to see your results and I'm looking forward to progression pics.

 

[Dino]

You guys are aware this is a 4 year old thread don't you?

 

[mskohl]

HA! Nope. Didn't notice that. It did seem oddly familiar though.

Well, I still wonder how the coral fared.