Greetings from Ottawa Canada, Shrooms fragging, hilarity  11/24/05
WWM crew:
<Howzit?>
I don't have a question at the moment but have enjoyed reading the many posts and answers that you have provided.  
<Ah, good>
Hope you will enjoy the turkey season and the related seasonal twist of the following which I posted at our local club site here in Canada
(http://ovas.ca/).
<Oooh! Yes, saw/heard this.>
__

With recent focus on Einstein I couldn't resist a bit of fun :)  .
I responded to a PM question about mushroom fragging this AM and decided
that with a bit of editing and being in a jovial mood after listening to a turkey sing,
http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=382219626&m=1652&rr=y&sou
it would be suitable for a public posting.
Here goes.  How to earn your Experienced Expert Mushroom Coral Carver/Copier
(E2MC2) credentials.
___

Mushroom coral carving/fragging:  11/24/05
It's like cooking really. Cut off the tops with a sharp knife, leave the stem on the rock. Place the top in a plastic container in the bottom of the tank with some bits of coral or shells or bits of substrate and preferably with a bit of netting over the container. The netting will keep the crabs out, the coral rubble will give the mushroom something to attach to and presto about three days later your mushroom will hopefully have attached to some of the shell fragments or the rubble and you can take it out and glue the rubble bits to a piece of rock with cyanoacrylate glue - a.k.a. crazy Glue). The stem will grow back another mushroom eventually and presto you have doubled your mushroom population.
Method number two: Use fishing line or elastic band to attach the head to a piece of rock (same method as for the leather coral except that the mushrooms are very soft and slimy so I prefer the first method).
Method number three: Cut off head. Cut the head into a bunch of little pieces (like chopping onions or mushrooms for dinner). Place the bits in a container as in method # 1 or just throw the bits back into your tank.
Either way, you will end up with the original mushroom stem growing back its head and you should end up with more mushrooms in total. With the scatter-in-the-tank method you just have less control over where they end up and you may have a slightly lower overall success rate. The chop-them-up method will get you lots of little mushrooms which will eventually grow to full sized mushrooms but not the fastest way but eventually you should get lots of quantity.
Believe me. Your first attempt is an experiment. If it works for you, you instantly reach EXPERIENCED EXPERT MUSHROOM CORAL COPIER/CARVER status and can send out e-mails like this one.
Enjoy your turkey.
Ron
(a.k.a. Rockgarden)
<Thanks much Ron. Happy holidays to you and yours. Bob Fenner>

Frag Placement/Securing - 04/04/06
Just got a nice frag from a friend.  I was wondering how I can stick it to a rock.  I know the superglue trick.
<<Works well>>
I have it placed between some rock now.  Is that good or should I adhere it to something.  Please let me know.
Thanks,
Jeromy
<<If it is stable/won't get knocked around, it will adhere to the rock on its own.  Otherwise, use the superglue to secure in place.  Regards, EricR>>

Fragging A Montipora (digitata?) - 03/03/06
I currently have a larger piece of Montipora and would like to frag this.  Any suggestions?
<<Well, if we're speaking about Montipora digitata this is very easy to do.  It's likely you won't even need tools as the skeleton of this coral specie is usually quite soft/brittle.  To frag, carefully snap (or cut with bone scissors/side-cutting pliers, if you wish) a small piece from the branch tips (about 1" long is ideal) and attach these to your choice of mount with a cyanoacrylate adhesive.  M. digitata is quite hardy and takes to fragging well so there is no need to be overly concerned about damaging the coral.>>
By the way your site is great...
<<Thank you...a collective effort.>>
Eric Godin
<<Regards, EricR>>

