Trimming Corals?

[Special_Ed]

I have a very large soft leather in my tank. I don't know the specific species but it resembles a moose antler. It is doing extremely well. The issue is it covers a full third of my tank limiting my room to add additional species. Is there a way to effectively trim this coral back without killing it? It it attached to approximately 3 different large pieces of live rock. Any help appreciated.

[Ratpack]

No problem. Take a very sharp object such as a razor or scissors if they are sharp and just cut off the "antlers". They can then be attached to rubble rock and kept to have more corals or sold to other hobbyists. LFS will take them a lot of the time for credit which is good when buying supplies or other corals. I would just run carbon in the tank for a few days afterwards since you are doing this in the tank. It will probably be mad for a few days, but it will grow the antlers back in due time. Then trim again for more corals.

[Rhizo]

Its rather hard to kill a softie coral. Just make sure you have some kind of eye protection.

[Salamander]

Leathers can be toxic, especially when cut. If you can trim it out of the tank it would be best. If you have mostly softies I wouldn't worry too much and just run some carbon but if you have SPS I'd think removing it from the tank would be your best option.

[Gdevine]

Don't frag the entire animal in one shot! Frag one or two small branches a week or two apart and in time you will have it just where you want it! Then it grows back again...:)