My Mother works for a hospital, Yesterday a patient came into the ER, after cleaning one of his corals out of his tank , not sure what coral he was working on .The coral spit out a toxin which he had inhaled or ingested.. Somehow the toxin entered his blood stream, Needless to know that he's in intenive care unit and dieing.. Be carefull when handleing your corals as this is no joke..
Corals can kill!
- Thread starter jhart
- Start date
scarf_ace1981
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Juan, PR
damn. that doesn't sound good. i wonder what coral??
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
My guess is palytoxin from Palythoa species... nasty stuff. Very sad and a good warning to all of us. Keep us posted.
Randy
Randy
- Location
- Montclair, NJ
That's scary. Hope he ends up ok and we find out the coral.
try to find out what coral it was!!!!
I had no choice the other day than to handle my zoos, brain coral, and frogspawn with no gloves - didn't even get a rash or anything, but I was still worried about it!
Concerning palytoxins, be careful when you have an open cut or if it's ingested, Ryan.
Some corals with known toxic properties include Palythoa, Sarcophyton, mushrooms and green stars. Palythoa is by far the most deadly; a species of wild Palythoa .Palythoa has the capability to kill a rabbit after an injection of only 25 nanograms. A toxic dose for humans would be about 4 micrograms. In fact, palytoxin is considered the most toxic organic poison known to humankind.
Symptoms of palythoa poisoning are well-described, due to their unique position as the world’ s most powerful poison: chest-pains, difficulty breathing, racing pulse and low-blood pressure. Death occurs within minutes, and there is no treatment.
Symptoms of palythoa poisoning are well-described, due to their unique position as the world’ s most powerful poison: chest-pains, difficulty breathing, racing pulse and low-blood pressure. Death occurs within minutes, and there is no treatment.
Our tanks carry about 5 buttloads of toxins that cal seriously hurt you or even kill you. There are many species that we carry in our tanks that contain the toxins. All palythoa species (not all zoos) carry palytoxins. read jhart post above. Another comon super toxin is holothurin produced by cucumbers etc.
Its however not just toxins that we have to worry about but various bacteria that we are prone to while we have our hands in the tanks for hours upon hours. Some members on this board have been put in the ICU and long term medication.
The moral? Dont stick your hands in the tank if you have open cuts or healing wounds. Use a glove if you wish. WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER PLAYING WITH THE TANK
Its however not just toxins that we have to worry about but various bacteria that we are prone to while we have our hands in the tanks for hours upon hours. Some members on this board have been put in the ICU and long term medication.
The moral? Dont stick your hands in the tank if you have open cuts or healing wounds. Use a glove if you wish. WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER PLAYING WITH THE TANK
- Location
- Nueva York
Buttloads..... those actual units of measure? :lol:
But like mentioned earlier, we gotta be careful when handling our tanks. This is the 2nd incident ive heard of in the past 3 months, and it almost went unheard. Makes me think, are there that many more that i dont know about?:scratchch
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Dont forget the fish we keep also cary toxins.
A new guy at a petshop that I was working at put a yellow spotted cow fish in a tank with a couple of fish that started harassing it. The cowfish went into defense mode and poisoned the entire tank. We caught it when most of the fish were either laying on their sides gasping for air or thrashing through out the tank. None of them made it.
A new guy at a petshop that I was working at put a yellow spotted cow fish in a tank with a couple of fish that started harassing it. The cowfish went into defense mode and poisoned the entire tank. We caught it when most of the fish were either laying on their sides gasping for air or thrashing through out the tank. None of them made it.
- Location
- Nueva York
Wow
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
wow! Very sad.
- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
So sad. Sorry to hear the news.
I've started using gloves after having 2 close calls. I had my hand go half numb for a few hours after playing near my torch (slight numbness) and didn't feel it stuck onto my hand. And also had my bottom lip go numb and felt dizzy for a day after rearranging some zoa's b/c i was smoking while working. :smash:
I've started using gloves after having 2 close calls. I had my hand go half numb for a few hours after playing near my torch (slight numbness) and didn't feel it stuck onto my hand. And also had my bottom lip go numb and felt dizzy for a day after rearranging some zoa's b/c i was smoking while working. :smash:
Well I wouldn't let this scare you off! These things happen, but are certainly not something that happens often. Just take precautions and things will be fine...
Remember most pets we have can pose some sort of danger... Turtles :turtle: can give you samonella, cat litter isn't good for pregnant woman to be around
, dogs can bite :dog: , etc... but that doesn't stop us from having them, and it shouldn't :hug: !
m'akoyPINOY
El filibusterismo
i feel very sad for a fellow reefer.
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