Tangs, copepods, and corals

[PacificBlueReef]

I have several questions

1. With Pacificblue, and Kole tangs being herbivores do they eat pods? (ex. amphipods, copepods)

2. I have heard about some zoo's being toxic. Would the Parazoanthus sp. (yellow polyps) have be included in these?

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Reef'in Colorado]

I have both of the fish you mentioned, and have never seen either of them hunt pods. They will both go after mysis and other prepared meaty foods though.

I think that parazoanthids are also fairly toxic, but am not 100% sure. I keep many zoos, parazoos, protopalythoa, and palythoa in my mixed reef without any problems. Just be careful when handling or fragging them.

 

[Paintbug]

1. Tangs will eat pods or just about anything else but its not a problem the pods will multiply plenty to keep up.

2 Palytoxin (the toxins in zoas) is VERY toxic. however it fairly hard to extract from the zoos flesh. very rarely do you hear something happening from them. but it does happen. im not sure about the yellow polyps however.

heres something i copied for you.
The crude ethanol extracts of the Palythoa toxica proved to be so toxic that an accurate LD50 was difficult to determine. More recently, the toxicity has been determined to be 50-100 ng/kg i.p. in mice. The compound is an intense vasoconstrictor; in dogs, it causes death within 5 min at 60 ng/kg. By extrapolation, a toxic dose in a human would be about 4 micrograms. It is the most toxic organic substance known!