Fragging Turbinaria peltata

[scootingblenny]

is there a way to frag a Turbinaria peltata? i did not know that often times detritus gets piled up inside the cup of it and needs to be manually taken out. so when i realized this i immediatly cleaned spots that had detritus to find dead spots. that was about a month ago. since then more flesh has continually died around the spots.
i want to know if there is a way to frag the part that flesh isn't dying or if fragging it will only be like having a giant dead spot.
Also, how can i stop it from dying? what happens is algae grows on the dead spots and flesh can't grow back. What can i do?
thanks

[scootingblenny]

anyone on how i can save him?

[dobejazz]

Sorry Scootingblenny I'm sure it can be fragged I just don't know how

[Sambo]

I would give it a go with either a dremel or a hobbyists hacksaw, as long as you can get the coral out of the tank easily. Be brave - if the dieback is significant it sounds like you don't have much to lose. Take a small container of tankwater with you to dunk the coral in regularly to stop it drying out, arrange it on a towel, plan your cuts, then cut away. Rinse the frags in the container of tank water then glue them to some small live rock pieces with superglue (let it dry for a full 60 secs) and put them back in the tank at the bottom to re-acclimate before raising them back up to the height they were before. Oh - take pics for us when you do it so we can see!

[Geoff]

i have accidentally broken one before. knocked a good 2" diameter bit chuck out of a cup coral. a bit of die off around the edge initially but both pieces started growing back. it is not nearly as fragile as you think.

G~

[hng]

My neighbor gave me a frag of his, literally took a hammer and chisel to it and broke off a piece. The tissue grew back quickly and it has grown 5 new polyps in one month.