Coral Propagation
Good morning to the Wet Web Crew!  I had previously fielded a question to Anthony about a small Sarcophyton that was not doing well in my 10g amongst star polyps (Pachyclavella.) and mushrooms (Disco.) that are also in the tank.  (If you get this Anthony, you responded with "Yikes".....btw this term made me research so much more thoroughly to better understand how corals interact chemically, not just what I could see...thanks!)
<good to hear of the larger step... interesting stuff too: coral allelopathy>
It was unknown at the time whether or not the exact cause for it not opening well was from tissue damage (part of the capitulum wedged itself down a rock crevice while I was on vacation, thus receiving no light) or from the chemical barrage of its neighbors.  I took several plans of action:  larger water changes, started running larger amounts of carbon, and added another 32w PC retro (for a total of 2x32w)....this worked very well and it has all but made a full recovery.  
<all good and great to hear>
Getting to my point :),  I noticed about a week ago that part of the capitulum, as it healed, had been dividing itself from the rest of cap (hard to tell exactly what was going on, it was on the rear of the coral and I have been missing the daylight cycle lately do to longer work days).  I now have a small bud about the size of a pencil eraser on the stalk right below the cap (cute lil guy, complete with a nice mini cap and polyps).  The part of the cap above it still stays curled in, as though to allow light to reach the bud so my question is.....should I remove the bud and place it on its own rock to allow the main cap to open up fully?
<your call... easy to cut/prop if you want a cutting... else it will pinch off on its own in time. I would advise cutting it off with sharp scissors and then running a single stitch of nylon thread through the lower end of the newly cut "stalk" and tie the cutting off to a rock. It will heal in days and you'll have a new piece to trade or keep>
The coral has attached itself to all the surrounding rocks, which will make it difficult, if not impossible to remove.....will running extra carbon suffice to remove any toxins released by such a small cutting?
<yes... likely easily or water changes even better>
And finally, plans have been for the coral, a 46g will be cycling in about a 1-2 weeks (final destination will be a 180g once I settle on a house). As always...thanks much, Ryan A.
<best regards, Anthony>

Asexual Planulation in Fungia
Anthony, i thanks for the reply.  About that Fungia coral i was telling you about, well guess what... I found a baby Fungia in my tank just yesterday!
<Outstanding!>
I'm pretty excited to say the least.  Yes i took plenty pics.  The baby Fungia polyp was actually on top of one of my green open brain corals.  
<do see if you can remove it promptly. Attached or no?>
I don't know if it was trying to attach there or what, but i got him isolated in one of those hang-on-in-tank deals.  
<Aha..>
I put a little chunk of rock in there in case he wants to attach,
>no need... it is a free-living coral. Some planulated specimens live attached briefly. Yours is already out of the nest so to speak. Do keep it on sand>
but i don't know if they are free living as a juvenile or what.  Anything you could recommend to me to keep this guy alive and not become fish food would be great.  
<occasional feedings would help a lot. Several times weekly with fresh hatched baby brine shrimp would be great. Frozen if you must (baby brine only... not adult). Even better would be frozen Cyclop-Eeze if you can get your hands on it>
I kind of don't know what to do with it , very tiny ya know...thanks ,
<no worries... it will be fine. Kudos to you for the good husbandry. Please do share some pictures when you can. Hi-res digital or scans if you can.>
Steelers did indeed play nobly this weekend.
<Thanks kindly for saying so :) It was a fine game to watch. Very sporting. Best regards, Anthony>

SPS Frags
Hello folk on plugs, a quick question if I may. My LFS has some nice SPS frags, but always attached to "plugs".
<yes...very handy>
I would rather have the frags unattached, as they are easier to place with glue onto some of the live rock in my tank.
<fine if you prefer... but it really is a dreadful idea unless you have an enormous tank and/or space you corals glued with consideration for very long term growth. Most aquarists make the mistake of placing corals (glued or nor) within 10"of each other which causes problems with aggression in just a year or two. A very short plan/vision. And so... to prevent having sparse looking tank for that year or two... plugs placed in drilled holes in the rock or between the rocks allows for easy extraction later if fast growth demands it between competitive species>
What is the best way to remove them - break/cut them, or attempt to file down the plug?
<you can simply take a rotary blade tool (Dremel) or hack saw and separate the two if you like>
I can't figure out how one could mount frags onto live rock if they are attached to a plug, unless one attempts to put them between rocks, or drills a hole in the rock. Thanks, Steve
<best regards, Anthony>

