Removing Acan coral from frag plug.

[ReefGoat]

So my new Acans come in tomorrow. They appear to be on frag plugs from the WYSIWYG pictures. Maybe I am just worrying too much but are these hard to remove from the plug? Like are their skeletons really brittle? I'd hate to destroy them while removing them from the plug. I plan on using a very sharp razor blade and wedging it between the plug and the base of the skeleton and trying to pry it slowly. Is this a good plan? 

[biofool12]

I tried that once and ended up cracking the Acan skeleton. Luckily the flesh did not rip apart. The Acan did not really react to it which was surprising. I would definitely not try prying it and just leaving it alone. 

[ReefGoat]

I've thought about it and I think what i'm going to do is use one of my very sharp benchmade knives and a ball peen hammer and kind of slowly and carefully chisel away as much as i can around the outer perimeter and at least give it some jagged natural edges rather than the machined circular edges of the stock plug. That way when the coraline finally grows over it at least it will blend into the rock work and look more random and natural.  

[Clown79]

Why bother risking the acan which is easily torn?

The scan will quickly cover the plug, just snap.off the stick of placing the scan on the sandbed

[ReefGoat]

That's what I'm going to do is leave it on the plug but modify the plug itself. I'm going to snap off the stick and glue it to the rock work.

[burtbollinger]

no harm in first attempting to give the acan's base a single moderately firm push off the frag plug...but if it seems too solid and does not detach...best to leave it be...you should know quickly if you are gonna damage the actual coral.  worst case for me has been not giving up soonered and ending up pushing a thumb thru the coral skeleton and kiling it....avoid doing that.

 

if not the above,  maybe just trim off the bottom peg part of the plug.  This has worked well IME...

 

[ReefGoat]

That's what I'm going to do is trim off the peg part. 

[burtbollinger]

2 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

That's what I'm going to do is trim off the peg part. 

agreed thats the safest approch, but very little risk giving it a push off the plug...in a perfect world, the glue gives...it clean breaks off the frag.  I'd put the odds of that happening at 75%.

 

if, after that mild but firm push, it doesnt budge...THEN go with your plan.

just my 2 cents.

[Kellie in CA]

9/10 times it will just pop off with a flathead screwdriver.  I have no frag plugs in my tank. 

[Aurortpa]

Yep, just use the widest head flat head so that the weight is even distributed and you significantly lessen any chances of it breaking. 

[Oldsalt01]

Whenever I try to remove a coral from plug I go slowly and do it over water so that if it does pop off it doesn't end up face down on the floor. Learned that the hard way!

[jamescstein]

I've also used a cutoff wheel on a dremel to cut the top of a frag plug in half to make it thinner.