Palytoxin Info

[Mercury492]

Greetings Everyone!

I am a fairly new reefer (6 months), looking for information on paly toxin . I purchased some new Zoa frags, and in at attempt to attach a very small frag to liverock (2 polyp - about the size of a sunflower seed) I seemed to upset a polyp, and it proceded to emit a brown colored substance underwater into the aquarium.

I do not have any cuts or scrapes to worry about, and I was wearing a pair of latex gloves but they do become submersed. What I am trying to learn is, how concerning is this? Not so much to myself for now, but being that this is now in the tank water? Is there a concern of this causing issues in my tank? How long does the toxin stick around in the water? I have a dog in my home, and should I be concerned if while doing maintenance on the tank if water drips on the floor, and my dog might walk through it and then lick her paws before I realize this? What about water changes? I am one of those that has been known to start a water syphon by sucking the air from the end of the tube, lol.

I realize that some Zoas are more of a concern than others, however I am not able to at this point give a 100% positive identification on the type of Zoa this is. (They are a neon pink, my LFS just said they are called "Infrareds"). I am not positive this is the true identification.

I apologize if this is a silly question with the scenarios I have painted here, however I would rather gain the knowledge and be safe than sorry!

 

[reef208]

The brown stuff coming out of the zoas is just them barfing out their guts. Many corals do this when stressed - nothing to worry about.

Don't put too much thought into palytoxin. It's mostly dramatic hype based on a lot of misinformation. You're far more likely to be injured via bacterial infection, allergic reaction, or stabbed by the spines of a venemous fish than to ever be harmed by palytoxin. In fact, most people who claim to have palytoxin poisoning, actually just have bacterial infections. You will be perfectly safe with gloves and your dog will be fine if it licks the water. In 15 years of sticking my hands in fish tanks both as a hobbyist and professionally as a job, I've never used gloves and never been significantly harmed by anything (except the time a longnose butterfly jumped in the collection cup and speared my finger, but I walked it off )

 

[Wbrian]

I agree completely with reef208. But... (there's always a but, right??) I'd still use caution when fragging, etc Zoas until you are comfortable doing it. Eyewear and gloves at a minimum. Just to be safe. I'm an ER RN, and while I've never had a certified case of palytoxin poisoning, it's really nasty crap to get and can be deadly. So, use caution until you are comfortable enough to not.

Later,
B.

 

[joshporksandwich]

You should not worry. You have to be careful if you're fragging and you get some of the dark or slimmy liquid zoas release in an open wound or eyes. Once it falls in the water it gets diluted and unless you kill thousands of zoas it shouldn't be bad. Like the previous posters said the zoas were stressed and released the brown stuff.