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Fragging advice


SuncrestReef

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I'm still cleaning up the brown jelly syndrome in my tank.  My Hollywood Stunner was very easy to trim off the dead areas.  However, my Green Slimer has several branches with varying degrees of damage.  Since I've never fragged any of my corals (still new to the hobby) I'm looking for guidance on what and how much I should cut off.  Here's the full view of the damaged frag:

Screen Shot 2018-12-31 at 1.35.05 PM.png

And here's a close-up detail of some of the damaged areas:

Screen Shot 2018-12-31 at 1.35.28 PM.png

I'm wondering if I should just cut off the most damaged tips (at the red lines) or cut off whole branches (at the yellow lines)?

Screen Shot 2018-12-31 at 1.33.47 PM.png

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I wouldn't suggest fragging unhappy SPS because it tends to have poor chances.  Coral that has died back and then had the conditions corrected will regrow over it's old dead skeleton much faster than having to create it from scratch.  If you are merely trying to salvage the specimen, break it in to individual branches but I wouldn't go trying to remove dead tips.  That's going to create a lot more damaged surface for infection to set in.  Generally you'd want at least 1-1.5" for acro's as well.  Multi-headed would be better.  Final summation, this isn't a good candidate right now for fragging apart.  

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3 minutes ago, Lexinverts said:

I would frag off the brown tips with bone cutters, about a quarter inch into the healthy tissue. So, I would frag between your red and yellow lines, closer to the red lines.

Good luck!

I would also try to give each colony a quick dip in Melafix—2 to 3 minutes, no more than that.

Jeff should have Melafix, otherwise Petco usually has it.

Melafix is harsh, but I recommend it because it is the only thing I have heard people have used on brown jelly (usually with lps).

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Thanks to all for your input.

Unfortunately I came down with the flu, so my corals aren't the only ones who are sick.  I spent 18 hours in bed over the past 24 hours, so it might be a while before I get out of the house to pick up any Melafix.  Hopefully yesterday's dipping in Revive will at least slow down the progression.  In hindsight I wish I would have examined the ciliates again under the microscope after dipping to see if they were still moving, but unfortunately I didn't take any additional samples.

I'll post an update once I get back on my feet.

Happy New Year!

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I'd like to give a big Thank You to Brian @pdxmonkeyboy for the Melafix & fragging tools, and Jeff @CuttleFishandCoral for the house call & advice.  I'm always impressed by how reefers go out of their way to help each other in this hobby.  Here's to hoping 2019 is a successful year in reef keeping!

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