Colt Coral ...

[Joe Varghese]

A friend of mine gave me my first coral - a brown & white colt coral.
The speciman given to me was fairly large, and due to the nature of
the cut I segmented it into 2 frags - the first one is about 3" high,
and the second one is about 6" high.

I'm having a really hard time getting either piece to attach ... I
tried ties first, but didn't work (the coral is very slimy, and just
slides out it). My friend suggested toothpicks, and I must've done
that wrong since it doesn't seem to be working either ...

Couple questions:

* Are my frags to big? Should I try making smaller frags?

* On the GARF website, it suggests spearing the colt down the middle
.... I've all ready stressed the coral, and was hoping for a less
severe method. I want to try netting & epoxy glue, but was looking for
any other suggestions. Anyone have positive experiences one way or the
other?

* When should I give up and take it out of the tank? It's been 3 days
since I've put the coral into the tank, and as mentioned above they
haven't attached to the rock. They look a little stringy along the
trunk, and are droppy. Color looks OK, but definitely stressed :( Are
there symptoms (other than the smell) that indicate the coral is
beyond recovery?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!!

P.S. When I speared the coral to the rock with toothpicks, something
came out of it that looked an awful like blood ... can't seem to find
anything on the Net about this, though .. ?

[jpg]

try folding the base over and rubber banding it to the rocks.you should
put it in slack to moderate current.


--
jpg

jay the reef keeper
------------------------------------------------------------------------
jpg's Profile: http://www.reef-chat.com/forum/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=11
View this thread: http://www.reef-chat.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=7384

[Marc Levenson]

Hi Joe,

Try to wedge the base into a crevice or gently pinched between two rocks. It'll
grow onto the neighboring rock.

A Colt is a leather coral, and leathers shed. I'm sure it isn't happy being
'man'-handled, but if you can get it into one spot and leave it alone, it will
recover.

I've never tried the toothpick method, so I can't comment on the 'blood'.

Marc


Joe Varghese wrote:

> A friend of mine gave me my first coral - a brown & white colt coral.
> The speciman given to me was fairly large, and due to the nature of
> the cut I segmented it into 2 frags - the first one is about 3" high,
> and the second one is about 6" high.
>
> I'm having a really hard time getting either piece to attach ... I
> tried ties first, but didn't work (the coral is very slimy, and just
> slides out it). My friend suggested toothpicks, and I must've done
> that wrong since it doesn't seem to be working either ...
>
> Couple questions:
>
> * Are my frags to big? Should I try making smaller frags?
>
> * On the GARF website, it suggests spearing the colt down the middle
> ... I've all ready stressed the coral, and was hoping for a less
> severe method. I want to try netting & epoxy glue, but was looking for
> any other suggestions. Anyone have positive experiences one way or the
> other?
>
> * When should I give up and take it out of the tank? It's been 3 days
> since I've put the coral into the tank, and as mentioned above they
> haven't attached to the rock. They look a little stringy along the
> trunk, and are droppy. Color looks OK, but definitely stressed :( Are
> there symptoms (other than the smell) that indicate the coral is
> beyond recovery?
>
> Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!!
>
> P.S. When I speared the coral to the rock with toothpicks, something
> came out of it that looked an awful like blood ... can't seem to find
> anything on the Net about this, though .. ?

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Joe V.]

Thanks for all the tips ...

Good news is that my corals seem to finally have attached to the rock. I
used netting and rock arrangements, and figured I'd wait a couple weeks
before removing them.

But, a week has passed and the corals are still not upright and alive...
when the lights turn on, they do straighten up, but during the night they
are limp and a little dark. I rearranged my water movement so that the
corals get more, and that seems to help ...

When is it too late, though? I'm pretty sure they are still alive, and the
smell that I've heard about is not there. However, I don't want to endanger
the other life in the tank if the colts are all ready beyond the recovery
point ...

Thanks in advance!

joe

"Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Joe,
>
> Try to wedge the base into a crevice or gently pinched between two rocks.
It'll
> grow onto the neighboring rock.
>
> A Colt is a leather coral, and leathers shed. I'm sure it isn't happy
being
> 'man'-handled, but if you can get it into one spot and leave it alone, it
will
> recover.
>
> I've never tried the toothpick method, so I can't comment on the 'blood'.
>
> Marc
>

[Marc Levenson]

When it is beyond help, it will be an obvious rotting or melt-down. I've had
various leathers shrivel up and bounce back, so give your corals some time to
rebound.

Marc


"Joe V." wrote:

> Thanks for all the tips ...
>
> Good news is that my corals seem to finally have attached to the rock. I
> used netting and rock arrangements, and figured I'd wait a couple weeks
> before removing them.
>
> But, a week has passed and the corals are still not upright and alive...
> when the lights turn on, they do straighten up, but during the night they
> are limp and a little dark. I rearranged my water movement so that the
> corals get more, and that seems to help ...
>
> When is it too late, though? I'm pretty sure they are still alive, and the
> smell that I've heard about is not there. However, I don't want to endanger
> the other life in the tank if the colts are all ready beyond the recovery
> point ...
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> joe
>

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com