So when I bought my biocube there were these small brown zoas that are ugly only on one rock and I would like to remove them. What’s the best way to do this. Should I be worried about palytoxin?
Pest Brown zoas
- Thread starter Camaro Show Corals
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OP
OP
Then could I put the rock back in or just get a new piece of rock?
tdileo
Valuable Member
Best way is to take a razor blade, cut them all off as low as you can get (preferably at the mat, don’t cut into polyp at all. Stalk is okay but be careful). Then cover the area they were on with some kind of reef safe epoxy. Make sure you are careful while handling them as they can release palytoxin. It is not the biggest threat out there, but it definitely can kill you. Since you are cutting I would wear eye protection and even a mouth cover. Personally I would not worry about gloves unless you have open cuts since you will be throughly washing your hands after anyway. Just make sure not to touch any mucous membranes (eyes, mouth, nose, etc) while handling these potentially deadly animals.
Palytoxin can absorb through the skin.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19545971
http://masna.org/masna-education/palytoxin/
tdileo
Valuable Member
Wow, that sure is interesting and thanks for sharing. I’ve had palys squirt their slime on me a few times and I’ve never had any symptoms of palytoxin poisoning. I guess gloves should be used when handling them then.
OP
OP
What if I dry the rock out
dieselkeeper
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The less you deal with that rock the less chance you have for getting palytoxin poisoning. Replace it. Maybe your LFS will swap it out for a clean piece of rock
I could be wrong but I don't think it's been established if all zoas/palys produce palytoxin or at what level if they do. Some people seem to think that the higher end polyps we see more of in the hobby don't produce as much, if any.
But yeah, gloves. I like to wear them any time I'm handling frags or rocks not only for my safety after being cut/slimed on enough times but also in case I've got some oils or chemicals on my skin that hurt the tank.
