Fish Store said not to Frag a Leather Finger coral

[DOJOLOACH]

I have quite a few coral frags that have grown large enough to divide into a smaller frag or two:

 

-Leather Finger Coral

-Zoas/Palys

-Green Star Polyp

-Mushroom

-Hammer Coral

 

The guys at the fish store said toxins would ooze out of the cut and kill everything in my tank. Surely this is true to an extent... But can't I perform the cut outside the aquarium and dip in a coral treatment solution to prevent this?

[Clown79]

I've fragged in tank.

 

To prevent any issue I do a waterchange after fragging my leathers in tank and run fresh carbon.

 

 

[Lauraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

It should be fine as long as you're running carbon (you might also want to do a water change just to be safe).

[Aurortpa]

I’ve fragged leathers outside of tank many times before without any adverse effects.  They heal remarkably fast.  Of course, watch your other livestock closely afterwards just to make sure.

[specore]

Carbon is a good idea with leathers whether fragging or not.  They love to wage chemical warfare on their neighbors.  

[DOJOLOACH]

Okay great, I am running a bag of carbon in there. How often should I be replacing the carbon?

[specore]

I used to run Chemi-Pure when I kept a large toadstool.  Would change it once a month. 

[DOJOLOACH]

Its all the same right? I will just go buy some activated carbon in a jug from the petstore. I believe they are in the form of pellets

[specore]

10 minutes ago, DOJOLOACH said:

Its all the same right? I will just go buy some activated carbon in a jug from the petstore. I believe they are in the form of pellets

Yep.  Chemi-pure is just carbon with a little GFO mixed in.  

[Aurortpa]

Cheaper carbon may not absorb as much as a reef rated carbon.  

 

There are claims that cheaper carbon also might leach phosphates, but according to reef chemists, in reality the amount it might potentially leach is typically less than what a feeding would create.

 

I use a little of carbon and a small cut of Polyfilter in my system—change it monthly. 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, DOJOLOACH said:

Okay great, I am running a bag of carbon in there. How often should I be replacing the carbon?

I change my carbon every 2-3 weeks. Depends on the tank.

 

Good carbon brands that you can buy in bulk and not spend the money on chemipure are Kent, Seachem, and BRS.

[BrentSA]

When doing leather fragging I do it out of the tank and use lugo's dip and like everyone said , carbon from you lfs store , it's super cheap and I found some that almost looks like small chunks of coal and not pressed pellets , get that if you can , the pellets I find releases dust and sometimes when removing it you will see the water run from the bag and it will be black and goes into the rest of the water . Someone mentioned in a previous post about it releasing phosphates and this is more true if you don't change out the coal , eventually it can't absorb anymore "toxins" and will start releasing it back into the system . 

[DOJOLOACH]

Thanks, I'll see if I can't pick some up from BRS! Then lugo's dip... and then attempt this

[Sancho]

Mine seemed to self frag and grow like weeds.

[TeamBouchard]

never frag a leather in the main tank if possible.. i'm in the middle of a big crash... :(

[Clown79]

13 minutes ago, TeamBouchard said:

never frag a leather in the main tank if possible.. i'm in the middle of a big crash... 😞

I just fragged 2 in my tank.

 

Have fragged leathers in a few tanks. 

 

Never had an issue