moving soft corals that are attached to LR

daveverdo

New member
I have several fairly large soft coral (xenia, cladelia, nephtea) that are well attached to fairly large peices of live rock. I would like to move the coral but not the rock. What is the best way to get them off the rock.

Some of the stalks are over an inch in diameter.

Dave
 
A toothpick works well if your trying to clear the rock of any remains. If you pick at the base it will lift up then just keep working it more and more till its off. If you just rip them off more will grow in its place. If you want more to grow there then just rip or cut it off. If you want it gone use the toothpick.
 
If you have time, what I often do is place other rocks up against the coral you are tring to move until they start to colonize the new rock and then using a scalpel, cut off the ramaining parts of the coral attached to the old rock. With the nepthia, if you have to cut them to move it, make sure it is a very clean cut since they are very suscpetible to bacterial infections at the site of incision which can quickly spread.
 
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