Coral Propagation
Anthony- They're giving me 50% in store credit...and they just got in a large order from Walt Smith.  HMMMMM, I wonder where the store credit went to?  
<heehee... you are an addict>
At least I had enough left to take the wife out for dim sum.  
AND, I did get two nice brood stock pieces.  More Zoanthids (neon orange and lime green) and a really nice Sinularia.
<almost the value of Dim Sum <G>>
I think I figured out a better way to get Cladiella to attach.  I implant a small (1/8") acrylic rod into the rock piece and leave 1/2-3/4" sticking out of the rock.  This end is sharpened but not REAL sharp.  I then impale the colt onto the rod, and then stitch it normally.  I think this gives me more than one attachment point, and that the colt may be more inclined to grow
and attach around the acrylic rod than it is from the base to the rock.
<very cool>
This is how I've been attaching SPS and getting them into very precarious positions in my show tank.  I got the idea from the chapter in your book where you discuss using acrylic within the tank.  
<rock on my brother!>
I'm going to test my impaling theory this weekend and see if I get a higher attachment rate.
<be mindful of excess mucus production and let us know how it works!>
One last thing (at least for today ;-)) when you discussed using Aiptasia as a scrubber, wouldn't this allow them to migrate into the tank?  
<nope... well fed, regularly harvested anemones will not readily send buds (development is interrupted). Still... there are better animal filters for reef tanks... like saleable Xenia. As mentioned in my book, they are better for fish tanks and heavily fed tanks. You take the good with the bad... they are better particulate feeders ... but they are also less valuable/more nuisance. Efficient though as an animal filter though with sloppy fishes>
Or, should there be something like a UV between the Aiptasia scrubber and the tank?
<if you like>
Darrell (Unfortunately farming only supports the habit, but when my wife goes back to work I'm thinking about becoming semi-retired and spending more time in the industry.  Now I just need to sale her on the idea!)
<Ha! Good luck... and if she agrees... you should marry her again and spring for dim sum weekly. :) Anthony>

Frogspawn Coral Budding 3/5/03
Hello, I hope all is well.  Firstly, I would just like to thank all of the crew for their help both directly to myself and through reading the FAQs.  
<and thanks to you for caring and helping yourself/our hobby>
I have just one question tonight, I noticed a small bud on the skeleton of a frogspawn I have had for several months.  
<wonderful>
It is about the diameter of a pencil eraser fully extended.  
<in time it will need to be removed or it will die in the shadow of an older "head" polyp. In the wild, these are started for if/when the big polyps get eaten/destroyed>
My question is  does the frogspawn translocate nutrients within the colony from feedings,
<alas, no... each polyp must be fed>
and if so, will this suffice the new polyp given that it is fairly obstructed from the light?   
<as per above... needs fed and needs to be removed in time>
Thank you again for your never ending assistance to all.
Ed in NJ
<with kind regards, Anthony>

Over propagating? 3/18/03
Hello and thanks for taking the time to answer a quick question.
I have several large toadstools, which grow like mad. My question is, Is it possible to over-propagate a coral?
<in this case (Sarcophyton), not at all likely so... some tenured aquarists have been doing this for over 15 years to the same colony>
I am cutting about every month to keep them in check, and even the frags grow very fast. I guess its a good problem to have.
<agreed>
I was just wondering if any ill effects would come to the mother corals. Thank you Chad
<none at all... simple asexual fragmentation. It happens naturally in the wild (branchlet dropping). Anthony>

Question on coral propagation 6/23/03
Hi am gonna propagate some of my mushrooms tonight and I was wondering if they would die if I took the rock with all the mushrooms out of the water?
<no worries... they can stay out of water for many minutes if moist (spray lightly with saltwater). More than enough time to work on them>
the instructions said take out of water cut with Exacto knife as close to the base of the mushroom the take the head and cut into 4 pieces leaving a piece of stalk/mouth
<it can work... but is aggressive. Simply cutting in half is safer at first>
should I cut it when there retracted at night or opened during the day
<makes no difference>
also does this hurt them I don't want to hurt them thanks JM great site and great people
<with kind regards, Anthony>

