If the mother is healthy she should show no signs of stress within an hour of the cutting. Tips. If cutting a toadstool a lot of people have really good luck cutting a chunk from the middle then cutting from the edges. I know a lot of people that cut mother colonies in half from the top to the base, splitting the stalk. When you get to the base, leave a little connected. It will seperate on it's own. That way it stays mounted while it heals. A lot of softies (mushrooms, zoa, paly, leathers) can be cut directly from the rock they were on leaving a portion of the base or stalk. The "head" can be transfered and will continue to grow. Babies will grow from the leftover base, often times multiple babies will grow as a sign from the stressor. The stressor will cause them to want to multiply, strength in numbers. Basically they divide into many as not all will survive in the wild. As a bonus for you in a controlled environment, most will live. Mushrooms like ricordia can be cut with scissors right through their mouths. You can cut them like a pizza up to 8 times. All the little pieces that were in contact with the mouth will grow into new shrooms. A lot of leathers can be propogated by wrapping a rubber band around them, they will split around the band. Another method for holding down good sized pieces of leathers is to pierce the base with a toothpick and then rubberband down the toothpick. I've heard good results of sewing the base with cotton thread and wrapping it around a rock. The thread dissolves in about a month. If possible with small shroom or zoa frags, place them in a small tub and hang that near the top of the aquarium. the water will pass over them keeping them healthy but the tub will protect them from being blown around. Place small rubble or large sand in the tub. As they grow onto the small shards, it will give you a place to glue them to a larger rock that can be placed back into the main display.
KEEP IN MIND THAT PALY'S AND ZOA (SOME MUSHROOMS AND LEATHERS AS WELL) CONTAIN THE WORLDS MOST TOXIC CHEMICALS KNOWN AS PALYTOXINS. THESE TOXINS CAN SEND YOU TO A HOSPITAL IN A MATTER OF MINUTES. THERE ARE THREADS ON OTHER SITES ABOUT A MAN THAT LOST ALL MUSCLE CONTROL IN HIS ARMS FOR ALMOST 2 YEARS. DO NOT EAT, SMOKE, LICK YOUR FINGERS, RUB YOUR EYES, RUB YOUR NOSE, USE A RESTROOM WITHOUT WASHING WELL FIRST. THE TOXINS CAN EASILY BE ABSORBED THROUGH ANY MUCOUS MEMBRANE SUCH AS THE EYES, EARS, MOUTH OR GENETALIA. AS WELL, PROTECT YOUR FAMILIES PETS FROM THIS. THREADS ALSO READ ABOUT A DOG DIEING WITHIN HOURS AFTER EATING A ZOA THAT WAS FLOATING IN A BUCKET.
I cut the finger leather. It was pretty large I would say about the size of a soccer ball. I just cut the side with about 6 fingers hanging off the side and I was able to get a small part of the stump. The host coral looks good still. It already opened its polyps up again.
Thanks a bunch.
Roger
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tropical Fish Keeping
597.8K posts
83.7K members
Since 2006
forum community dedicated to tropical fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about species,breeding, health, behavior, aquariums, adopting, care, classifieds, and more! Open to fish, plants and reptiles living in freshwater or saltwater environments.