Accodently split my torch's skeleton in half.

[WereAllNegan]

My poor nephew accidentally cracked his torch in half while trying to remove it from his rock. Pretty much down the middle. None of the tentacles fell off and did not retract. Were dipping it in idione at the moment but not sure it will survive. I feel like the tentacles would have retracted completely after such a hard blow but surprisingly there's still somewhat open. Should we chuck it or see if it recovers?

 

[fishguy242]

Bummer ,tough break, looks like a very heathly piece,think you have done what you can.
watch it close,hope for best. any signs of BJD,or falling apart ,chuck it... ;) good luck.
upper end of low flow ,for now.

 

[WereAllNegan]

Bummer ,tough break, looks like a very heathly piece,think you have done what you can.
watch it close,hope for best. any signs of BJD,or falling apart ,chuck it... ;) good luck.
upper end of low flow ,for now.

Danm dude thanks for the advise. As of now it's still showing tentacles and about to put both (sigh) pieces in his tank. I'll keep you updated tomorrow.
If you're ever in California, I'd like to buy you a beer.

 

[WereAllNegan]

Bummer ,tough break, looks like a very heathly piece,think you have done what you can.
watch it close,hope for best. any signs of BJD,or falling apart ,chuck it... ;) good luck.
upper end of low flow ,for now.

You're not going to believe this but, both halves are open and have polyp extension. No sign of brown jelly disease or stress. This completely makes me re-evaluate how resistant these animals are. Now we have two cotton candy torches, hurray! lol

that's nature for you.

 

[Pistondog]

You're not going to believe this but, both halves are open and have polyp extension. No sign of brown jelly disease or stress. This completely makes me re-evaluate how resistant these animals are. Now we have two cotton candy torches, hurray! lol

that's nature for you.

I think we underestimate how tough these corals are. If the water params are close, I think they take a lot of abuse and recover.
Good luck with your torch, they want to live!

 

[WereAllNegan]

I think we underestimate how tough these corals are. If the water params are close, I think they take a lot of abuse and recover.
Good luck with your torch, they want to live!

I agree, they've had millions of years to evolve and adapt to certain sitiations and we forget that. Last year I was fragging some zoas and accidently dropped them in a bowl of lentil soup (don't ask me how lol) I thought they were gonners. Here they are today

Lentil soup zoas.$300 a polyp. Just kidding.

 

[WereAllNegan]

Hard to believe but both halves survived (so far) and look happy. Never thought this was possible. And to think I had every one at my local LFS say "chuck it immediately". Glad I listened to that little voice thats always telling me "anything in possible).

 

[Reefing102]

Dang dude. Hopefully they fully recover!

 

[Brandon3152134]

I had this happen to a hammer and I glued it back togther and it's still alive in my tank today

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Agree with @fishguy242

I am shocked that thing has not turned to mush, At this point your biggest fear is bacterial infection. Have an iodine-based dip on hand. Lowish flow. I would personally be dipping it preemptively.
This is major trama That just opened up a bunch of flesh that has never been opened before. And I'm not quite sure how it's even inflating unless it had mostly split already.

Super cool. Please keep us updated.

 

[WereAllNegan]

Dang dude. Hopefully they fully recover!

Me too, always a possibility of decline but so far looking good. Thanks man

 

[Hairyteeth]

I did this to a torch and it pulled through no problem!! Lookin

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I did this to a torch and it pulled through no problem!! Lookin

How far along in the splitting process was it?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Looks great so far, fingers crossed. Your treatment right away might have helped it push through the stress.

 

[fishguy242]

How far along in the splitting process was it?

check out 1st pic, sheared rt down center... :oops:

 

[JGT]

While the methodology was a bit caveman like :) isn’t this how we frag a torch, but with a saw?

 

[JRCooke]

Done something similar myself recently, tried to remove a lord from a plug and shattered the skeleton on one head, broke into three bits. Luckily didn’t tear the head. Glued it back together and glued it to the rock, seems to be doing well.
Hope yours works out.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

check out 1st pic, sheared rt down center... :oops:

I see that but I also see that the skeleton had already started pushing up in a cross dividing the heads. The calcium skeletal deposits were already between both sides and it looks like it tore that down the center which is extremely lucky, or it was more advanced in splitting and that was already a very thin connection. Super cool however.

 

[MERKEY]

Sucks but definitely kind of cool;)

Some vendors/hobbiests put glue over the exposed area and let it heal.

There are actually people doing this on purpose and grafting torches and having success. Coralking on IG is the best at it and is doing frogspanws/octos and scolis as well.

Like @Lost in the Sauce @fishguy242 were saying keep it clean and watch for BJD and keep your fingers crossed....oh and definitely keep us updated!

 

[WereAllNegan]

Agree with @fishguy242

I am shocked that thing has not turned to mush, At this point your biggest fear is bacterial infection. Have an iodine-based dip on hand. Lowish flow. I would personally be dipping it preemptively.
This is major trama That just opened up a bunch of flesh that has never been opened before. And I'm not quite sure how it's even inflating unless it had mostly split already.

Super cool. Please keep us updated.

Me too, I honestly didn't expect a recovery and definately not in less than 24 hrs. The digestive tract which is the spiral looking white filaments inside the skeleton were completely exposed and some just floated away. Crazy its still alive.

Not sure if to dip everyday since moving it might cause more stress or leave it for atleast a week and then dip. It's a hard choice. What do you think?