Fraging a Leather (Sinularia Sp)

[Bandsaw]

Hi all,

I have a Sinularia pictured below. Sorry for the quality of the picture. I did not turn off the power heads, so it comes out a bit blurry.

This guy has grown to twice the size that I got him and has now planted a second truck on the rock next to him. He is still joined in the middle.

I need some help and opinions on splitting this lad into to two pieces so I can take one half out.

Can I just take a sharp knife and cut him in two and then gently peel the one half up off the rock that he has a second truck on? Can it be done in tank?

I have actually considered taking this fellow right out as I have read that Sinularia are very toxic and I wonder if this giant is responsible for my poor track record with acros, montis and even a Lords that has not done well in my tank.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[rick rottet]

nice animal.
i always prefer to do all propagation out of the tank, especially when it is a display tank, and especially with soft corals.
with a specimen as large as that, i would be willing to wager that you could pretty much cut it wherever you desire and it will be healthy enough to heal nicely.
as for removing it from the rock, i would be a little leary of trying to pull it from the rock. sometimes they come off, most times they end up tearing and leaving some tissue behind on the rock. to be sure, a specimen of that size and health would be likely to heal without difficulties, but i prefer to use a sharp chisel and dig down into the rock and under the coral to remove one totally.
you may (or may not?) be on the right track as far as the toxicity issue. sinularia sp (in general) are some of the worst offenders... even more so when they are cut (attacked!) in the tank as opposed to outside of the tank.
JMHO/E

 

[tunicata]

I too would be concerned about a large leather and its effect on sps and lps corals. My tank is mostly leathers and LPS, it's been a hard road figuring out how close is too close, especially when most leathers have a shedding period and are constantly releasing their 'goo' for no apparent reason (still healthy just ****ed at the world I suppose).

Yes, definitely fragged outside of the tank since you have sps you care about (but also, just because they 'leak' a lot of crap).