twoinoven2003

Thank you so much for the info. I, being a housecleaner took note of the uses for muriatic acid that would benefit me. I put a solution of pickling lime on a bunch of palys yesterday, it looks like snow. It was a section away from other stuff and I'll let you know what happens. And if anyone is interested, I'll post a later picture of the finger progress. It isn't swollen anymore and the scar tissue is forming around the crater, but it went all the way through all layers of skin. It looks like it's going to be a real nasty scar. Ugh. Still pretty sore too.

Sorry to sound so naive, but I thought that was a pool chemical? Is it safe (well, obviously or you wouldn't be using it). Someone like me probably shouldn't even attempt that. I'm trying the pickling lime, but do you know if a bunch of palys die will they send out enough toxin to harm anything else? Or is it best to just do a dozen or so at a time? Thanks for the help!

Okay, my question is how to get rid of the palys on this rock without killing the corals on the other side (green nepthea, star polyps and two things I don't know the name of). I know I'll have to get the anemones to move first. I really don't want to kill the whole rock or chip off the corals I want, it's a really cool rock except for the palys. I've used a paste of pickling lime and water on some aiptasia which worked well, but kind of 'snowed' down on other stuff too. Was going to try aiptasiaX but it's really pricey at my lfs. Any suggestions?

I joined WAMAS to thank you all for sharing your experience and knowledge on palytoxins, especially steveoutlaw. I was relocating a capricornus covered in palys a few days ago and had a shallow, minor scrape on my finger. I had heard that palys had a toxin but didn't even register that at the time. My finger hurt bad enough to wake me in the middle of the night. I did a Google search on palytoxin which led me to this forum where I read about Steve doing the paly-steam facial. I had been planning to boil a rock covered in brown palys the next day. If I hadn't read this I am pretty sure I'd be either dead or in the hospital. I am also going to post pix for the unknowing (as I WAS) to see exactly what palytoxin will do to a very minor scrape if you annoy your palys and swill your finger around near them. It has eaten a crater in my finger. HUGE thank you to everyone posting here! You can see the offending palys smirking in the background