Never put your hands in your reef tank without gloves on.

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Uncle Carl

Member
My story.....wish I would have listened to others.
Monday December 13 2011
Never put your hands in your saltwater reef tank without gloves. Just got back from 6 hours at the emergency room, now I am waiting for the vicodin to kick in so my hand will stop throbbing. This morning I felt a slight pain and thought a bristle worm had caught me...by four I had a spot the size of a golf ball swollen and bright red so I went to prompt care...spent an hour there only to be sent to the emergency room. Got lucky the doctor on call was a toxicologist and knew what to do. Said in five days I should be much better. Lesson learned and I think this time I will remember it.
:8party:
 
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Uncle Carl

Member
December 14th, 2011
well they admitted me to st.joe Hospital. thank god for morphine and i v antibotics....the swellng was moving up my arm so i got an appointment with my doctor who took one look and had me admitted to st. joe......this is an expensive hobby....the surgeon removed a black object the size of a needle tip and one sixteenth of an inch long that showed up on the x-ray....i cannot figure out which critter gave it to me. I have no urchins in my tank. The attached photo was taken on day one before I went to ER...it got much worse the next day by the third day from the tips of my fingers to 8 inches below my wrist was swollen. My fingers looked like they were webbed.

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Uncle Carl

Member
On December 16th I got out of the hospital at 5:30. I was suppose to be released at noon but the Infectous disease center wanted me held until they could send people to visually review and take cultures from the wound. They then ordered another IV antibotic before I could be released. They also dictated the antibotic that I was to use at home and said I need to go to the surgeon at 8 am on Monday, he will determine they need to add a second antiboitic and if the core dead tissue has to be removed surgicall or if I am sucessful drawing it out over the weekend(my preference)...They also I needed some more vicidin. Which I am on....so no buying or selling without her approval....and I have two hads with puncuctures that cannot go into my tank even with gloves for a week.
 
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Uncle Carl

Member
Tomorrow I see the surgeon at 8 a.m. I am hoping he does not have to cut out the dead tissue. Wound still hurts alot and is red but only the size of a half dollar.....soooo much better.
 
jcarlilesiu

jcarlilesiu

Active member
Wow, what a story and that picture is terrible.

Wish you luck tomorrow. Hopefully all will be good to go and it will heal up on its own.

Is infectious disease going to tell you what the cultures find for future reference?
 
fredfish13

fredfish13

Member
that is scary. hope it turns out well. i tend to wash my hands alot for my job and in the winter i get dry skin and it cracks alot. I do put lotion when i remember. Have to seriously think about getting a box of gloves when i have to go in the tank.
 
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Uncle Carl

Member
I am not posting this information for sympathy, though I appreciate people's concern and prayers. At one point they thought I might lose my hand that crisis is passed.

I am making this information available so others can learn in a pain free manner from my error. So far this has cost more than $8000, and I still have a consult with the surgeon tomorrow and with my primary physican on Dec 28th. I don't want my extended reef family to suffer through this...it is not fun.
 
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Uncle Carl

Member
jcarlilesiu said:
Wow, what a story and that picture is terrible.

Wish you luck tomorrow. Hopefully all will be good to go and it will heal up on its own.

Is infectious disease going to tell you what the cultures find for future reference?
Click to expand...
The infectious disease people hoped to that the results of the cultures available when I see the surgeon on Monday. Those results will be taken into consideration before he makes recommendatons to me. I will continue to provide information so more can learn from this trial.
 
DB9181

DB9181

New member
So sorry to hear that this happened, but glad for the 'heads up'. Please let us know when you find out what the cause was...
 
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Uncle Carl

Member
I saw the surgeon yesterday and he said it is healing as well as can be expected. I have another appoinment with him in a month. He said marine bacteria are slow growing so they won't have the culture results for a month. He made very clear I need to monitor any infection break outs for the next two months because marine bateria is so slow growing and so hard to get out of a system once introduced. He said I can expect it to be painful for weeks because it is so deep. But it is healing.
 
saltymike

saltymike

New member
Wow what a crazy story. I'm really curious to find out what it is that caused this. I always make fun of my cousin because he refuses to stick his hands in the water without putting on gloves that come up to his shoulders but now I'm gonna order those same gloves. A couple months ago I upgraded my tank and after moving everything to the new tank my finger was hurting. I had a small bump and it hurt for about a week. Luckily it went away but know you have me a little paranoid. Good luck to you and I hope it all works out.
 
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Uncle Carl

Member
Thanks to the reefing community we think we have identified what in my reef tank poisoned me.... A CONE SNAIL. I haven't seen him but I have a number of fish that have been parylized this week. Typically found in warm and tropical seas and oceans worldwide, and reaches its greatest diversity in the Western Indo-Pacific Region. This genus is found in all tropical and subtropical seas from tidal waters to deeper areas, living on sand or among rocks or coral reefs. All cone snail species are equipped with a battery of toxic harpoons which can fire in any direction, even backwards. Some of these toxins can be fatal to humans.[11] The venom of cone snails contains hundreds of different compounds, and its exact composition varies widely from one species of cone snail to another. The toxins in these various venoms are called conotoxins. These are various peptides, each targeting a specific nerve channel or receptor.I was lucky only 3 trips to the emergency room, 4 days in the hospital on IV antibotics and morphine, then ten days at home on Vicodin and antibotics.....I sort of lost 16 days of my life but am so lucky to still have my right hand and to be alive to warn other to wear gloves when working in our tanks. The thought is that the snail was a hitchhiker on an indonesian coral that lived through the preventative coral dip process... Be careful out there.
 
DB9181

DB9181

New member
Wow, great to hear that they may have identified it - not so great that you lost 16 days :( Hope youre doing better now
 
Cubbies

Cubbies

Active member
Wow Carl! That is crazy! I would've never thought we could even get those as hitchhikers. I've heard Cone Snails have one of the most powerful venoms in the world. Glad you're doing ok!
 
Captmrbles

Captmrbles

New member
Someone tell me if i am wrong here but thin thin latex surgical gloves I use are probably going to be penetrated by anything that is sharp enough to puncture skin... I may need better gloves
 
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