I'm a bad fragger

[DaveS]

Sometimes when I frag my zoas/palys I get bad frags. They get this layer of white stuff over them and the polyps eventually die. Here's a pic from a batch:

 

 

Now I'm pretty sure it's not the coral as the colony is perfectly healthy. Also, some of the frags make it so it's not like all the frags do this one time while they all survive another time. Anyone know the answer to what I'm doing wrong? I think I have an idea but not quite sure of it yet and wanted to hear other thoughts on this.

 

Thanks.

[yauger]

When I frag Zoas I usually cut the base mat with a razor first then use bone cutters to break the rock with the zoas on them. Unless the zoas are on glass, marble tile or any flat hard surface then I will use a razor scraper to remove them. Sorry to hear about your frags, its a learning curve and I'm sure you'll get better with practice.

 

Cheers!

[Coral Hind]

When I frag my mine I place them in a strong current area to prevent infection. I also do not place all the newly cut frags in the same spot. Once one gets infected it seems to spread very fast to the other frags since they are not complety healed.

 

You may try to place them on eggcrate to get them up off the bottom. The decomposing detritis will be full of bacteria and fungi which could cause an infection.

 

I have dipped zoanthids in Furan2 to help stop some infections.

Edited August 20, 2008 by Coral Hind

[blaze98]

I have dipped zoanthids in Furan2 to help stop some infections.

 

I haven't been able to cure the white fungus with Furan 2, but it did wonders when one of my colonies got zoa pox....those little white spots all over the polyps.

 

 

I place them in a strong current area to prevent infection.

 

 

I think this is also very helpful.

[ctenophore]

That's a bacterial infection and as others pointed out above, is best prevented with higher flow and clean water. You can try dipping them in betadine (iodine) 3mL/L, the various coral dips on the market, or potassium permanganate @ 1g/5gal. I've found that once this white infection starts, it is very difficult to cure.