Sunburst Paly Care Guide
Sunburst Paly is a bright yellow-orange Palythoa zoanthid with a green ring; a hardy photosynthetic coral that requires palytoxin handling precautions.
Compiled by Aquairi from published sources · Published · Updated
Overview
Sunburst Paly is an aquarium trade name for a Palythoa zoanthid (Palythoa sp. 'Sunburst') with bright yellow-orange polyps and a green ring. Palythoa are colonial anthozoans whose polyps are partially embedded in an encrusting tissue mat (coenenchyme) over the substrate. It is zooxanthellate, deriving much of its energy from photosynthetic symbionts.
Taxonomy
- Family: Sphenopidae
- Genus: Palythoa (Lamouroux, 1816)
- Scientific name (trade form): Palythoa sp. 'Sunburst'
- Order: Zoantharia; Class: Hexacorallia (phylum Cnidaria)
- WoRMS genus AphiaID: 205785 (accepted)
Aquarium care
This is a beginner-friendly, passive coral that is reef-, shrimp- and fish-safe in the aquarium. It feeds photosynthetically and can be supplemented with amino acids and fine reef foods. It is best added to an established tank of at least about three months.
Tank requirements
- Temperature: 24-26 °C (75-79 °F)
- Salinity: 1.024-1.026 SG
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Alkalinity (dKH): 8-11
- Calcium: 380-450 ppm; Magnesium: 1280-1350 ppm
- Nitrate: ≤15 ppm; Phosphate: ≤0.1 ppm
- Lighting: 75-175 PAR (medium); Flow: low
- Growth rate: 0.5-1 cm per month (encrusting)
Placement and flow
Sunburst Paly does well under medium light and low flow, on rockwork where it can spread its encrusting mat. Stable salinity, alkalinity, calcium and magnesium support steady growth and colour.
Propagating Sunburst Paly (Palythoa sp.)
Overview
Sunburst is a bright color morph of Palythoa, a colonial zoanthid of the family Sphenopidae in the order Zoantharia. The polyps grow with their bases joined inside a common tissue mat, the coenenchyme, rather than as standalone animals. This connected structure is the basis for how the morph is divided and shared between tanks.
Reproductive Mode
In the aquarium, growth is overwhelmingly asexual: polyps bud off the spreading mat and the colony expands across whatever surface it touches. Propagation simply takes advantage of this, cutting an established cluster free so it can continue the same encrusting growth on a new base.
Fragging / Asexual Propagation
Fragging is performed by separating a group of polyps from the parent mat and fixing it to a plug or rock. Because the colony is continuous tissue, the cleanest cuts follow the coenenchyme between polyp clusters; a multi-polyp frag re-establishes more reliably than a lone polyp and encrusts over the new base within weeks.
- Identify a cluster of healthy polyps with open, brightly colored oral discs.
- Cut or peel the cluster from the colony along the connecting mat tissue.
- Attach the frag to a clean plug or rock with the tissue in contact with the surface.
- Place the frag in gentle flow and stable water until it grips and spreads.
Conditions for Propagation
Fresh frags do best under medium PAR light and low flow that matches the parent colony, with stable salinity, temperature, and alkalinity. Strong direct current over a new cut can dislodge the piece before it attaches, so ease it into flow gradually.
Safety
Many Palythoa carry palytoxin, an extremely potent non-protein toxin with no known antidote. It is dangerous on skin contact, in the eyes, and especially as an inhaled aerosol. Every fragging or maintenance session on this colony should be treated as a potential exposure.