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texas trash palys and gsp


Wardlaw

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Take out the offending rocks? Star polyps you could probably use kalk paste over them but trash palys just need to be removed. Anything in tank could result in a release of palytoxin and wipe out your tank.

Really?! I have ripped countless numbers with tweezers before with no disaster. Guess I will not be doing that again.

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I have a colony growing on just one of my rocks that I moved over from the trough to the new tank and I've tried zapping them with aiptasia zapper and it's just not working.

Problem with that is the rock they are on has 3 Ranbow Bubble Tips, so I can't just trash the rock. I've been thinking about taking it out and scouring it with a wire brush and putting it back in.... but like Ty said the palytoxins are quite scary with trash palys.

Luckily they are on an isolated rock in the sand, so I'm not at risk of messing up my other clean rock. But I still want them out.

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Could you just split the offending piece of rock off with a chisel and hammer? If you were set up in advance you could probably get the rock out, split and back in before any harm is done to the life in the rock or your bubble tips.

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I'd still be worried about toxins if you killed them with Aiptasia X in tank. Toxins don't just disappear because you killed the host... unless it was some biological process that causes them to produce the toxins instead of the toxins just residing in their systems. I say sacrifice whatever rock they are one and get new rock.

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Any thoughts on removing the rock, letting it dry out in the sun, then washing or scrubbing or something before putting it back in the tank? Any idea how long the toxins hang around before breaking down? I'd want to make sure I couldn't get hurt washing the rocks off after they've dried out for a few weeks, or hurt the tank after putting them back in.

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I had a total volume of 180g without carbon or other chemical filtration. The rocks that I had wanted to keep and could move got turned over in the sand. Burying a paly in the sand takes about three weeks and they have to be fully engulfed. The ones I had on rocks that were too big to turn over got removed by tweezers. I was removing about 10 every Saturday and didn't see any harm as a result. It's easier to pull them underwater than it is pulling the rock completely out. You'll squirt your eye out!

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Any thoughts on removing the rock, letting it dry out in the sun, then washing or scrubbing or something before putting it back in the tank? Any idea how long the toxins hang around before breaking down? I'd want to make sure I couldn't get hurt washing the rocks off after they've dried out for a few weeks, or hurt the tank after putting them back in.

I believe palytoxin would dry up with the paly and would not be harmful beyond that point. The harm is getting the liquid inside of a cut or opening, like the eye. Drying the rock would work, but if you're going to kill it then I might cure the rock in freshwater instead. All of the decay will happen in the water and you won't need to scrub it.

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It will be much easier to remove bta's, corals, etc from the rock and then remove it from the tank. Make sure that no pets have access to the drying rock if you leave it in the yard. Once it's good and dry you can brush off the palys into a container for disposal. Definitely wear gloves, long sleeves, goggles, etc. A mask helps as well, you don't want to inhale anything. After that I'd probably bleach or vinegar the rock for a few days, then let it sit and dry before reintroducing to a tank.

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It will be much easier to remove bta's, corals, etc from the rock and then remove it from the tank. Make sure that no pets have access to the drying rock if you leave it in the yard. Once it's good and dry you can brush off the palys into a container for disposal. Definitely wear gloves, long sleeves, goggles, etc. A mask helps as well, you don't want to inhale anything. After that I'd probably bleach or vinegar the rock for a few days, then let it sit and dry before reintroducing to a tank.

That still sounds risky. Not to the tank, but to myself. Maybe I'll just get new rocks to replace them. Thanks for the discussion!
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i had already scraped/pulled at least 50-60 before asking. luckily i have had no adverse reactions from fish or other coral. i did change out carbon after Ty's first response. suppose i could try several other methods that seem less prone to failure

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From what I understand, not all Palythoa carry Palytoxin. Texas Trash Paly is sort of an unofficial name for a polyp that used to be desirable and now everyone has because it grows so quickly. There are three varieties that people call TTP, but only one of them is toxic. Maybe someone can elaborate further.

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