Removing Kenya Tree from Frag Disk?

[Bonsai]

Hi Everyone,

 

I don't have a picture available right now, but I received a nice Kenya Tree frag from Alti's Reef this week. It came on a frag disc, but one like I've never seen before. It kind of looks like white gravel that has been glued into a disk shape ... so it's very porous.

 

Anyway, The tree base takes up maybe 1/3 of the disc. I don't really want to glue the entire disc to the rock, because I feel that would look unsightly.

 

Does anyone have experience with removing kenya trees from this sort of disc? Can someone give me a few pointers?

 

And on that same subject, if the kenya tree can be removed, can it be then glued onto my Live Rock directly, using Superglue Gel?

 

Thanks!

[svvad]

I just usually yank them out but you could also do it with a blade or a pair of scissors.

[Ryan_H]

do yourself a favor and remove the kenya tree AND the disc from your aquarium lol. it will take over. it's the pink plague!!!

 

or you could just snip the coral off the plug with a sharp pair of scissors, iodine dip it, and rubberband it to a rock you want it to attach to. it will be attached in a few days.

[tinyreef]

does it look like a rice cake disc or more like a concrete tablet?

 

if it's more like the concrete tablet type, you're better off using a razor or exacto knife and peeling it off the disc almost like you would peel an apple.

 

if it's more like a rice cake, you might want to try chiseling the disc smaller so you can retain some of the base to allow for an easier glueing/epoxy onto the rockwork.

[Bonsai]

does it look like a rice cake disc or more like a concrete tablet?

 

That's the analogy I was looking for! It looks like a Rice Cake. How exactly would I chisel the unwanted part away? Take it out of the water and try to break it apart? Do it underwater?

 

Will the Keyna Tree have "roots" in this rice cake, or is it only "attaching" itself to the very top layer of the rice cake?

[Ryan_H]

kenya tree is quite possibly the most durable, indestructibly unkillable coral i know of. if you want to cut it off the plug, cut it off. or chisel the plug and make it smaller like TR suggested. trust me, you will have to try VERY hard to kill or even damage it just by removing it. i just ripped, literally ripped, about 50 stalks off rocks in my tank, left them in a bucket for 3 hours then drove to work and dropped them in our coral tank. they all opened in under 20 minutes. trust me me, it will be fine.

 

oh, and if you DO find a way to kill it, please let me know lol.

[svvad]

yank it already LOL

[tinyreef]

How exactly would I chisel the unwanted part away? Take it out of the water and try to break it apart? Do it underwater?

you could put it in a plastic container full of the tank water, set it on the ground and use a hammer and screwdriver to chisel/chop away the visible parts of the disc when viewed from the top.

 

that's the careful way of doing it. i agree with pets that it's a tough coral and you could probably get away with setting it on a workbench and taking the hammer and screwdriver to it in the air too. i just figure oyu should practice good habits now. but also, if this is your first time doing stuff like this, having the container and sw allows you to take your take your time.

 

Will the Keyna Tree have "roots" in this rice cake, or is it only "attaching" itself to the very top layer of the rice cake?

it's only attached to the top. usually. in some rare instances it might be a little spread through the cracks but i wouldn't worry about it even if it was. you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

[Bonsai]

 

Totally my first time doing anything like this. When I do my water change on Sunday, I'll put this guy in my 5 Gallon bucket with the water I take out and chip off most of the frag pad.

 

Looking at the picture ... if I did just pull it off the pad, how would I reattach it? I know someone said use rubber bands ... but how? Could I apply superglue gel directly to the bottom of the coral?

Edited March 6, 2008 by Bonsai

[tinyreef]

ime, superglue fails more often than it succeeds.

 

it's great for mat-type, stolon-type, zoos/palys, and most stony situations. but most softie/alcyonium-types (colt, capnella, lito, lobo, sarcos, sinus, etc.) don't take kindly to glueing. they sometimes tolerate it but ime they tend to slime up to shed off the glue layer.

 

there are techniques for certain instances where glueing is consistently doable but it's not something i can adequately describe here. it's more monkey-see and monkey-do imo. even so, i prefer rubberbanding or bracing between two rocks.

 

search around the aquaculture sub-forum. i believe there's a number of threads that really go in-depth/step-by-step on this. i think there's even a linked video somewhere in there. hth

[Bmcq]

On 3/6/2008 at 4:49 PM, Ryan_H said:

kenya tree is quite possibly the most durable, indestructibly unkillable coral i know of. if you want to cut it off the plug, cut it off. or chisel the plug and make it smaller like TR suggested. trust me, you will have to try VERY hard to kill or even damage it just by removing it. i just ripped, literally ripped, about 50 stalks off rocks in my tank, left them in a bucket for 3 hours then drove to work and dropped them in our coral tank. they all opened in under 20 minutes. trust me me, it will be fine.

 

oh, and if you DO find a way to kill it, please let me know lol.

Saw one of these corals at a local petco for a dumb low price and grabbed it. The "plug" it came on was a literal pebble of asphalt and had some worms or something on it, so i ripped it off the frag and the base of the coral got left behind. Thinking I killed it but will know tomorrow. So far its just gray and withered sitting in my biocube. 

[mcarroll]

2 hours ago, Bmcq said:

Saw one of these corals at a local petco for a dumb low price and grabbed it. The "plug" it came on was a literal pebble of asphalt and had some worms or something on it, so i ripped it off the frag and the base of the coral got left behind. Thinking I killed it but will know tomorrow. So far its just gray and withered sitting in my biocube. 

Sorry to hear about the zombie coral.  

 

Perfect that you're posting in a zombie thread about it though.  🙂 

 

If you have any questions, you can open your own thread (highly encouraged).  Post as many water test results as you have:  ca, alk, mg, no3, po4, salinity, temperature are all more or less important.  Also tell us a little about the tank....how old?  how started?  how cleaned and filtered?  Etc.

[aclman88]

11 hours ago, Bmcq said:

Thinking I killed it but will know tomorrow. So far its just gray and withered sitting in my biocube. 

I can almost guarantee it's fine.  These get eaten and shredded in nature, and they can be fragged by cutting with scissors, so my assumption is it's a little grumpy is all.