Zoa Fragging Tips

[jbannick22586]

Any Tricks of the trade for increasing survival rate of 1 polyp zoa frags. IE best methods to cut, glue and mount. Any help would be appreciated

 

[el richie]

I just use a razor blade to cut and get it off the plug. Gluing them i just put a little blob of krazy glue gel from the dollar store and place the polyp on the glue very lady like so it doesnt get glue all over the polyp, then place it on some medicoral

 

[Bandomo]

Last week I fragged roughly 10 individual polyps and had the poorest survival rate thus far

These are the new changes I'm planning to make.
1. Use the razor blade for just one fragging session. Normally I wipe clean and reuse for the next fragging session. Not no more..
2. I found poor success using Two little fishes CorAffix glue. It takes to long to set and is also much thinner consistency than the cheap $1 Gel tubes. More often times than not, it covers the entire polyp with crazy glue. I went
out a purchase the new Ecotech crazy glue to give it a try.
3. I'll be doing a light Lugols dip directly after fragging. I will follow with a slightly more concentrated dip after 3 days.
4. After fragging, I'll place the frag in low light with moderate flow to ease the recovering process.


Please let me know if anyone has any better suggestions. Thanks

 

[euphoricgear]

I wouldn't really suggest 1 polyp frags since it has less of a survival rate.
When I frag my zoas/palys, usually I look for the ones that are about to come off and just pull them off the rocks.
For the ones you have to cut, I usually try to get part of the rock with it if I can or slowly pull the whole zoa with the mat along with it.
I just use BSI IC-Gel from a hobby store for gluing. Put a dot on the plug and place the polyp then dip in your tank to so the glue will dry.

Good luck.

 

[Akwarius]

+1 to above.

Polyps without an attached coenchyme have a very poor survival rate. I often see people selling or trading single polyp frags where the zoa is on top of a mountain of superglue like a cherry on ice cream. I personally would ask for a better frag.

Dremel tools are underrated in terms of fragging. A diamond wheel bit can precisely slice right through a ceramic plug or live rock from underneath, leaving the zoanthid colony untouched.

 

[larryl]

A good clean cut is the best tip!

 

[lpskeeper]

what i do is when i get a new high end zoa i know i will frag latter. i will take super glue and put a thick layer all around the polyp. this way as they grow over the superglue. when i frag them i use a razorblade and cut the super glue base with the polyp. that way a can just glue the old super glue base to a frag plug and this takes away 90% of the stress of fraging.

Takes a little pre planing but i have yet to kill a zoa this way yet. And i frag alot.

 

[jbannick22586]

Thanks for all the different tips, I really like that idea lpskeeper, going to have to try that in the future!

 

[larryl]

I've used the super glue trick in the past very effective!

 

[MBG75]

what i do is when i get a new high end zoa i know i will frag latter. i will take super glue and put a thick layer all around the polyp. this way as they grow over the superglue. when i frag them i use a razorblade and cut the super glue base with the polyp. that way a can just glue the old super glue base to a frag plug and this takes away 90% of the stress of fraging.

Takes a little pre planing but i have yet to kill a zoa this way yet. And i frag alot.

Great idea! I'll have to try that out.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[FaviaFreak]

try to get the razor underneath the mat and take a thin layer of rock with it

 

[shecter]

i cut the rock around the polyp and break the rock off with the polyp. then just slice where the crack is and its good. my frags are usually open 10 to 15 minutes after they are cut.