Keeping Birdsnest healthy

[Texreefer]

Allan asked me to start this thread to describe what I do to keep my birdnest healthy so here goes. Its JMO but it works for me.
birdsnest are generally bushy corals..in low flow they tend to have thin branches and will make Many branches. in higher flow they will tend to have thicker branches as with most corals. one thing about bridsnest, if branches grow into each other, they fuse together and continue growing. hard laminar flow and or surface restrictions will cause the the coral to branch even more.. what happens in this case is the interior of the coral becomes very dense with branches and if left that way, will it will thicken even more as the branches fuse together. this "thickening" reduces the amount of light and flow that can reach the interior of the coral... and will usually cause its eventual decline... what i do is simple.. i just thin out the interior branches.. kind of like pruning your own little Bonsai tree. this keeps the branches from growing too thick and allows light to continue the reach the base of the coral which is where most issues start with birdsnests.. thats.. it.. oh, and it can make for some interesting looking corals if you use your imagination while pruning.

[allan]

I'm thinking you probably didn't take any pictures, huh?

Same concept as when trimming a tree? a few of the minor outside branches, a few of the lower primarary branches. I've got a birdnest frag that's hidden in the back of the tank and down on the sand. Pretty much to hide it because I hate to see it die. Last time I ended up with so many frags that I was giving them away. I looked back there the other day and it was kind of bigger but didn't look worse for wear.

If I post a picture of it tonight, would you be able to identify some of the brances that should be trimmed out?

[Texreefer]

I didn't get any pictures. but you can basically identify the 2,3 or 4 main "trunks" and trim most of the branches off except for the ends. you end up with something that looks more like a tree than a bush...its really a matter of preference which ones you trim off as long as you like the end result and it is open enough to get good light and flow. I will try to get a pic but have no batteries for my camera right now

[allan]

Cool, I'll stop by and get some super glue and attempt to do it tonight as well. I'll post here as I'm doing it.

[Big_Pun]

so I gave Emily a piece of Ponape b-nest and she only has a k-1400 and a k-750 and it grows so different. wanna come trim my nest ;)

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu357/stangchris/3d37b644.jpg

[Texreefer]

Very different than mine..... and NO... trim you own nest.. i wouldn't touch another mans nest!!

[Texreefer]

by the way, that is the perfect example of one that will have trouble down the road from no light or flow getting to the middle of it..

[allan]

Geez, chris, your birdsnest is all '70s.

I'm fixing to pull mine out to trim it. If I can get an hour to myself that is.

[allan]

Here it is.

And I have a small base rock that I had been letting dry after a particular nasty overgrowth of lunar eclipses. Right now the birdsnest frag is sitting on the sand bed. I want to put it on the rock to give it a bit more flow under it... If I can.

For the pieces I break off I have home depot frag plugs.

[allan]

What a mess... And stinks.

[Texreefer]

this pics shows what i'm talking about... unfortunately once it is that bad the only option really is to cut it all apart to save it..I will take a pic of what mine looks like in a bit and get it uploaded

What a mess... And stinks.

[allan]

Done... I hope.

I promised myself that I wouldn't glue anything without a fork in it, and I was able to largely keep my promise.

Not sure if I cleaned up the mother colony enough but time will tell. I hate seeing all those white tips.

Looks like I also have too many frags.

[Scutterborn]

Hmmm... Can one ever have "too many"?

[allan]

Lol, they can if it's only one kind.

[Texreefer]

Sorry for the dark pics.. the main lights were not on and i didn't feel like editing them,,, you can see where I made some of the cuts.. still looks like a birdsnest but is very different in appearance since i have been trimming it it all along. its actually about 5" tall and 4-5" in diameter but there is not much to show the scale, for reference the almost all of the pieces i trimmed off of it were bigger than the original piece i got.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/202.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/201.jpg

[Scutterborn]

Well you just let me know if you would like to free up some of your space!!! Lol!

[Texreefer]

Ok lights came on so I took one more pic,, hehe
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/203.jpg

[allan]

Yeah, afraid that I wont be able to get mine trimmed up like that without breaking it in two.

This is actually a frag from the colony that started as a frag from giau almost three years ago. I was thinking that I didn't even want BN in the new tank, but trimming it was kind of fun. Perhaps I can trim it over time to grow well.

[Scutterborn]

Looks like it will get plenty of flow now. Looks good.

[allan]

This is my pink bn frag... Kind of tiny but perhaps I an get an early start on it.

[Scutterborn]

It doesn't look too small. The camera must add a few centimeters...

[allan]

It is small. Reference the tile which is 1" x 1".

[Scutterborn]

Gotcha! I still think it looks great though!

[allan]

I think so too, I've been nursing ever since the red bug invasion of 2010.

Mike what do you use to trim with? I had a pair of surgical steel diags, but found it generally unwieldy in this kind of pruning.

[Texreefer]

I actually used a pair of tweezers and just snapped them off... with the tweezers i could get into the middle and make sugical strikes

[allan]

Tweezers won't work with the big on, but im sure it will work on the pink. I will give it a shot today.