Best way to dispose/kill palythoas

[Smite]

I'm starting to plan for the last bit of my tank tear down. I have a couple large groups of purple death polys. I believe they are type that contain polytoxin and got to thinking about the best way to kill them and then dispose of whatever is left (if saturation is involved). My game plan for now is a HD tote covered and left in the sun for a few days to over heat. Then remove the cover and let it all dry out. From that point, I'm not sure if there is much of a concern about toxin, is it a "living thing" that could it still effect the someone handling it after drying out? Or could it potentially gas off as it dies during this process?

Worst case scenario, I can chisel well outside the area it covers bag it up and trash it?...but it's just such a cool piece of rock I'd hate to do that if there's another means of getting rid of it and maintaining the structure.

 

[Discotu]

Why not just donate them to someone or lfs? Understand the recent concern but plenty of people keep them safely without incident. Otherwise I would just bake them in the sun. UV is pretty good at breaking stuff down. Once completely dry store in a bag or container then when you're ready to reuse just cook them and let nature take its course.

 

[Jimbo327]

https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/healthy+living/protecting+your+health/your+home/palytoxin+poisoning+marine+aquarium+safety#:~:text=Be aware that Palytoxin is,can be deactivated using bleach.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6431a4.htm

Palytoxin can be neutralized by soaking the coral for 30 minutes in a ≥0.1% household bleach solution (1 part 5%–6% sodium hypochlorite [household bleach] to 10 parts water, prepared fresh) (8). Contaminated items should be soaked in diluted bleach before disposal (3).

It says that bleach deactivates the palytoxins. So if this is true, I would get a brute trash and bleach it outside for a couple days until the rock is white. Also wear mask, gloves, etc. After I take the rock out, I would probably leave it in the sun for a week, then hose it down afterwards just in case. And I would bleach the trash can by itself and hose it off, just in case.

Not sure if it is worth it, but if you do decide to do it, bleach is what I would use.

I would not use heat since it'll just release the palytoxin and it is heat stable.

 

[Reef_loco]

Hey Matt…

Maybe running a reactor with a buttload of carbon will absorb the toxin when soaking outside?
Ive heard of other dudes scalpelling them off and using a pump to reactor with carbon to absorb.

 

[JojosReef]

Well, from my point of view, having just been in the hospital for 2 days a couple of weeks ago--allegedly palytoxin poisoning--I would go the bleaching route. Bleach does a great job of denaturing proteins, i.e. inactivating them.

Is it the rock formation itself that you want to preserve or the seeded bacteria in the rock?

 

[Tangwich]

Hey Matt if you wanna keep the rock alive and just completely get rid of the polyps I can help. Have done it on a few large rocks, some wth xenia and some with zoanthids and palys. Lmk.

 

[drexel]

Whatever you do, make sure to wear the proper gear when dealing with these. Palytoxin can travel in several ways, air being one of them, so be careful and keep all family members and pets/animals far away. I've killed single polyps using potassium hydroxide, but this is done in small numbers, maybe 3-5 at a time, but if removed from the tank, then you can inject all at once.