LPS riding a CUC snail

[aaromano]

Kinda reminds me of a lobophyllia or maybe an acan

 

[MatthewJ]

I think you might have to sacrifice that snail. Unfortunate, but it'll soon be weighed down too much to move anyway, and the coral is worth saving & mounting somewhere else.

That is so cool. I would just glue that sucker down somewhere. Put a couple empty shells around it so the hermit can migrate to a new shell.

 

[Reefmack]

It's not a hermit - it can't relocate to another shell LOL!

 

[motocrosstcw]

well that is the coolest snail ever lol its about the same as my buddys snail its huge it looks like a rock in his tank.. its about 4 1/2"s around and is about 4"s tall its a giant....

 

[MatthewJ]

It's not a hermit - it can't relocate to another shell LOL!

hah, i was thinking he said it was a hermit.
no matter, I'd still glue it down. It's the thought that counts.:grind:

 

[RSM2008]

Re: But what is it?

Thanks for all of your comments. It's cleaning weekend so I think I'll sacrifice the snail and glue the shell and the attached LPS to a frag disk. What product do you suggest I use to attach it? Is it a putty? I have never fragged before.

 

[Reefmack]

RSM2008 - I usually use a combination of Super Glue Gel and the epoxy putty. If I was doing what you'll be doing I would knead up a ball of epoxy putty, then put a decent blob of SG Gel on the frag disk and press the putty down on that, then make an indentation in the top of the putty you just put on the frag disk and put a blob of SG Gel into that. Dry off the bottom of the remaing snail shell (or the bottom of the calcium base of the LPS), then press that onto the blob of glue on the putty, and put it in the tank. Keeping the LPS is a small amount of tank water till the last step is good to keep it from drying out. The putty is great for conforming to the uneven texture of coral bases and rock, but I've never had much success with the putty bonding well by itself. So I use the Super Glue Gel to help with the bonding.

The putty will start to harden in about 5 - 10 minutes, so be aware of that. Both the putty and the SG Gel will further harden and bond underwater.

 

[ReefLady]

That's pretty cool.

If it's an LPS, is there any way you can get a razor blade between the shell and the skeleton? (I can't believe I'm feeling bad for the snail). ;-)

 

[Reefmack]

Good idea ReefLady. I was feeling bad about the snail too. Maybe there is a better way to get the LPS off. If the base isn't too big a coral clippers or similar might work.

 

[ReefLady]

Maybe a dremel? LOL - the lengths we'll go to. ;-)