Transplanting Zoas

[TriggersAmuck]

Do most people just leave their Zoas on the stone plugs they come mounted on and let them grow out onto adjacent rock, or is there a way to safely remove them from the plub and mount them to existing live rock without narcing a tank with toxins (not to mention one's self)?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Fishindude88]

I leave them on the plug usually. Sometimes I break off the bottom part so I can simply rest the plug where I want it to go. You can remove the coral if you want and mount it on some rubble if it already isn't on a piece.

 

[dark_stranger]

Thats one of my pet hates, where people use reef plugs as they are so unsightly in a tank.

 

[strout]

I am the opposite of dark stranger, I like the frag plugs, I don't like the thick plugs, I like the thin plugs. I am just starting out in the SW tank hobby and I have a few friends that are waiting on frags off the zoas and polys that I am getting. The ones that are on small pieces of live rock, well I will have to wait till they grow down on what ever I mounted that sm piece rock to before I can get a frag off of them. The frags I have on the plugs, I can let a few polyps grow and wack them off to start another frag. Or, I could get some new friends that have more patients and will let my frags grow, lol.

 

[eb8919]

Materials needed: Scalpel or blade, pair of latex gloves, plugs/discs/rubble, glue, cup of water, surface, the hand of a surgeon

Take out the colony you wish to frag
Cut between the polyps right down to the frag they are on. Basically cut a line seperating the polyps you want to remove.
Once you have a section cut, scrape the blade underneath the ''mat'' base of the polyps to remove it from the frag.
Now you should have a small colony of polyps with a nice flat tissue base.
Put a small dab of glue on the base and attach to new frag.
Rinse both in a glass of water and then return to tank.

Now you say you want to simply remove the colony off the plug so you will simply have to scrape underneath the mat...add the glue and place it where you want.
Have fun.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Why does this sound easier than it must be? What type of glue are you using eb?

 

[eb8919]

It really is easy. You just have to be confident and try not to slaughter the frag up. I practiced on "dime a dozen" zoos and it didn't take long until i was comfortable fragging and transplanting some high end expensive zoos. I use basic coral super glue from my lfs. It's all basically the same...just super glue. You can order it online or pick it up at your lfs if they stock it. The one i have doesn't really have a name...just a sticker "Coral Glue". If you do choose to try it...becareful with the blade/scalpel...always cut away from yourself...the tissue isn't hard to cut through so you don't need to apply pressure.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Can you actually set the glue within water, i.e. apply the glue to the zoad out of water and then press to rock submersed within the tank, or does the live rock it is going onto need to be dry / out of water? And is the glue toxic while wet (sort of like PVC cement)?

 

[dark_stranger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15235112#post15235112 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TriggersAmuck
Can you actually set the glue within water, i.e. apply the glue to the zoad out of water and then press to rock submersed within the tank, or does the live rock it is going onto need to be dry / out of water? And is the glue toxic while wet (sort of like PVC cement)?

In theory you could set the glue under water, but you would want to use the gel type as water accelerates the setting process and normal runny glue would set to fast, but if you used a big blob of gel it should work. I always fixs my frags with super glue gel & dunk in water to speed up setting. This normally produces a small patch of film on the water surface from the glue, but soon goes.

 

[eb8919]

+1...the gel works great. Put it on the coral and then swish it around in the water to get it gooey. Then just place it where you want on your scape and hold it there for a few seconds to ensure it stays.