Baby Plate corals - anthocauli in Fungiids 2/17/04
[The "baby" corals of which you speak are anthocauli (buds) on Fungiid corals. It is a common misconception that many Fungia never recover after they seem to have died (become denuded of tissue). Most in fact will begin to decalcify and issue these daughter satellites after just a few months. Leave those skeletons in the tank! When the clones grow big enough in the ocean, wave action/erosion and boring organisms dissolve the stem under the new bud and it breaks away to become free-living like its parent. The parent then continues to produce new buds. We have an article on this subject here at wetwebmedia.com at:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trachyreproart.htm
best regards, Anthony Calfo>
From Travis:
Hi Alison, that sounds like you got a nice surprise after what must have been disappointing to see happen to your plate.
From what I've heard, the babies will grow their own skeletons and detach on their own. If they're anything like their close cousins the Euphylliids, they will recognize each other as the same species and not sting each other. However, I'm going to forward this to the most knowledgeable and helpful group of folks I know, Bob Fenner and company at wetwebmedia.com They should be able to elaborate on this with more information and more
expertise than I have to offer. Best of luck with your babies, and keep me posted! They are quite the beautiful corals, I have avoided them up until now because they are so easily damaged in transport, and rarely seem to recover. Travis
Joanne Moore writes:
> Hi Travis,  I have a question for ya about plate corals.  I have a long tentacled plate coral that recently died; however, it now has about 100 baby plates on it or " daughters."  I know they are it's baby's because they each look like little plates, each having their own mouths and each being about the size of my pinky fingernail now.  My question was, what happens when they get bigger, will they just walk off the parent plate or release into the water and attach somewhere else or what.  I can't get anyone who knows anything about this.  I love plates, but they are so toxic to the other corals if too close, so I worry about what will happen if they attach anywhere.  I was also wondering, if I use a toothpick maybe that would work, because I have some reef friends and family who would like a few if I could get them off.  Thanks for your time.          Sincerely, Alison Moore of lake Stevens, Washington.

Back from the dead! Hammer Coral 2/12/04
Hello all!
<howdy>
You probably don't remember this with the large volume of emails that you get, but a while back I emailed you about a problem with a hammer coral. The coral was mysteriously losing polyps every few days.  When the last polyp was dying, I noticed that a chunk of it was missing.  It appeared that my coral was being eaten, but I never found the culprit.
<OK>
Since the coral was gone, I moved the skeleton to the back of the tank to make room for other corals.  That was over a year ago.  This week I was surprised to find a tiny bright green polyp poking up from the back of the tank where the old skeleton was leaning up against the glass.  I turned the skeleton around, and found what appears to be two small polyps that somehow survived all this time.  They must have been microscopic when I put the skeleton back there!
<sort of... many LPS corals have living tissues unseen deep within the corallite. Some will even begin to decalcify and feed the growth of new buds (anthocauli) from a seemingly dead parent "skeleton". I wrote an article about this with Steven Pro here on WetWebMedia.com if you care to look back in the archives (under Trachyphyllia)>
The larger of the two new polyps is only about the size of a pea.  Should I start feeding them?  If so, what should I feed them?  
<enriched baby brine shrimp or better, Cyclop-eeze ASAP>
I used to feed my hammer coral very small pieces of meaty food, but I don't think I can chop the food up finely enough for these tiny polyps to eat.  I have lots of copepods, etc. in my tank, which they must have been living off of all this time.  Is that a sufficient source of food until they get bigger?
<perhaps but not for long>
Another related question for you... My old hammer coral was white with a slight greenish tint.  These new polyps are fluorescent green.  Can polyps from the same colony have different
colors?  Or were these new polyps just hitchhikers on the original?
<the former is correct... and the recovered polyps are simply responding to the change/difference in light. Some bleached/stressed corals can in fact pick up different strains of zooxanthellae too>
Thanks!
<kindly, Anthony>

Fragging corals 4/4/04
Hello all, I was reading Calfo's Propagation book and was confused about propagating Caulastrea (Trumpet/Candycane) coral. Do I just break off one of the branches and glue to a piece of rubble?
<it can be that simple, yes>
Will new polyps sprout?
<yes... and arguably faster than if they were left in the crowded colony. Once fragged away, they have better access to water flow and light/food. As such, the polyps will divide/grow faster>
Second question: Would it be possible to saturate a gallon of
RO water with Kalk (calcium hydroxide) and then add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), or vice versa,
<Aieeeeee! no mixing here please - forms insoluble calcium carbonate (useless essentially for coral)>
allow the precipitate to settle out of solution, then use the solidified  precipitate in my tank for buffer or slow release of calcium into the system?
<nope>
Or would the tank water's pH need to be really low in order to release the Ca and Bicarb ions?  
<dangerously>
Or would it work at all?
<the latter in practical applications. Not recommended for any reason I can think of>
Thanks. -RY
Randy M. Yniguez, MA, LMHC
<Best regards! Anthony>

