COTW--Zoanthus polyps - Page 2

Zoos are one of my favorite corals, and I hope to be able to make my tank a zoo/ric only tank. However, I need to figure out what is eating all my zoos.

gotta love zoos!!! not sure if this is 100% true...but about the toxic abilities of zoos...i've been told that it is not just when you cut into them or pop them...but that their slime can have the toxic solution as well...true?

truth about palytoxins

its true zoanthids and palythoas have some of the most (potentialy) leathal paly and cytotoxins out there, palytoxin poisoning is a very real danger I always wear gloves and glasses when fragging mine.

Palytoxin acts at the cell membranes to make them permeable to cations - positively charged ions, typically sodium, potassium, and calcium. Many functions of cells depend upon controlling the flow of these ions in and out of the cell, so disrupting this traffic is very dangerous.

At the physiological level, the most sensitive target is the myocardium, or muscular component of the heart, and the primary effect is vasoconstriction or rapid narrowing of blood vessels in the heart and in the lungs. Another effect is hemolysis, or the destruction of the red blood cells. These three effects taken together cut off the oxygen supply and the victim suffocates
Palytoxin was first isolated from the soft coral Palythoa toxica. Several species of Palythoa are used in aquariums, but do not produce the toxin. Originally, it was only found in a single tidal pool on the island of Maui in Hawaii and native Hawaiians used to coat

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points with a red seaweed from the pool. Toxin-containing corals appear to be randomly and sparingly distributed throughout the South Pacific and there is now a school of thought that suggests that the coral is simply concentrating the toxin made by a dinoflagellate (a small single-celled organism) called Ostreopis siamensis.

Palytoxin is the most toxic natural product known, it is estimated that the lethal dose for a human is less than five micrograms
Palytoxin is an incredibly complex molecule with 64 stereocenters and a backbone of 115 contiguous carbon atoms

in other words theres probably not enough in your coral to kill you but it could make you very sick, up to the point of hospitalization. on the other hand if your allergic or sensative........

darknes,when you turn the lights on look for tiny nudibranchs on your zoos.i had an iutbreak and they can demolish zoos quick.sundial snails are also predators on zoos.go to search and look for the hitchiker id page.You sould be able to find your answers on there.

man all of those zoo pics are freakin awesome....the frag i have i moved to the top of the tank closer to the light and in the way of more flow and they are starting to open...a few of them have even turned orange

:happyfish

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Gotta be my fav coral.Afew of my colonies, can't wait till santa brings my new camera.............

My mean greens...

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Here are some pics of my zoos in my tank, i just give them plenty of light.

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I had a nice patch of zoos then all of a sudden over half stopped opening. I can see the bud there but they have not opened in a month now. What could be the problem. Nothing has changed in the tank and all my levels are still good.