Fragging my mushroom

[.::Jun77::.]

hi guys,

i always see a thread asking how to frag/ controll a mushroom, so i grabed my camera and took some shots while im fragging.

i started the actual cutting maybe 2 weeks ago and now the second phase which is mounting them in a rubble is almost complete.

first of all, im no expert, just a reefer trying to contribute with the community. There are lots of other techniques to frag a mushroom, this is how i do it, learned from research here at RC and own experience.

Also please observe safety when fragging any type of corals, you dont want scrapes, bruises, etc. and always keep in mind that lots of our corals are toxic ( so be carefull with your eyes, mouth etc.) and dont forget to clean your work areas before and after the fragging. ( for you, family members, pets safety).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

on with the fragging

first the tools, equiptment and safety devices;

[/IMG]

i have two project one to to take out one mushroom on a my base rock. i dont want it to grow in there, so ill take it off the rock.

[/IMG]

i used a cutter to cut a little portion of the rock with the whole foot of the mushroom

[/IMG]

 

[.::Jun77::.]

so now i have the whole mushroom attached to a small rubble.

[/IMG]

all i need to do is glue this rubble to a bigger rock

[/IMG]

 

[.::Jun77::.]

after 2 weeks.... look at the foot growth ready to reproduce a baby shroom

[/IMG]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

my second project is to frag a mushroom but this time i would like it to re grow back. so i would intentionally leave behind the foot of the shrooms.

so using a sharp scissors

[/IMG]

then ill place them in a small platic disk with sand/small shells inside

[/IMG]

 

[.::Jun77::.]

then ill wrap it up so it wont float. im using onion net from the grocery

then wait for a couple of days until the shroom attached itself to the sand/small shells.

after two weeks ;

[/IMG]

 

[.::Jun77::.]

all i need to do now is to mount it on a nice rock

[/IMG]

and now i have a mushroom rock with 6 shrooms in it.

thanks for looking, i hope this helps.

happy reefing!

 

[schoch79]

Did you just cut off the "cap" of the mushroom and use that as the frag or what did you do? The way I've seen to frag a shroom is to actually cut it into pieces like a pizza, just making sure that each piece has a part of the mouth.

 

[schoch79]

Oh, also, do you think your method would work on ricordia, both yuma and florida?

 

[.::Jun77::.]

on your first question: yes i just cut the cap with some foot leaving some foot in the rock so it will grow back.

i tried doing the "pizza method" (1 cut it to 1/4) but IMO i takes a long time for it to get to heal. also, after it healed, it took sometime for the new part/tissue to get the same color as the other 1/4.
but as stated above this is not the only method, there are tons of other way. i just prefer this two.

on your second question, havent tried it to rics/yuma. dont have the courage, i just let them split and have babies

 

[schoch79]

Yeah I think that I like your method better too even though you can't mass produce them it gives a neater look and is much less recovery time. I agree with you on the courage thing. The rics I buy are about $20-$30 per polyp. I'm not chancing that! lol.

 

[k.tran]

nice method not bad, im gessing 100% success rate?

 

[.::Jun77::.]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12165251#post12165251 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by k.tran
nice method not bad, im gessing 100% success rate?

thanks, i guess the success rate is high because its not too invasive.

 

[Steveabg]

I cut half off of my pink yuma recently, and both halves are recovering nicely. I've also done it with Florida Ricordeas. In my experience, try to get a part of the mouth, but if you make a mistake and miss the mouth, don't sweat it. I've seen full mushrooms and ricordeas grow from just a piece of foot left behind on the rock.

This method outline above is a good idea, because the hardest part is always getting them to reattach without blowing away. I've got frags of ricordeas, discosoma, rhodactis, superman mushrooms, and others that must be growing somewhere in the rocks but I can't find them. :rollface:

 

[.::Jun77::.]

thanks steveabg, my hats off to you, for using pizza pie method on rics and yuma. can you post some pics of their progress?

i really cant imagine what would my wife would do if she find out that i sliced the rics hehehe.

your right, i guess the pizza pie method then wraping it up using disk and mesh would produce a good result too

 

[reefmaister]

Thank you for this post. I've been looking for this info as I have a mushroom explosion too. I'll give it a try.

 

[.::Jun77::.]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12343701#post12343701 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefmaister
Thank you for this post. I've been looking for this info as I have a mushroom explosion too. I'll give it a try.

no problem, please update us on the results, goodluck!:thumbsup:

jun

 

[fishyfish91202]

Excellent information! Thanks for taking the time to do this!

 

[schoch79]

Oh, for a little more info on this. I was siphoning my sand about a week or two ago and I accidentaly sucked up one of my florida rics. The force of the suction caused it to be ripped into three pieces, one of which is maybe only about 5 of the little "bumps"/pseudo-tentacles and all three pieces are still doing fine even the little one. Just goes to show that sometimes these corals can go through much more than we think.

 

[erniecloud]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12156449#post12156449 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by .::Jun77::.
then ill wrap it up so it wont float. im using onion net from the grocery

then wait for a couple of days until the shroom attached itself to the sand/small shells.

after two weeks ;

[/IMG]

putting a net so it wont float? did you put the tray on your main tank?

 

[.::Jun77::.]

erniecloud,

yes, the purpose of the net is to prevent the shrooms from floating.

and yes, i placed the tray in the main tank because i dont have a frag tank.

goodluck!