Goniopora daughter satellites/buds 4/5/04 
Hi All, I have kept my Goni for over a year. Recently it budded of a baby and has about 20 more on parent. 
<excellent to hear!> 
Any ideas on what to do next, thanks a lot Simon. 
<I have cultured many of these myself (a few hundred at least) from a colony of G. stokesii I kept in my greenhouse. There is a picture of one of the active parents on my Book of Coral Propagation. For the buds, do not cut or collect them prematurely. Leave them to mature and drop off on their own. They are free-living at that point and need no different care than the donor. Best of luck, Anthony>

Fraggin' Fungia! 4/1/04 (the action, not the expletive) 
hello, 
<howdy> 
I have a fairly hardy Fungia sp. specimen and I would like to know if it is possible to frag these creatures? 
<well documented yes in the popular hobby literature (magazines, message boards threads, books like my Book of Coral Propagation, etc)> 
If so, what is the best way to do so and are they hardy enough to withstand fragmenting? 
<yes, easily so. And many techniques for it... A Dremel with a stainless steel cutoff wheel following the septa to make pie shaped wedges works best/very well> 
thanks for you help 
<best of luck! Anthony>

Easy way to get sun coral (Tubastrea) spawning 4/10/04 
Hello, Dr. Bob, 
<Anthony Calfo in his stead> 
Five to six months ago I wrote to you about sun corals spawning in my tank, two months ago there was power failure for about 2hrs. Or so, and I noticed my sun corals spawning again, I thought it was just a routine as they do tend to spawn every month. A week later I was drilling hole into the tank to connect it to the sump and I turned the filtration off and lowered the water level then I noticed the sun corals spawning. Then I decided to go forward with the experiment of turning off filtration and observing whether the sun coral spawn or not, and after caring out this experiment three to four times at the interval of 10 to 15 days I reached the conclusion that when the water movement is absent the sun corals do tend to spawn. 
<very interesting!> 
As I can collect the sun corals from the near by sea shore only on the days of full moon or no moon when there is no water movement as the water level drops, I guess they must be spawning every 15th day. Since I don’t have any other hard coral in my tank, I would be more than happy if you carry out this experiment and let me know whether this technique works or not on other hard corals. AMEYA 
<fascinating information my friend... thank you so much for sharing. Please do follow up with more when you can. With kind regards, Anthony>

Coral propagation
Bob,
<Hmmmm... perhaps you've got someone as good here. Anthony Calfo in your service (author of the Book of Coral Propagation <wink>)>
A few months ago I traded a piece of Xenia for what I was told is purple Nephthea. In two months it has grown from a single branch of 1.5 inches to five branches with the largest 4+ inches. I would like to frag this coral, but my last attempt melted within a day or two. 
<because someone mistakenly told you that Nephtheids could be cut, no doubt, my friend>
Do you have any suggestions for improving my success. I have been able to get a branch to attach to a new rock, but I am hesitant to make the cut.
<more than a few ways to frag this animal asexually. Constriction is the safest but slowest. Use a plastic cable tie (AKA zip tie) to gently constrict a branch. Perhaps several times each week, the tie will have to be slowly tightened ever closer to the point of separation when successful branch drop occurs. The advantage to this technique is that in the process of pinching off, the fragment of soft coral usually attaches to the plastic tie, which serves as a handle for secondary attachment or at least as an impediment to the carriage of the fragment through the display with the currents. This plastic “tail” helps locate a naturally dropped branch for aquarists who cannot or chooses not to cut a constricted coral in the final days before branch drop. The plastic tie is more easily glued or tied to a substrate than sensitive soft living tissue for settlement. Nephtheids and heavily mucosal Alcyoniids (colt corals and colored leathers) are best served by this method and (as you've noticed) commonly suffer from fatal infections if cut instead. Best of luck, fellow coral farmer! Anthony Calfo>