Is this "Coral" going to kill me???

[Mxx]

Does anyone please know what this is growing on this rock??

I just bought an assortment of live rock for my newbie tank from a hobbyist that was breaking down a tank. And he warned me that the coral pictured here contained palytoxins which of course are extremely dangerous!

I very cautiously put this rock in a separate holiding container and tried to research it, but couldn't find out anything about it. Is it even a coral, or is it perhaps even just a harmless sponge colony??

In any case, he had put the live rocks in freshwater for half a day before I contacted him and purchased them immediately. Nevertheless, this colony of whatever it is died, and I'm wondering if I should just toss the rock it is on or if I can nevertheless try to re-use it if it's not spewing out toxins now?

The guy I bought it from is off on a holiday road-trip, so I can't reach him now either. I suppose he thought this was perhaps something similar to Palythoa tuberculosa - Mat or Rubber Coral, though I'm wondering now if it is just a sponge instead such as this one in the top-right http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchsponge.html?

Can anyone please advise, if I should toss this live rock, or try to neutralize any toxins via bleach or something?!?

 

[Damien2818]

Boil it and use it as base rock

 

[moshi1ry]

Palytoxins are dangerous! but many people still have them in there reef tanks such as zoanthids. They are fine if handled with proper care and most people never have a problem since you would have to ingest the toxin or more commonly people get the toxin in there eye when fragging without gloves/goggles. Honestly its not very dangerous as long as your not being stupid.

 

[cloak]

I think it might be some sort of palythoa as well. Check these out.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/2/inverts

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1858696

 

[Teddynola]

I would not recommend boiling the rock. I have read accounts of the palytoxin being released in the steam, and aerosolizing the toxin. Not worth attempting, IMO.

 

[Mxx]

I certainly wouldn't want to boil it, as that is the way one unfortunate aquarist nearly offed himself!

I did have this rock with that colony sitting it a container with some other extra rocks for a few days though, and I'm worried that with this colony dying off there meanwhile, that it could have leaked the toxins which leached into the other rocks as well....

Not sure now if I should toss the entire lot of expensive rocks, or just change the water and use carbon in the holding tank for a while. Scared to even touch the water now, or even have it sitting and evaporating in my office!...

 

[philosophile]

Why do you want to kill it? If you don't Want it see if the Lfs will take it for store credit. Palys are poisonous, but I don't normally stick open wounds into my tank nor lick my fingers after handling softies... So unless you do these things you should be fine.

 

[brandon429]

You are more likely to catch a mild vd off a Wal mart toilet seat than you are to get palytoxin poisoning from any handling method of that rock or even straight out palythoa colonies. Sure it happens, but not to anyone you or your lfs knows its nearly totally something someone read about. They'll tell you its someone they know, but it ain't.

Before i'm accused of not buying into net hype id offer a solid decade of palythoa non gloved handling and a lot of siphons gone south. Hype. Handle the rock like you would a kids puke at daycare. Kinda gross, doesn't hurt to take precautions, but if some gets on ya it'll be ok. Vibrio bacteria is a more worthy concern.

Cue twenty links of pending doom in three, two

 

[kingfisher62]

These are some examples of some of the variety of paly's in my tank. I like them , they make good fillers. As mentiond before be cautious with them. I would keep them isolated on the sand till you decide whether or not you like them.

 

[flooddc]

looks like some type of zoanthid or paly colony. How long was the rocks out of the water. Looks like it dying out. Just wear gloves and wash your hand after you handle them and you be fine.

 

[BFG]

There were documented account in this forum of reefer trying to kill their palys with boiling water and breathe in the water vapor afterward, which landed him in the hospital for a while. I do not think that reefer is lying and myself am heeding his warning on palys.

