What kind of polyp are these?

[bprewit]

I have a few small clumps of these guys spread throughout my tank. They are pretty big and probably over 1/2" across when open. Cool looking just dont know what they are. Palyothoa maybe?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...t/Xenia004.jpg

[C.Mydas]

Palyothoa's

[Tim Marvin]

I also call them green buttons. Palyothoa.

[bprewit]

are palyotha the ones that can be toxic? Seems like I remember reading that cutting them in the tank or anywhere while having your hands submerged in the water, small cut and can cause problems for you? I would live to move some of these guys from the main colonies to other rocks but dont want to cause problems for me or my tank.

[C.Mydas]

Yep. Looks exactly like the ones I have, wear gloves, the pain isn't worth it.

[Tim Marvin]

Almost all zoo's can cause problems. They are best cut outside of the tank. I have some gold ones I ripped off some rock and smashed up some trying to get them off. It nearly killed all my caps, but fortunately I caught it in time and did a large water change and added carbon. All is well now and the caps gew back fine. They seemed to be the only coral effected. IMO it is best to cut and frag all corals outside of the tank if possible and rinse well in SW before placement back in the tank.