How to get rid of Texas Trash palys?
- Thread starter gfox2
- Start date
heathlindner25
New member
Remove all rocks infected.
Right now the rock also has 3 RBTA's on it.
heathlindner25
New member
Put some water in a 5 gallon bucket and suspend the rock with the bubble tips upside down and they will eventually fall in the bucket. Especially if they can almost touch the water with their tentacles.
I have heard about that method never have tried it.Still need to find the best method of getting rid of the palys.Really don't want to bleach the rock.
I'm not sure of the toxicity of the palys you've got but I would treat them as highly toxic nonetheless.
Speaking with a guy who has about 30 years worth of experience from public aquariums he gave me this advice:
take the rock/rocks that are infested with palys and place them in an air tight container that you bring to a site that deals with toxic waste. Protective gear is advised.
They're no joke, he himself and several other staff members were hospitalized after messing with these things.
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PirateToast
New member
I got rid of green star polyps by smothering them with plumbers putty. Might work here depending on the size of the colony.
Outside of the tank or inside?
PirateToast
New member
Inside. Just smother them and they should die off in a few weeks. That may not be feasible if you're absolutely covered everywhere.
Didn't know plumbers putty is reef safe.
PirateToast
New member
I've used it forever and everything is going great for my tank.
michfish5
New member
I have a good size batch of these things growing in the corner of my aquarium. Sort of snuck up on me. Never knew they had this particular name. They had been keeping to the back wall of the tank but now they are starting to creep up the back of my rock structure. While killing some aiptasia with Aiptasia X, I got some on the palys and it did kill them. Would this be a good method? Would it be unwise to try to kill the whole lot of them at once? Maybe a small patch at a time? I do run carbon 24/7. For those growing on the back wall, could they be scraped off? or will all this endanger the rest of my aquarium inhabitants?
WVfishguy
New member
The longer I'm in this hobby, the more afraid of palythoas I get.
One of my LFS's were fragging an exotic paly with a small bandsaw a couple weeks ago. The employees breathed paly dust without knowing it.
One guy had violent tremors, fever and pain all night (sounded like a nerve poison to me) and another guy was so disoriented his parents accused him of doing drugs.
Before I saw that, I developed a terrible itching on my left forearm. It was so severe I woke up the next morning and had scratched the flesh off - it looked like a bad burn. Then the itching went higher up on the arm. The itching was keeping me all night. There was no rash, no sign of anything wrong, but the itching was terrible. Doctor gave me steroids, skin cream, antihistamines, nothing worked. It finally went away AFTER my arm broke out in hives.
The next week it occurred to me I handle the palys with my left hand when I clean a particular tank. I do rinse my hands well, and when I can I use soap and water, but it was not enough. I will never touch a paly again.
One of my LFS's were fragging an exotic paly with a small bandsaw a couple weeks ago. The employees breathed paly dust without knowing it.
One guy had violent tremors, fever and pain all night (sounded like a nerve poison to me) and another guy was so disoriented his parents accused him of doing drugs.
Before I saw that, I developed a terrible itching on my left forearm. It was so severe I woke up the next morning and had scratched the flesh off - it looked like a bad burn. Then the itching went higher up on the arm. The itching was keeping me all night. There was no rash, no sign of anything wrong, but the itching was terrible. Doctor gave me steroids, skin cream, antihistamines, nothing worked. It finally went away AFTER my arm broke out in hives.
The next week it occurred to me I handle the palys with my left hand when I clean a particular tank. I do rinse my hands well, and when I can I use soap and water, but it was not enough. I will never touch a paly again.
billdogg
Well-known member
IMHO, the only safe way to rid your tank of the all to common dark green "Texas Trash" palys is to remove the rock from your tank while wearing gloves and eye protection and then carefully dispose of it.
After my rather careless run in with them I refuse to have them in any of my systems.
This was ~1 week post exposure. It cost me a trip to Urgent Care, then a followup at my PCP, and a week off work while my arm healed. I work in a OR and the thought of doing a surgical scrub on my arm kinda made me light headed.
Not all palythoa sp. are as toxic as the TT variety, and most zoanthid sp are relatively benign as well, but because you really won't know until it happens I choose to just avoid them altogether.
After my rather careless run in with them I refuse to have them in any of my systems.
This was ~1 week post exposure. It cost me a trip to Urgent Care, then a followup at my PCP, and a week off work while my arm healed. I work in a OR and the thought of doing a surgical scrub on my arm kinda made me light headed.
Not all palythoa sp. are as toxic as the TT variety, and most zoanthid sp are relatively benign as well, but because you really won't know until it happens I choose to just avoid them altogether.
I've been slowly ridding my tank of them. I'm winning the war (90% removed) but its not an overnight thing.
I take the rocks outside and submerge them underwater in a small tub. I remove them *underwater*. You can't create aerosols if you brush them off underwater. Also, I use a razor blade and forceps, not a toothbrush (again, avoid creating aerosols).
After removing the visible flesh, I smear kalkwasser paste on the areas that had Palys. I leave the rock exposed (not underwater) for 10 minutes, then rinse away all the kalk paste in a second tub and return the rock to the tank.
In my experience this kills nearly all invasive soft corals while keeping organisms inside the rock and even the coralline algae alive. In very porous rocks I find that the Palys can reemerge from cracks later and require second or even third treatments.
Always work outside, always keep the rocks underwater while cleaning, and don't scrub it with a brush. I've never had any symptoms doing it this way. Removed hundreds of ugly palys.
I take the rocks outside and submerge them underwater in a small tub. I remove them *underwater*. You can't create aerosols if you brush them off underwater. Also, I use a razor blade and forceps, not a toothbrush (again, avoid creating aerosols).
After removing the visible flesh, I smear kalkwasser paste on the areas that had Palys. I leave the rock exposed (not underwater) for 10 minutes, then rinse away all the kalk paste in a second tub and return the rock to the tank.
In my experience this kills nearly all invasive soft corals while keeping organisms inside the rock and even the coralline algae alive. In very porous rocks I find that the Palys can reemerge from cracks later and require second or even third treatments.
Always work outside, always keep the rocks underwater while cleaning, and don't scrub it with a brush. I've never had any symptoms doing it this way. Removed hundreds of ugly palys.
steallife904
New member
I have 3 small patches (5-10 heads) in my tank and I was going to cover with putty to kill them off then remove in a month or so. Was worried doing this though could release toxin. Is this way safe or dangerous? Also don't know what palys mine are but palys non the less. They are green with neon green center dot.
hkgar
Active member
Palys put me in the hospital for 3 days. DO NOT mess with them. Not all are toxic, but who knows if yours are.
