What do I do in this situation?

[Surskit]

I had my zoa growing on a rock, and it began to encrust onto the neighbouring rock, but I bumped one of them while doing an algae scrub and now the colony is stretched like this. Is it safe? I don't want to stress the coral and release palytoxin, do i leave it like this, try to put the rocks together again, or try and cut the membrane thingy apart?

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I had my zoa growing on a rock, and it began to encrust onto the neighbouring rock, but I bumped one of them while doing an algae scrub and now the colony is stretched like this. Is it safe? I don't want to stress the coral and release palytoxin, do i leave it like this, try to put the rocks together again, or try and cut the membrane thingy apart?

The "membrane" are the strands that connect the individual polyps to eachother, cutting them wouldn't be as bad as cutting the polyp directly but it will release some palytoxin, you could leave it as is but I'd try to move the rocks closer to put less stress on the connective tissue. Probably will be fine if you leave it but personally I'd move it together

 

[Strawberry]

Just throw some carbon filtration media in there & cut the membrane. It’ll be okay.

 

[Lavey29]

Most aquaculture zoas don't have any palytoxin. Just a few subspecies of palys and zoas do in the hobby.

 

[littlebigreef]

That's not an issue, you can leave as is, cut it, or push it back together.

Just don't rub your eyeballs on it or lick it and you'll be fine.