Need advice on cutting a leather

[lowsingle]

I have a neon green leather that has grown to almost a basketball size and needs trimming. I was thinking of cutting it at the base to remove a large portion of it.....has anyone done this and what did you use to cut it?

 

Thanks for the advice,

Darren

 

Ps. Anyone want the cut piece?

[smh254]

I think you could just take a pair scissors or a razor and cut a piece off from anywhere and it’ll grow.

 

 

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[YHSublime]

Yup. Just cut with scissors. Or a knife, or anything sharp. 

[dmatt56]

Go to the dollar store and buy a new pair of sharp scissors.

[malacoda]

I just did my neon green leather last weekend. New clean Xacto blade (in an aluminum handle). Trimmed it in tank (unable to remove the rock it's on without upsetting a ton of other stuff). Basically cut off a doughnut-shape ... leaving just the stalk and silver-dollar-sized 'cap' on the top of it. Only took ~3 minutes.

[TonyInVa]

I use an Xacto knife as well.

[lowsingle]

Thanks all, I have free corals in the swap forum if you want something

 

Darren

[zygote2k]

Use some heavy kitchen shears and trim around the stalk and make a large donut.

Cut into smaller sections and attach with thread and super glue. Usually makes two-headed frags...

[Origami]

I've got a neon green toadstool leather (genus Sarcophyton) in my frag tank that I trim about once a year for frag fest. I'll typically do like zygote2k has described: Cut a donut-like ring from the top (the capitulum) with shears, a scalpel or razor, or even a sharp kitchen knife - and then take cuttings from it. Because the stalk has gotten so thick (it's probably 3-1/2 to 4 inches across the stalk), I tried something different this year. In addition to trimming the capitulum, I cut the trunk in half, parallel to the tank floor, and sewed the old capitulum back down to a large rock where it could attach. I left the original trunk in the tank. All this was done out of the water so I could rinse the slime away before putting it back in the tank. I also did a quick post-surgery iodine dip on the coral before returning it. The old trunk looked really odd at first. After several weeks, I began to see new polyps develop on the original trunk while the old capitulum seems to have tolerated the aggressive surgery.

 

The lesson is, they're pretty durable corals. To learn more about Toadstool Leathers, check out this article by one of our past speakers, James Fatherree. 

[dbartco]

I will be glad to take some pieces if you have extra. I will be reintroducing a school tank at Cedar Lane Elementary, and will be looking for some donations again. The amount of care at the previous school was "lacking", so my wife now took up the task to put it in a new (old) school, after many years of me prodding!

[dbartco]

i''l also offer some advice. I like doing the donut thing with large corals. Leave some of the top. I have cut the entire capitulum off smaller ones, and the stalk seems to recover fine. But with large ones, I have sometimes had the stalks wither away. I don't think they get enough nourishment or something when that happens. The top capitulum itself always seems to do fine.