I accidentally touched a zoa without gloves.

[Goby Bryant]

The frag fell from rock, then I put it back without gloves.

 

[mwil79]

The frag fell from rock, then I put it back without gloves.

As long as you washed your hands and didn't try to eat the zoas I'm pretty confident to say you will be just fine

 

[Goby Bryant]

I did just that. I ate it! Just kidding. I washed my hands twice right after.

 

[lulubap]

You shouldn't be too worried. I believe it should only be a problem if it gets in your eyes. Upon further research, you'll see paly toxin effects are only in place when zoas are severely stressed, and depending on whether you're sensitive to it or not will determine how you're affected by contact with a stressed zoa.

 

[Goby Bryant]

The polyps were closed if that helps.

 

[Kathy Floyd]

I have touched mine several times without realizing, when they fall, etc. I've never had a problem, so far. Just wash hands afterwards.

 

[lulubap]

The polyps were closed if that helps.

If you weren't fragging it or giving any real reason for paly toxin release, just wash your hands and avoid touching your face.

 

[exnisstech]

I touch everything without gloves. I cut myself on a coral skeleton today. I think I'll live though.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A lot of people handle their zoas without gloves - it's not recommended, but nobody in the hobby has died yet from palytoxin (though some have come relatively close). For it to be a problem you basically have to either: get it in your eyes (happens occasionally), swallow it (thankfully never heard of someone doing this), or breathe it in while its aerosolized (this is usually where people run into problems).

My two cents on palytoxin after doing some research on it myself a while ago:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
My understanding of palytoxin is this: some zoanthids and some palythoas have it, some don’t. Of those that do, some have it in meaningful quantities, some don’t. Even within the same species/color morph, there might be different levels of the toxin. Again, some might have it in meaningful quantities, some might not. There is some speculation that we might be able to breed toxin free palythoas and zoanthids like we’ve bred toxin free pufferfish, but I don’t know if this is accurate or not. There is also some speculation that, generally, the more colorful the zoanthid/palythoa, the less toxic or less likely to be toxic it is - there might be some truth to that, there moght not be.

What I know is this: you should probably treat all palythoas and zoanthids as if they do contain lethal levels of the toxin, and you should be aware of the signs of palytoxin poisoning in case you experience it, but most likely it won’t be an issue for you or your corals.

Don’t drop rocks on paly colonies, don’t frag zoas barehanded then rub your eyes, don’t bake live rock with zoas or palys on them (yes, these are all stories I’ve seen on here), and don’t scrub the rocks with colonies on them spotless with a toothbrush in a poorly ventilated area and no personal protective equipment.

As long as you don’t do anything blatantly unsafe or that would obviously upset the zoanthids or palythoas, you and your corals will likely all be fine. (And again, there’s a decent chance that even if you do something unwise or something that aggravates them, they might just not be toxic enough to do anything either way.)

So, be smart, be safe, and enjoy your zoas and palys.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Yeah, treat all palys/zoas as though they have larges amounts of palytoxin, but as long as you don’t have a sensitivity to it or open wounds on your hands, you should be fine just reaching in and washing your hands after. (In case you do have a sensitivity to it or to something else in your tank, though, I recommend wearing personal protective equipment when dealing with the tank, and especially when dealing with things that may be highly toxic).

Generally you have to do something really unwise that aerosolizes the toxin for it be dangerous (like boiling the rock with the palys on it, or scrubbing the rock bare with a toothbrush in a small space with no to limited airflow).

The zoas and palys release the toxin as a defensive measure, so as long as they don’t feel threatened, they shouldn’t release enough toxin to cause any sort of issue.

Again, use PPE and don’t do anything unwise, and you should be fine.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

There are some pretty bad palys out there. I used to work in the industry and almost never worried about handling them however, I did manage to get a dizzy spell after working on a tank that was infested with some little blue and white ones. after about 15 mins of handling the rockwork with these all over them I felt funny. Nothing that was crazy but the only thing I could trace it back to was that at the time. Caution is considered but unless you are going to be really going nuts with them, a simple touch or move will not be an issue.

 

[Goby Bryant]

Thanks