:hmm4: Ugh, the zombie palytoxin thread again.
There's a lot of bad information and paranoia in that tread. You shouldn't pay it much attention.
Yes, palytoxin is present in at least some zoanthids. It's also found in all sorts of other marine organisms too though, including crabs, sponges, clams, worms, sea stars, algae, and all sorts of soft corals and gorgonians. In fact, the typical concentration measured in leathers and GSPs is higher than typically found in most zoanthids.
Despite the ubiquity of the toxin and the popularity of these corals in the hobby, there is only one medically documented case of someone requiring hospitalization due to palytoxin exposure from a coral. It was a colony of Parazoanthus that had one of the highest concentrations of PTX measured in any coral- many times higher than measured in any other zoanthid. Even in that case the patient was given an IV and treated for discomfort, but walked out a few days later. While many other hobbyists claim to have been poisoned by PTX, some even going to the hospital, these claims are unconfirmed, almost always self-diagnosed, and in several cases do not even fit the symptoms of PTX exposure. While there are no doubt several real cases of hobbyists poisoning themselves with PTX, the number of people claiming to have been poisoned is inflated. However, aside from that single medically documented case, the worst that has happened is people have felt really bad for the afternoon.
While it is extremely toxic in animal models, the LD50 of PTX isn't known in humans. However, even assuming that it is as toxic to humans as it is to rats, at the concentrations it's found in most corals, you would literally have to eat your corals to get a lethal dose. It would be very difficult to receive a life-threatening dose accidentally since it can only enter the body through mucous membranes or open wounds, is only released when the corals are cut or damaged, and is usually in such low concentrations. Even outside of the hobby, there are only a handful of medically documented cases of people requiring hospitalization from PTX exposure, and except for that single hobbyist, almost every one of those cases (including the only documented human death from palytoxin) was from eating tainted crabs.
Bottom line, yes the toxin exists and may be in your tank. However, the risk it poses to you is small to begin with and can be virtually eliminated by some cheap gloves and hand washing. It is no reason to get out of the hobby, to stop keeping zoanthids, or even to stop fragging zoanthids.
