Tree Coral

I had an algae problem with my tank and had to clean off my live rock. However I have one piece of rock that has a small forest of tree corals growing on it. I was wondering if there is an easy way to transplant these, because they seem pretty well attached. Or is there a way to get the algae off the rock without transplanting the coral. thanks in advance.

 

Wiggles

you could, cut them close to the base using a very sharp blade or scalpel
if they are not to thick stemmed, you could use a decent sized pair of sharp scissors

once you have cut them off
use bridal veil or similar fine mesh wrapped around them to tie them to small pieces of rock rubble ( imagine trying to hold a small bird in place, not so tight as to suffocate it, but tight enough so it does not get away)

place these relocated frags in an area of low flow, so they do not get blown about and out of the mesh ties

they will attach firmly to these in a couple of weeks or so
then you can remove the mesh and relocate to where you want them (where they are happy)


alternatively look at dealing with the algae issue
if you can remove the rock into a small bucket of tank water
using tweezers to remove as much algae as you can get at
and a toothbrush (new and unused) to scrub rocks clean after picking out as much as you can
before transfer waft hand over this rock, which will make corals deflate, that way more rock will be expossed and thus a more thorough cleaning job can be achieved

there after, consider using GFO to strip phosphate from water
increase size and diversification of CUC to eat algae as it develops
watch your feeding regime , cut back if possible as excess food fuels nuisance algaes
and check your lighting, are the lamps aged and thus CT has lowered to a spectrum that promotes better algae growth
also look at skimming if your not already doing so

Steve