Fragging nightmare...

[Xirxes23]

So i decided to frag some of my zoas to make room for more growth and make some cash. A lot of the colonies i had in mind were small polyp zoas.

Used a scalpel to attemtp to cut the mat away from rock...HORRIBLE! it sliced through the center of most of them, as they were small polyps (fire n ice, zombie eyes). I did get about 5 segments of mat off with the right amount of polyps, but i left quite a few polyps as wasted much in the process...

Is there a better way? Should i just dremel down the rock and slice the mat where i have to?

That was a nightmare, and i should have paid attention to the fact that the demonstration i saw this technique on was LARGER polyps.

 

[Pitcom]

There are lots of way to frags zoas. I use a small dremmel or bone cutter, and cut the rock (depending on how thick). I just then cut the mat. If the rock is easy to scrape then i use a razor blade and scrape up a bit of rock under the mat and then slice. Using a small dremmel with tiny wafer wheels is soo easy though.

 

[reefboy]

i usaly cut mat with razor then shave rock with cutters to get off.

 

[Zoanuts]

We have had great success with the wet band saw.

 

[Hypertek99]

I use a dremel with diamond cutoff discs. Works great i cut a line of where i want to frag and use a done cutter to finish the rest. Sometimes when i frag the zoas turn to mush and lose water but i put the cut end and super glue around where i think it's losing water from and the polyps will suck water back in and get puffy again.

 

[demonsperm]

Cutting them doent mean they die, if they have part of the mouth they may grow back. and any zoos not cut will be fine.

 

[Weetabix7]

I use a dremel w/a diamond cut-off wheel to slice the rock under the mat, then cut through from the top with an Xacto knife.
Went through lots of trial and error before settling on this method, and it works great for me.

 

[gflat65]

Hammer. Chisel. Razor blade. Vent frustration...

 

[J. Montgomery]

I tend to use a scalpel and/or small tweezers. I look for polyps that are a little loose that I can get some leverage under. I use the dull back side of the scalpel to slowly pull the polyps loose from the rock. Once you get a couple off, then you can grab 'em and pull them off in clusters. Use the sharp side of the scalpel to cut any attachments between polyps.

If the zoas are really tight against the rock, they don't get fragged

 

[Hypertek99]

Yep just because they are all shriveled up doesn't mean they are dead. Keep them you'll be amazed as they will pop back.