Softies and SPS

[matt]

Actually, the chemical aggressiveness of soft corals and zoos varies tremendously from species to species and genus to genus. Some sarcophytons will chemically attack stony corals if they sense their presence, othes might not. It really seems to be a hit or miss situation, although the Borneman book does have a chart of relative toxicity among several common aquarium species, and it's worth looking at.

Regarding the handling of zoos, the most dangerous polyps that I've heard of are the palythoas; in fact, these have been traditionally used in neurotoxins on poison darts. So the next time a pygmy aims his/her blowgun at you, you feel a sting, then get lightheaded, you can pass out with the satisfaction that you know what's causing it!

[mharris7]

here's a pic of the tank so you can see the various corals mixed

[mharris7]

the white patch above the rasta leather on the far left used to be brown digitata.... it's pretty common so I'm not too worried about losing it but am worried about affecting my couple of acro frags...so far so good though. Only monti's seem to be affected at the moment.

[GaryP]

Calfo mentions an incident in his book. He was fragging some zoo's with a scalpel and being short a hand, he stuck the scalpel between his teeth. The result was that he couldn't feel anything in his face, or taste anything for several days. They do contain a powerful neurotoxin. I think its designed to keep things like parrot fish and angels from grazing on them in the wild.

Gary

[wkopplin]

Some people would actually pay for that sensation. :-D

[dan]

so in other words don't handle zoo's and pick your teeth at the same time RIGHT? :o :o