Should We Really Fear Zoas?

[ruegaroo]

I'm not talking about brown palys. I'm talking about colorful zoas. I'm also not trying to get flamed here. I read a thread the other day of someone new to the hobby freaking out about the zoas they bought and they were met with a lot of disrespect from more experienced hobbyists. This community is better than that. I'm genuinely curious about this topic. I have grown a healthy fear of zoas due to the horror stories you read online and I told myself I wouldn't put any in my tank as it's best to just avoid it. However, most people seem to never have any issues with zoas and I've seen a lot of comments that state "it really depends on the zoa." I haven't found a reliable source of which ones are less toxic than others so I wouldn't even know which kind would be safer to buy than others. I'm starting to really question this fear though as if it might not really be warranted.

Zoas can provide an amazing splash of color to a tank but if that comes at the cost of being even remotely dangerous I would rather not mess with them. On a danger scale would they be more like becoming a beekeeper or more like becoming a venomous snake handler? Or would it be more like having a bottle of bleach under the sink - something that could do harm only when you blatantly mishandle it.

 

[GHogg]

I’ve never heard of this before! Why are zoas regarded as dangerous? Just aggressively expanding? If that’s the case can’t you have a “zoa island” apart from the rest of your aquascape?

 

[ruegaroo]

Also, I have always found it kind of funny that zoas are promoted to be one of the most beginner friendly corals but they also come with a big toxic warning

 

[N.Sreefer]

I have alot of zoas and palys and only once have i ever gotten ill from mishandling, i bought some yellow palys online and had them shipped when i opened the bag they came in i breathed in what felt like wet air. I was violently ill for near 48 hours high fever vomitting and dizzyness. It was not fun but for all of the zoas and palys ive fragged and handled bare handed thats the only bad experience ive had.

 

[ruegaroo]

I have alot of zoas and palys and only once have i ever gotten ill from mishandling, i bought some yellow palys online and had them shipped when i opened the bag they came in i breathed in what felt like wet air. I was violently ill for near 48 hours high fever vomitting and dizzyness. It was not fun but for all of the zoas and palys ive fragged and handled bare handed thats the only bad experience ive had.

Yikes! That's what freaks me out about them.

 

[ruegaroo]

I’ve never heard of this before! Why are zoas regarded as dangerous? Just aggressively expanding? If that’s the case can’t you have a “zoa island” apart from the rest of your aquascape?

If you have some time read up on palytoxin. Zoas and palys are known to carry this.

 

[sfin52]

I’ve never heard of this before! Why are zoas regarded as dangerous? Just aggressively expanding? If that’s the case can’t you have a “zoa island” apart from the rest of your aquascape?

Palytoxin zoas should be respected not feared. Don't ever boil rock. Don't scrub out of water. Never cut with out Goggles and gloves.

 

[moreef]

I also follow your same thinking and concerns. Im gonna guess most will say its like the bleach analogy but curious what people will say.

 

[Gtinnel]

All I know is what most hobbyists hear, and that is that the only ones to fear are the uglier brown or green palys, and that as long as you don't do something stupid like boil rock with them than there is nothing to fear. But honestly I have no way of knowing if that is accurate or not. The only thing I can say for a fact is that I handle my zoas/palys without any protection and I've never had any issues. I think if most of the zoas in the hobby were as toxic as we hear there would be a lot of hobbyists getting sick or dieing from them.

 

[ruegaroo]

I think if most of the zoas in the honby were as toxic as we hear there would be a lot of hobbyists getting sick or dieing from them.

I'm starting to lean in this direction too. Maybe I should just try some out and handle them with enough respect and see what happens.

 

[sfin52]

@fishguy242 has some experience.

 

[Gtinnel]

I'm starting to lean in this direction too. Maybe I should just try some out and handle them with enough respect and see what happens.

I've never taken any precautions but I've not done anything too risky like cut them up or boil rock. I suspect you would be fine, especially if you take precautions, but again all I know is what we're commonly told. They do make a colorful addition to any tank though.

 

[mdb_talon]

I dont fear them, but treat them the same way i do power equipment, vehicles, etc. If you are careless it may end bad. About 15 years ago i was fragging a zoa with safety glasses. Got squirted in the eye from the side of the glasses. Lost almost all sight in that eye for about three weeks(in addition to be swollen shut for several days and very painful). Doctors never did conclusively know what caused it. Maybe it was palytoxin...more likely some bacteria....in any case i was not as careful as i should be and was lucky it was not worse. Now i wear a full face shield....

 

[N.Sreefer]

Just added last night with no protection and I touched both barehanded imo the risk is overstated by members of the hobby. Some algae have higher palytoxin concentrations than palys

 

[fishguy242]

hi,sorry short goota run.., treat all zoas/palys as palytoxic,gloves ,eyes,do not touch face,wash and dry hands 3x..!!!
not worth risk.!! 4x in eye..learned fast!! be well be safe :)

 

[xxkenny90xx]

They're like the bleach. Don't get them inside of your body and your good to go. They should be respected but they won't melt your hands :rolleyes:.

Don't drink the bleach kids

 

[Brit’s Fish]

I couldn’t tell you what kind of zoas these were and I, personally, have handled a plethora of them barehanded BUT a good friend of mine from a well-known and respected LFS in Chicago just had this happen a few months ago:
During a 700 gallon tank break down, they removed all sorts of HUGE coral colonies, including some zoas/palys of some sort. The person working on the tank ended up in the hospital from palytoxin poisoning. My friend, not knowing about his coworkers illness yet, took some of those zoas home and added them to his 55 gallon established reef. They nuked almost everything in his tank. I saw a frag of them which was being held “for the CDC” in the back of one of their frag tanks. Looked like a very boring zoa.
All I can say is that those zoas did fine in the customers’ tank for years and never affected anything. Could be that in such a large system, their toxins were diluted enough or it could just be that they were very irritated with the break down and released their toxins. Who knows?
The guy who went to the hospital is completely fine now but it just goes to show that unless you know exactly which ones you’re handling, it’s better to be safe than sorry. As others have said, never boil rocks that had zoas on them, use eye and hand protection if you’re fragging out of water and keep them in the water as much as you can.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

. My friend, not knowing about his coworkers illness yet, took some of those zoas home and added them to his 55 gallon established reef. They nuked almost everything in his tank.

I'm very skeptical of the tank nuking part being because of the zoas....

The guy who went to the hospital is completely fine now but it just goes to show that unless you know exactly which ones you’re handling, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The problem is that as far as I know we have no idea which zoas are the more toxic ones. So ya, better safe than sorry for sure!

 

[Brit’s Fish]

I'm very skeptical of the tank nuking part being because of the zoas....


The problem is that as far as I know we have no idea which zoas are the more toxic ones. So ya, better safe than sorry for sure!

I can’t argue with the skepticism on the tank nuking... I also was a little shocked by that. It could have been anything but the timing of everything was suspicious enough that the zoas got the ultimate blame.
I wish I knew what they were or had taken a picture of them. I didn’t really buy into the danger of zoas until I heard this first-hand account.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Just a side note

I've read that palytoxin isn't just found is zoas. It's been found in red algae, a sea anemone, and several species of dinoflagellates.

Scientists have been able to test for palytoxin since the early sixties, why haven't we been able to pinpoint which zoas and palys are toxic and which aren't?????