King Midas zoa toxicity?

[Tired]

I have too many of these, and I want to get them trimmed back. My first thought is just to go at them with scissors and forceps, try to yank a bunch out so other things can take the space over. Obviously I would like to not poison myself and my tank by doing so.

These aren't one of the toxic ones, right? I'm pretty sure these are actual zoas, not palys.

 

[Timfish]

I use stainless steel straws to remove zoas and palies to keep them submerged and minimize the risk of aerosolizing any toxin that might be produced.

 

[Tired]

Interesting trick, might have to try that in a few spots. But some of them are up between desirable zoas I don't want to damage, hence the desire for scissors. Plus, I have a pico, so I wouldn't get much time before I'd removed enough water that I'd need to stop.

 

[Tamberav]

I wouldn't use scissors since any tissue left will just grow back.

I just use a tweezers to peel back and pull their matt up. If you are worried about toxins, use a mask, googles, gloves. Take the rock outside if you would like.

The toxin thing is overblown though unless you got open wounds, eating, injecting, boiling them and so on.

 

[Tired]

I'm mostly just trying to inconvenience them enough that the other zoas around them can climb over them. Peeling them up is probably a better idea, though.

It's not so much me that I'm worried about with the toxins, it's my tank. I've already poisoned it once- scraped some toxic palys off a rock, covered that patch with superglue and coral putty, missed a tiny spot, and poisoned nearly all my stony corals to death with palytoxin.

(I mean, I don't want to get poisoned, either, but it's pretty easy to avoid poisoning me.)

I could take the whole rock out and banish it to a bucket (with flow) for awhile, I guess, but I'd rather just peel the blighters off in the tank. Hence me asking if they're a toxic one. If I remember right, zoanthids don't tend to be toxic at all.

 

[Tired]

Looks like they're nontoxic. I found a species name for them, https://reeffarm.com/product/king-midas-zoanthus-sansibaricus/ and this source https://reefs.com/2015/09/14/the-dangers-and-myths-of-zoa-toxicity-part-1/ says that's not a toxic sort.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I use stainless steel straws to remove zoas and palies to keep them submerged and minimize the risk of aerosolizing any toxin that might be produced.

This is brilliant. Would have been great when I was trying to remove a patch of Clavularia!

 

[RC51]

Looks like they're nontoxic. I found a species name for them, https://reeffarm.com/product/king-midas-zoanthus-sansibaricus/ and this source https://reefs.com/2015/09/14/the-dangers-and-myths-of-zoa-toxicity-part-1/ says that's not a toxic sort.

Most zoas will be ok for you. Many many people frag them with no equipment at all (though that is really not advised.
Just don't boil it and add it to your drink and you'll most likely be ok.

 

[Tired]

Like I said above, my concern isn't for me (though I do have some concern about that), it's my tank. Ripping up super-toxic palys with long tweezers, while it should be reasonably safe for whoever has the tweezers, poses some danger to the tank.

(Not that this is that. Just as an example.)