 

[jake koppen]

That reefer that inhaled the steam lives a few blocks from me. It's very real. He was actually scrubbing the rock with hot water. Either the steam or small particles flinging off of the brush made it air born. He w was read his last rights in icu and he pulled through the night. He had been out of the hospital for a good 6 months but has some serious things that will follow him the rest of his life. Organs severely damaged etc.
Like everyone else has said, they are pretty safe to handle generally. Just take precaution handling all coral. Wash your hands often, don't touch your mouth and eyes

 

[ormet]

They'll tell you its someone they know, but it

My dad almost died from it. Went into a coma. Hospitalized for days. He will never be fully restored.

This was in Sweden, 10 years ago give our take a year or two.

He had no idea what he was handling.
He tore down a huge tank filled with them in a confined space.

Normal handling when you know what your are dealing with, no problems.

Sent from phone

 

[afamousjohnson]

I have soooooooo many palys n zoas in my tank and would not want it without them. They r sweet colorful n fill space where you need it. I have seen instances of their dangerousness aswell though in person. One friend 1/2 his face swollen and eye swollen shut for four days due to palys(fraging a huge colony a lot of slime no washing of the hands and eye touching) another who's wife was helping out and had an allergic reaction and with kids in the house...well no more zoas in his tank I myself was fraging a mushroom and got grapefruit squirted directly in the eye. Was closed and irratated all night. Still have them though. Just handle with care.

 

[Mxx]

Being that I have kids in the house and for my own sake, I think having palytoxic corals is simply rather a phenomenally bad idea! There are many other lovely corals which aren't nearly as dangerous as that which I'd be more than happy with. And

So I think I'll steer clear of those Radioactive Zoas I was thinking about, which although they have lovely practically radioactive colouration happen to be nearly as toxic as radioactive waste as well...

The colony on that rock was already dying off as a result of the live rocks having been in fresh water before I picked them up. I'm concerned now that as they're decomposing they're releasing large amounts of toxins, wouldn't they? And I'm not sure if it is possible to clean off the rock or if it is worth it to even try.

I always seem to have some kind of cuts or abrasions on my hand or fingers, and don't yet have any long gloves to use. So if I keep my tank even without Zoas then do I still need to acquire some shoulder-length surgical gloves and eye protection in order to do any maintenance in my tank?

 

[Marlboro Zoa]

If you have all this rock in a holding tank right now, I wouldn't introduce it into your current tank unless you were wanting to start a cycle, which all the die off would probably cause. I would just leave it where it is to allow the organics to die off (especially the colony) and do freshwater (R/O) changes every day or two with a circulation pump going until most the junk has died off. After a few days of doing this I would think the level of toxins are low enough that you could safely brush/scrub the rocks underwater and then continue with some more soaking until they seem ready to be introduced to the new tank. This would probably be when the water stops getting murky and stinking.

 

[brandon429]

Mxx, we covered this is hype. In no way does coloration predict palytoxin

Simply wash hands and keep out of mouth. Zoanthus sociatus= even less of a risk.

 

[Fin Mike]

Um, why did the guy put the rock in fresh water to begin with? Why did you buy them after they had been submerged in fresh water for half a day?

I would suspect that a vast amount of the creatures, if not all the creatures in and on that rock are dead. If this is the case, your going to have a long wait while the decomposition takes place and your N2 cycle ramps up. Hair algae will most like be problematic in the near future. Keep that in mind

 

[Northside Reef]

To be honest that piece of rock (pic 3) already looks like it has a large amount of (possibly) bryopsis algae or some other nuisance algae. I probably wouldn't put it in my tank regardless of what else is on there.

 

[sslak]

Boil it and use it as base rock

Probably the worst possible suggestion if he suspects they are toxic zoanthids/pallys.

Why wouldn't you just cure it like any other rock?

I'm not sure what the dilemma is here. There's a chance the coral might actually recover. I've seen corals come back from fairly catastrophic events. If not, the decay will help build good bacteria for your cycle.

The rock is fine...use it..OR...if you want to get rid of the coral because you're afraid of it, thick gloves, goggles, and a mask over your nose/mouth and chip them off the rock. Try to break off the rock rather than cutting into the flesh of the coral.