Newbie and suprise zoas

hopperjl16 · Mar 21, 2017

So I'm only a year into this hobby, and right from the beginning I decided zoas (and other similar) corals were out for me. The palytoxin just wasn't something I wanted anywhere near my house, even in small quantities. Well today I received a blastomussa merleti and attached was another coral I couldn't identify, turns out it's a mohawk zoa. Soooo my newbie self is now in a bit of a panic. I want to get dressed up in a hazmat suit, cut it off the plug, triple-bag it and throw it away. Or just throw the whole plug away! So can someone talk me off the ledge? I know I need to get it away from the blastomussa coral, but I'm kinda scared to handle this thing let alone cut it off a plug. Thanks!

cloak · Mar 21, 2017

I would just get some tweezers and try to remove them from the rock/coral. They might come off in one piece. Another option would be to smother the polyps with some epoxy. This would be like putting chewed up bubble gum over them. Eventually this will harden up and you'll never even know the polyps were there. In all honesty though I think this whole Palytoxin phenomenon has been blown way out of proportion. I think you put yourself at more risk by driving to the LFS to pick up corals and things then you do by fiddling with these things. Just take some precautions like wearing gloves and eye protection and you should be fine. FWIW I frag these things all the time with my bare hands and nothing bad has ever happened. GL.

ahiggins · Mar 21, 2017

while I acknowledge the actual palytoxin, *most* zoas and palys do not excrete/release the toxin in any significant amount. I agree its overly exaggerated.
I have fragged/p'ed off many zoas/palys in my day lol and the only ones Ive ever had negative reactions with were the bigger polyped ones:

roostertech · Mar 21, 2017

One way to deal with it is submerge it in a bucket of water and scrape off the zoa with a scalpel. If anything come out of the zoa it'll be diluted in the water and won't spray at you. Wear gloves of course. And yeah I think the palytoxin thing is overhyped.

TheLadyCrash · Mar 23, 2017

Whichever method you choose be sure it is done outside of the tank.

You could kill them off as described above or, if you an extra frag plug or even a piece of rubble rock, carefully remove and glue them down. This way you could trade them in at the LFS or to another reefer.

Also I'm a paranoid too so I always wear gloves and eye protection (I wear glasses anyway), and sometimes one of those masks you can get at the hardware store for when you're painting.

hopperjl16 · Mar 24, 2017

I survived! Only 4 of the 7 zoas did though......I put them on their own rock while I decide if I want to keep them....I'll admit that surviving this episode has peaked my interest in zoas a little. They are quite pretty......

ChiCity · Mar 24, 2017

hopperjl16 said:
I survived! Only 4 of the 7 zoas did though......I put them on their own rock while I decide if I want to keep them....I'll admit that surviving this episode has peaked my interest in zoas a little. They are quite pretty......

Careful now, they're quite addictive

hatrix11 · Mar 24, 2017

You could sell the ones you removed LOL! They're typically not toxic, but even if they are - as long as you're not huffing them, just open a window and you'll be fine.

landlubber · Mar 24, 2017

you are risking far more by trying to remove them from the system than you are by leaving them be.
palytoxin is something that very few of us thankfully have experience with and without question it deserves respect but that being said you probably have hundreds of poisonous chemicals in your house that do just fine when treated properly. don't pulverize them in your tank or boil the rock they're on and if you ever need to frag them wear your ppe.
otherwise, congrats on the bonus coral. mohawks were one of the must have hot zoas just a few years ago!

brandon429 · Mar 24, 2017

agreed

concern only over the palythoa genus

even if you wanted the palythoa, I rate that as an overall lower risk to outbound cross contaminating your environ vs the standard marine bacteria we will undoubtedly spread just by owning a reef tank.

We're far more likely to encounter and spread vibrio and mycobacteria et al from standard reefkeeping and non aseptic handling of marine surfaces vs the palytoxin of concern in this case. its understandable if you want to lessen the risk, its the larger palythoids to consider.