Ricordia Preparation

Ricordia Preparation and Healing

The variable in the Ricordia preparation was if the polyp would even heal and if it did how long the healing time would be. When I started I decided I could propagate some of the other Yumas I had to determine if there was anything strange or different about the way they handled the incision, but most importantly was the way they healed.

Ricordia Preparation

The first step was to provide a clean and fresh substrate to the propagated specimen. In this case I chose the Florida Crushed Coral. First, I poured some into a Solo container so that there would be just enough to keep it in the water. I chose a high container based on past experiences where the frags would be exposed because of water movement.

The Foot and Ricordia Preparation

After growing the Yuma for months its base would need to be separated from the plug it had been growing on. You should not be intimated by the process of loosening the foot for ricordia preparation. It is not as challenging as you might think even if the foot has been attached for a very long time, even years. The complicated part is that you don’t want to tear the actual foot or the disk, but just pull it off slightly. In most cases you can check out the foot and find a place on the perimeter that is lifted enough to allow you to slide a blunt-edged tool in.

Substrate and Ricordia Preparation

This photo demonstrates a small rock that had been super glued on the base of the Ricordia. In the beginning, the foot and the rock were the same size. It is not dangerous to use superglue as long as you are extremely careful, not to mention this method is quite reliable. Placing glue on the actual base would have caused an infection by burning the tissue on the base, and the coral would not recover from this. The safest method is to use a two part underwater epoxy and pinch part of the base and then glue this adhere this part to the rock. This happens quite regularly on Aqua cultured mushrooms that are from Pelagic Facilities.

 

The next step is to place the specimen on a cutting board made of plastic. It is not recommend to use a wood cutting board for ricordia preparation because they may have bacteria in them. Always use saltwater from your tank to wet the board first. This usually helps prevent some of the sliming. Next, use two fingers to secure the specimen on both sides of its mouth. Now, slowly press the disk and you will see some water, if any remain, expel from the mouth. You can use this method in the tank if you can hang on to them and keep them from slipping through your fingers.

 

Ricordia Preparation and Cutting

 

At this point you are ready to make the cut.It is important to make sure yourtool is very sharp and clean. Once you have double checked this you are ready for the Ricordia preparation and cutting step. Just make sure you don’t hesitate when you begin to cut. Generally, I look over the foot before I cut to make sure I cutthrough an area that will leave roughly the same amount of foot on each half of the ricordia. In this case, I chose to use a pair of scissors that were new and incredibly sharp. The ricordia propagation was cutting the specimen into four pieces of equal size.

I waited a week and saw that the Yuma was healing and no complications had occurred. The process was very similar to working with a Discosoma that is large and bumpy. At this time I decided to repeat the process again as intended. There was nothing different about the process this time expect that I began working with the Beta Breeders by Lee.

 

These may be separated into two or three compartments and by drilling on a press a little more the result is excellent water movement. I ended up addingsome plastic material to the bottom, though, so the crushed coral would not fall through the cracks. A razor blade was also used because the scissors had broken.