- Thread Starter
- #1,121
OP
Rakie
NOTED TROUBLEMAKER
The palytoxin thing is dramatically overhyped. Is it real? Yes. Can it hurt you? Absolutely. Do the paly's in your tank have it? Kind of...
The one's that are dangerous are the big brown and green ones that are invasive. The ones that come on live rock, that nobody would ever buy on purpose because they're frankly ugly as sin.
Additionally, the way these have seriously harmed people have been under very specific circumstances where people were being intentionally foolish with them. In one case by putting live rock in an OVEN. Another case by BOILING live rock on the stove in fresh water... And in yet another case, by people trying to kill them by brushing them off with a steel wire brush, literally shredding them to bits.
If you do things like this, specifically with big ugly wild palys, you may be in trouble.. Regular zoas and palys for some miraculous reason, tend to not have those levels of palytoxin. Making them inherently safer than their wild, ugly counterparts.
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With all that in mind, here are my basic tips that will solve all your worries.
1) Do it in the garage, or back patio
2) Have lots of light, especially blue light so you can see where the polyps are clearly
3) Have a fan. It helps, a lot.
4) Wear gloves
5) Buy a cheap piece of acrylic that's like 2x2', and do your work under that. It's literally a clear shield that solves all the problems.
6) Have lugols to put the fresh cut frags into
7) Use a razor blade before cutting the zoas with bone cutters or cable cutters. A clean and complete smooth cut is less traumatic on the coral flesh. Since doing this I have had zero zoas/palys squirt on me. Then the bone cutters aren't making sloppy cuts that tear and stress the zoa, they are just cutting the rockwork.
To use the acrylic shield all you need is to put up two small boxes on either end to hold it up, and cut the zoa under that. It's crystal clear, will protect your face from any splatter better than any goggles will. And doubles as a great table to put your tools. From a plastic shop or even from Home depot, it will give you all the piece of mind you want.
While working on frags I typically have a cup of frag plugs, 2-3 sharpies, 2 pairs of tweezers, a cup of Lugols dip to put the fresh cut corals while the glue cures, lots of glue, and lots of razor blades.
The one's that are dangerous are the big brown and green ones that are invasive. The ones that come on live rock, that nobody would ever buy on purpose because they're frankly ugly as sin.
Additionally, the way these have seriously harmed people have been under very specific circumstances where people were being intentionally foolish with them. In one case by putting live rock in an OVEN. Another case by BOILING live rock on the stove in fresh water... And in yet another case, by people trying to kill them by brushing them off with a steel wire brush, literally shredding them to bits.
If you do things like this, specifically with big ugly wild palys, you may be in trouble.. Regular zoas and palys for some miraculous reason, tend to not have those levels of palytoxin. Making them inherently safer than their wild, ugly counterparts.
__________________________________
With all that in mind, here are my basic tips that will solve all your worries.
1) Do it in the garage, or back patio
2) Have lots of light, especially blue light so you can see where the polyps are clearly
3) Have a fan. It helps, a lot.
4) Wear gloves
5) Buy a cheap piece of acrylic that's like 2x2', and do your work under that. It's literally a clear shield that solves all the problems.
6) Have lugols to put the fresh cut frags into
7) Use a razor blade before cutting the zoas with bone cutters or cable cutters. A clean and complete smooth cut is less traumatic on the coral flesh. Since doing this I have had zero zoas/palys squirt on me. Then the bone cutters aren't making sloppy cuts that tear and stress the zoa, they are just cutting the rockwork.
To use the acrylic shield all you need is to put up two small boxes on either end to hold it up, and cut the zoa under that. It's crystal clear, will protect your face from any splatter better than any goggles will. And doubles as a great table to put your tools. From a plastic shop or even from Home depot, it will give you all the piece of mind you want.
While working on frags I typically have a cup of frag plugs, 2-3 sharpies, 2 pairs of tweezers, a cup of Lugols dip to put the fresh cut corals while the glue cures, lots of glue, and lots of razor blades.
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