On Thursday night, Sydney Roosters forward Nathan Brown was sent off for a high shot on Manly's Ben Trbojevic.
Fotuaika was dismissed in the 17th minute for a shoulder to the head of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, which left the Warriors fullback dazed.
The Warriors No.1 was assisted from the field and did not return, as Fotuaika's night also came to an early end in a spiteful contest.
"I thought the send-off was harsh for us," Titans coach Jim Lenihan said.
"If you compare the (Brown hit) it wasn't the same.
"I don't think Moe was coming off the ground recklessly. Maybe 10 minutes (in the sin bin) was sufficient.
"It put us under a hell of a lot of pressure and the game was pretty much over at that point."
Gold Coast hooker Chris Randall was put on report in the 14th minute for a high shot on Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, an incident that set the tone for an explosive first half
Two minutes after Fotuaika's early exit, Warriors second-rower Marata Niukore was sin-binned for slapping the face of counterpart David Fifita.
Referee Ben Cummins called captains Kieran Foran and Tohu Harris together and gave them both a stern talking to.
"I'm sick and tired of this. Concentrate on the footy," Cummins told the pair in a warning that did the trick.
The hosts scored first when Fifita crashed over but after that Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson crossed for two cracking tries in front of 20,877 fans.
Johnson weaved his magic to score his first with a right-foot step that bamboozled the defence.
He then split the Titans from 30m out and found Watene-Zelezniak, who unfurled a one-handed inside pass back to his on-fire No.7 while being tackled by three defenders to give the visitors a 12-6 lead at the break.
Johnson created a try for rampaging forward Jackson Ford but Gold Coast refused to go away with fullback Jayden Campbell laying on a try for Joe Stimson with a grubberkick.
Campbell then grabbed an incredible reflex intercept 10m out from his own tryline and raced the length to level it up at 18-18.
Harris crashed over next to the sticks and Watene-Zelezniak chased a Johnson kick to finally put the brave Titans away with tries in the final seven minutes.
The Warriors (32 points) remain third on the ladder and on track for a top-four finish.
"Sometimes you've got to win ugly and we are all understanding it definitely was ugly," coach Andrew Webster said.
"Our boys tried hard again but we didn't nail what we wanted to do tonight and didn't adjust. We've got to get better than that."
Gold Coast, on 22 points, are out of the finals race but are playing with fight.
"To still be 18-all with six minutes to go … I thought they were really brave and I was proud of them," Lenihan said.
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