How would you cut a Maxima off a frag plug?

[broke1]

I purchased a smaller Maxima that has obviously been grown on a plug for ease of movement at the LFS. I've had it in the sand for a few weeks, but its time to get him up on the rocks. The foot isn't attached well, but would you cut it close to the shell or plug?

[JRR1285]

If I was going to cut it I would make it as close to the plug as possible. This way you run the lowest risk of damaging the byssal gland. If you can cut the peg off the plug and treat the disc as "rubble" it may be a safer option? Or leave it on the plug and it might detach on its own.

[albano]

Not an expert, but I don't think it's a good idea to cut it off

[MondoBongo]

i would avoid cutting in favor of ice. this was a tip a fellow poster here had passed along to me.

i froze about two cups of tank water and then broke it up very fine. i gently packed it around the base of the clam, about 1/5" high and let it sit for a few minutes. it detached on it's own.

you can give that a try, it is much less invasive than cutting. although if it is already attached, might not be a bad idea to just glue the frag plug somewhere and leave the clam be all together.

[broke1]

I will try the Ice. Unfortunately the plug is huge and the clam is attached at the very end of it so it hangs off the side. I may just try to cut the majority of the plug off and just put what's left on the rock.

[CowDoc09]

How did the ice trick work out?

[csb123]

Careful not to tug/damage the byssal gland. It will likely die.

[OrionN]

You can slowly push the clam to one side to expose the threads. Once you see the threads, you can cut it one by one. Just don't cut the fleshy part of the foot. The thread, like our hair, should cause no problem. After a few threads are cut, the rest of them should be expose easy no problem.