Sometimes it becomes necessary to transplant corals to ensure that a new healthy reef can grow. This is mainly necessary along the house reefs of the villages on Tioman, where the reef has been destroyed by the coral eating COT starfish.
Usually a hard coral reef could start growing again in a short while after a COT outbreak, but along a village are too many pollutants in the water which act as fertilizer for algae, especially brown algae. These algae cover the dead coral skeletons and even the last bits of healthy coral and restrict a normal coral growth.
Many organizations and operators around the world transplant coral, mainly staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) since they are the fastest growing corals. To transplant corals, one simply cuts or breaks of a piece of living coral and places it on a proper substrate at roughly the same depth.
We've invented a cost effective mash wire box where we simply attach pieces of living coral with thin steal wire. The wire will disolve over time and the coral has 'something to hold on to'. This has worked quite well and the corals are growing rapidliy.
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