Green slimer Burt tips cut or not cut?

[moz71]

So my green slimer burnt some tips due to an alk and cal swing and now I got stable again. There is some burnt tips that have algae growing on them but rest of coral is healthy. I read that some suggest I cut off the tips and wondering do I really have to do that. Would it recover without cutting? Or wouldn’t algae still grow on the cut exposed skeleton? Any advice? Thank you

 

[moz71]

Sorry for double pics!

 

[moz71]

Bump

 

[guylaga]

If it was me, I would leave it and let the coral regrow over the dead skeleton.

But you could trip the dead skeleton back just a bit so it does not have as far to grown over.

 

[elorablue]

I've had a couple of Acro tips get damaged and get algae covered . I always snip the tip and they grow back better than ever. There's some belief that snipping axials can actually spur growth. I believe this is purely anecdotal though.

 

[HB AL]

Cut them off. They will heal over really fast versus waiting for it to grow over the dead, algae covered section.

 

[moz71]

Thanks all. I may try an experiment and snip one or two of worse ones and leave the others and see how it each grows back.

 

[HB AL]

Thanks all. I may try an experiment and snip one or two of worse ones and leave the others and see how it each grows back.

Give it a go and post the results. I've tried it before and the cut pieces always heal and start regrowing quickly

 

[moz71]

Give it a go and post the results. I've tried it before and the cut pieces always heal and start regrowing quickly

I will post how it goes! I never cut corals before so hope I do it well. I do have a proper cutter but never used it before. Lol. I also read some people superglue the cut edge. Should I do that?

 

[elorablue]

I will post how it goes! I never cut corals before so hope I do it well. I do have a proper cutter but never used it before. Lol. I also read some people superglue the cut edge. Should I do that?

It’s much easier than you think. You can do it with a decent pair of scissors if need be. Don’t bother with glue, it’ll heal itself in a couple of days. Remember, this is one way corals replicate on the reef, some bigass fish knocks off a branch and starts growing where it lands and the colony heals and grows again. Nobody down there with crazy glue lol

 

[moz71]

It’s much easier than you think. You can do it with a decent pair of scissors if need be. Don’t bother with glue, it’ll heal itself in a couple of days. Remember, this is one way corals replicate on the reef, some bigass fish knocks off a branch and starts growing where it lands and the colony heals and grows again. Nobody down there with crazy glue lol

Lol your right!

 

[terraincognita]

you could even cut a half an inch further down and make a new frag ;-)

 

[rossco]

These tips on the green slimer in my frag tank were all burnt a month or so ago due to an alk jump and were all clipped.

This one I missed, the tip at the bottom of the orange BamBam Zoas.
It definitely is faster for re-growth to clip the tips, especially on this particular coral.

 

[moz71]

Give it a go and post the results. I've tried it before and the cut pieces always heal and start regrowing quickly

It’s much easier than you think. You can do it with a decent pair of scissors if need be. Don’t bother with glue, it’ll heal itself in a couple of days. Remember, this is one way corals replicate on the reef, some bigass fish knocks off a branch and starts growing where it lands and the colony heals and grows again. Nobody down there with crazy glue lol

These tips on the green slimer in my frag tank were all burnt a month or so ago due to an alk jump and were all clipped.

This one I missed, the tip at the bottom of the orange BamBam Zoas.
It definitely is faster for re-growth to clip the tips, especially on this particular coral.

Well I can say I agree with you all. The cut tips I see already started to fill over with new tissue and the ones I didn’t look even worse. And one tip that I didn’t cut enough off is not doing much yet. My SPECULATION is I seen a film or slime come off the coral when I cut and wonder if it covered the clean cut to prevent algae to grow back to heal. Maybe it’s own protection mechanism when things break in nature but if algae takes hold it’s harder to overcome. Just my theory! I will stick with that! Lol. Thanks for your help!

 

[G Santana]

Thanks all. I may try an experiment and snip one or two of worse ones and leave the others and see how it each grows back.

Post results

 

[KGV]

I feel that cutting tips depends on whether the coral is in growth or not. If it's growing well, cut the tips. If not growing, let it be (in particular if it's a small dormant frag). Overall, cutting the tips is not always needed. A coral with good growth will grow over the dead tissue. Importantly, it's good to have some tangs that nibble the algae of the tips. If there are long wavy algae on the tips, the coral will never be able to grow over it.

 

[homer1475]

I have found, specially with my slimer, if you keep the algae off the dead tips, it will grow over the dead tissue pretty fast.

If I notice it's not growing over, I will cut it. Heals over and grows again with no issues.