Opinion about Paly's

[Jubbilee555]

I'm new to the hobby (11 or 12 days ago that my coworkers established reef tank came to live at my house). She has quite a large group? (unsure of the term) of Paly's that we decided to keep but the more I read about it the more paranoid I'm getting, especially when my husband is in there daily dusting around and brushing algae/sand off of everything. We have two young children as well.

From what I understand and anecdotally speaking, the bigger the paly, the more toxic it may be (Palythoa heliodiscus )? The ones we have are a brownish pink colour but they are starting to get a little turquoise tint to them (difficult to tell in the photo).

Should we get rid of these? Or am I being paranoid? My coworker just said not to squeeze, poke them or disturb them in any way. But what constitutes disturbing? She made it sound like they only release toxin if they're "upset" by something. Well between my husband cleaning and the dang hippo tang always brushing by them, is that a concern? :/

 

[Crabs McJones]

I'm new to the hobby (11 or 12 days ago that my coworkers established reef tank came to live at my house). She has quite a large group? (unsure of the term) of Paly's that we decided to keep but the more I read about it the more paranoid I'm getting, especially when my husband is in there daily dusting around and brushing algae/sand off of everything. We have two young children as well.

From what I understand and anecdotally speaking, the bigger the paly, the more toxic it may be (Palythoa heliodiscus )? The ones we have are a brownish pink colour but they are starting to get a little turquoise tint to them (difficult to tell in the photo).

Should we get rid of these? Or am I being paranoid? My coworker just said not to squeeze, poke them or disturb them in any way. But what constitutes disturbing? She made it sound like they only release toxin if they're "upset" by something. Well between my husband cleaning and the dang hippo tang always brushing by them, is that a concern? :/

This is just my opinion on the whole situation.

I think all this palytoxin stuff is kind getting blown way out of proportion. Yes it has the potential to be dangerous, and people were ill, and there was a death as a result of it (the guys dog I believe died) But in all the news stories the toxin release was the result of directly upsetting the palys. One the guy boiled rock not knowing palys were in the tank. Another one the guy was moving rock around and scraped some and upset them, and this last one the guy got rock from another user, and was told all the organisms on the rock were dead, and a dying paly releases toxins.
"It is believed that the act of moving and cleaning the coral caused the Oxfordshire incident." "The person reportedly removed and scrubbed some rocks or corals from the tank, presumably to remove unwanted, unattractive growths. This cleanup triggered the release of aerosolized palytoxin that caused everyone to struggle to breathe." This is direct from a users post on another reefing forum that experienced this "630pm and the aquascape is now done and looks great. In that time frame I decided to rid my tank of roughly 15lbs of liverock. I had the extra rock that was moved sitting next to the tank in a pot. I wanted to save this rock for later use, but I have no where to allow it to dry out since we live in an apartment complex so I decided to boil it. Yes, this is where the trouble started.
7pm and the rock is boiling on the stove and I am doing my daily duties around the house before my wife comes home from work."

This should not deter you from keeping this beautiful coral in your tank.
I have personally handled zoas and palys in and out of the tank.
As long as you let them be and don't disturb them or are safe about how you handle them and wear appropriate gear when you do handle them, they can be a great and beautiful addition to your tank. Remember you respect them, and they'll respect you

 

[Eastlake]

More or less if your not scrubbing the beans out of them, chopping them up, or squishing them then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. My suggestion though, would be to move them somewhere where they can easily be managed. Many of these types of palys can be prolific so having them somewhere on the main rock work can make for very difficult removal in the future should they start to take over and you want to thin them out or get rid of them. And as said above, gloves, goggles, and possibly an apron of some sort if you do cut them and the most important tool of all, knowledge.

 

[BenitaSolo]

You are being paranoid.
I am not saying don't be careful around this type of coral but... tens of thousand (that's a guess) of members across the forums with pallys and zoas and only a very very small number of incidents reported. Also, I don't think daily dusting will cause and issue nor do I think daily dusting is necessary!

 

[BenitaSolo]

This is just my opinion on the whole situation.

I think all this palytoxin stuff is kind getting blown way out of proportion. Yes it has the potential to be dangerous, and people were ill, and there was a death as a result of it (the guys dog I believe died) But in all the news stories the toxin release was the result of directly upsetting the palys. One the guy boiled rock not knowing palys were in the tank. Another one the guy was moving rock around and scraped some and upset them, and this last one the guy got rock from another user, and was told all the organisms on the rock were dead, and a dying paly releases toxins.
"It is believed that the act of moving and cleaning the coral caused the Oxfordshire incident." "The person reportedly removed and scrubbed some rocks or corals from the tank, presumably to remove unwanted, unattractive growths. This cleanup triggered the release of aerosolized palytoxin that caused everyone to struggle to breathe." This is direct from a users post on another reefing forum that experienced this "630pm and the aquascape is now done and looks great. In that time frame I decided to rid my tank of roughly 15lbs of liverock. I had the extra rock that was moved sitting next to the tank in a pot. I wanted to save this rock for later use, but I have no where to allow it to dry out since we live in an apartment complex so I decided to boil it. Yes, this is where the trouble started.
7pm and the rock is boiling on the stove and I am doing my daily duties around the house before my wife comes home from work."

This should not deter you from keeping this beautiful coral in your tank.
I have personally handled zoas and palys in and out of the tank.
As long as you let them be and don't disturb them or are safe about how you handle them and wear appropriate gear when you do handle them, they can be a great and beautiful addition to your tank. Remember you respect them, and they'll respect you

SPOT ON!

 

[Jubbilee555]

Thank for the replies! I knew I was probably being paranoid but it's nice to get the input

Also, @BenitaSolo, as mentioned we are very new to the hobby and still messing around with our powerheads and currents, etc so that's why we're dusting frequently right now because we keep stirring everything up ;Nailbiting also trying to deal with some vermetids the previous owner had and an algae bloom from the move.

 

[Jubbilee555]

.

 

[DSC reef]

I agree with @Crabs Mcjones. Basically a little precautions and a lot of common sense and you'll be fine. If you frag them, wear gloves and eye protection. Don't ever boil anything in the tank. Palytoxin is real but I agree, it has been blown put of proportion. Personally I think vibrio is more of a realistic danger. Always use precautions with your reef tank.

 

[BenitaSolo]

Thank for the replies! I knew I was probably being paranoid but it's nice to get the input

Also, @BenitaSolo, as mentioned we are very new to the hobby and still messing around with our powerheads and currents, etc so that's why we're dusting frequently right now because we keep stirring everything up ;Nailbiting also trying to deal with some vermetids the previous owner had and an algae bloom from the move.

Awesome! Being new to the hobby can be frustrating but it's so much fun to watch all the amazing growth on the rocks. It's so neat how all of the oceans critters end up in the tank that we didn't even know we added. Starfish, peanut worms, pods, sponges, tunicates, different calcerous algaes, and all of that fun stuff

Keep up the good work and don't eat those pallys

 

[JaimeAdams]

Yeah Vibrio can be nasty or as I found out, Mycobacterium Marinum aka Fishtank Granuloma. As far as palys, all plays and zoas have tons of toxin in them, the size doesn't much matter. My only concern with your palys is that they look to be the invasive kind and may take over the tank if left unchecked. Don't eat them, boil them, snort them or squirt them in your eye.