What to do with my Zoos?

[Salt4Us]

I have this one piece that's got zoos on it (picture is below). The problem is that the piece is too long. I was thinking about breaking the piece in half but I don't know how to go about this. Would it harm the Zoos if I break it in half? Would I need to keep the Zoos submerged while breaking it in half or could I take them out of the water temporarily while I break it in half? Any ideas what tools I would need to break it in half?

Any help or advice is greatly welcomed! Thanks!

John

 

[d9hp]

I dont know about the breaking in half, but the zoos out of the water for a few minutes is fine, just have all the tools ready before bringing them out.

 

[Guest]

Hammer and a cold chisel would be my guess, You may even be able to use a flat head screw driver as the chisel. ( I know, that isn't what a Flat Head Screwdriver is for but, what they hey, who hasn't used one for that at one time or another..)

If the rock or branch it is on is pourous enough, it should be easy to break with little damage..

 

[d9hp]

Yeah, I dont think breaking a rock will be too hard, just use a little braun

 

[fishfreek]

Yep. Just try to not strike the fleshy zoo's when your splitting the rock up.

 

[reefrunner69]

Would I need to keep the Zoos submerged while breaking it in half or could I take them out of the water temporarily while I break it in half? Any ideas what tools I would need to break it in half?

I would do it in a bucket of tank water, having them out of water for a few minutes won't hurt them, but it is a good idea to reduce stress as much as possible when fragging any coral. If the zoos are attatched to the rock via a mat you can simply cut it with a sharp scissors or scalpel. Be very careful when working with zoos, they have a powerful toxin and I would wear gloves while dealing with them directly. michealprater posted a very sad message about this issue not too long ago.

 

[loganj]

You might also want to have a pair of glasses on when you do this. I have noticed, while fragging zoos, that they tend to squirt when mashed or cut. Might be a bad thing to get hit in the eye with this as it probably would contain some of the toxin. Zoos are pretty tough...yours should bounce right back unless you really beat them up badly.
Logan J

 

[d9hp]

Can you give us a picture afterwards?

 

[Guest]

I don't think they were talking about fragging,,,they were talking about breaking the rock so that they could fit it better in the tank....

 

[d9hp]

Yeah, I think you are right.

 

[loganj]

Isn't that a form of fragging? The zoos to tend to spray when mushed as is likely to happen while trying to break the rock. If all else fails, just send the zoos to me and I'll take really good care of them and name them all and......
Logan J

 

[Barney]

Oh man, I wouldn't break that rock. It looks cool enough with it's shape, compared to the boring round one.

 

[Anemoneman]

I agree with Barney.

 

[loganj]

Ok, I confess that I didn't look at the pic. But now that I have, I agree with Barney and Mark...that's a nice rock! If you can incorporate it into the pile somehow, the zoos will reach for the light...even if you cover some of them up. They will migrate to the rock around them too which, quicker than you might think, will give you trading material for that new coral you wanted. Zoos really are pretty tough and a rock full of them will be a big hit at your LFS.
Logan J

 

[Salt4Us]

Wow, don't sign on for a few days and all this! We did split the rock, but only at the end, it has a club thing on one end and being the way the rocks are situated it made it hard to place in the tank, it's worked out well and we only broke off the area that didn't have any zoo's on it, still wish we had a bigger tank, but that's way down the line, the 29 will have to do for now and we are finished with adding anything unless we find some blue zoos which we really want and then we will be done. Now the fun part watching everything grow and cover, the zoo's are very hardy we found, even some that were broken off when we got them and aren't attached to anything yet are still living as they have settled into the sand. Thanks for everyone's help!

The piece we broke off is to the right with the orange zoo's placed on them, the break worked where we placed it created more of a cave for our cleaner shrimp the piggies of the tank, they love it and we are happy with it too!

Kaurene