fragging corals

[Amstar]

actually I have a couple of corals that have fallen off their rocks or I have cut them from the main coral. On is a large toadstool mushroom )about 5 inches across but its only the top) the other is a finger leather (i believe)  I have tried to stick a toothpick through them and rubberband the tooth pick to the rock and wait for the coral to attach.  the coral dies where I stuck the tooth pick through and the coral is back to floating/moving around the tank as it wishes.

what is a good way to attach them to anything??  this is really driving me nuts.

[MechanicalEngineer]

I've always just superglued my leathers.  They always seemed mad for a couple of days, then went back to normal.

Another thing you can do is use those plastic clips that bind the long side of a stack of paper together...cut a length of it, and clip the leather inside of it...then glue the clip to a rock.

One last thing, is sandwich the leather between two rocks with a rubberband holding the sandwich together.  Eventually the coral will attach itself between the rocks.

Hope that helps!
Nikki

[mrs. justcoral]

I've always just superglued my leathers.  They always seemed mad for a couple of days, then went back to normal.

Super glue?!? You're crazy!!

Use needle and thread - thread through the leather, then tie it to something.

[larrynews]

i to use super glue, when i had a colt coral one time everytime i tied it to a rock it kept dropping for the point of the stitch

[MechanicalEngineer]

Superglue is harmless & easy.  Might be a bit messy, but it sure beats threading a needle!!  Just make sure that the superglue is not exothermic (releases heat.)  I use the Superglue Gel with Cyanoacrylate. 

If it's good enough to use on my cuts, I'll use it on my coral's cuts.     No way I'm putting a needle through me!!!

[Amstar]

whats the name of the superglue that you use.  and how do you apply it?  find a rock, dry the coral and the rock.  dab some glue wait a few seconds, drop it back into the tank

[Riderc82]

I use Loctite Super Glue Gel on Stonies,  you can get it at walmart for around $3.  I've never tried it on leather's because I've heard it is hard to get a good bond due to the slime leathers produce.

[MechanicalEngineer]

For superglue, I just use the Big Lots Special.     Just Coral sells a good superglue as well (which can be applied underwater).  Just make sure that whatever you use is cyanoacrylate.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate 

I pat dry a rock in the spot I want to glue the coral.  For Leathers, less is good with superglue.  They are harder to glue due to the slime & expansion, so just place a small dot on the dry spot on the rock.  Let the glue set for a few seconds.  Remove some of the excess water from the coral in the spot that you're gluing.  Set the coral on the glue.  With leathers, use as small as a surface area as possible.  Otherwise, when the coral expands in the water, it will pull itself free of the glue.  Let the coral sit for about 20 seconds outside of the water for the glue to fully set.  Place back in the tank and voila!  The sooner you can get the coral back in the water, the better.  Place in a place of medium to higher flow to remove the mucous...and run some carbon.

I've always used superglue on everything from green star polyps to SPS just due to the ease and inexpense. 

I've never lost a coral this way.  If anyone has had negative experiences with this, please post, as I don't want to lead anyone astray!

[saltybuckeye]

I have always just used plastic tooth picks and rubberbanded them to a rock.Done it many times without losing one.

[UDJustin]

I also have used super glue with no problems

[mdcoblentz]

I've always rubberbanded the coral directly to the rock. usually the leather actually grows around the rubberband.  I then just cut the rubberband and slide it through the coral.  haven't lost a leather doing it that way once.  I only superglue my stonies and paly's/zoas.

[Amstar]

I have tried just using a rubber band... the part of the coral that was rubber banded to the rock die and the rest of the coral came off the rock.  same thing when i put a tooth pick through the coral and tied the coral to the rock with the rubber band.  i was having some luck with superglue (about 5 days) then I looked the other day and the coral came off the plug.  im going to try the plug again

[slandis3]

what kind of flow do you have in the tank your frags are in? If you have high flow you may want to back it down for a while just to give the coral time to attach itself to the plug.