Palytoxin=OUCH

edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
My first time fragging zoas was not very successful. The zoas look great, but I'm a bit miserable. It doesn't look bad in the picture, but my finger is continually throbbing, oozing, and it is so swollen that I can't extend or flex it. I know, I'm a wimp, but this sucker really hurts!!!! I did go to the immediate care center to have it checked out, so hopefully a week on antibiotics will help. But because we tend to ignore possible dangers, I just wanted to remind everyone to be careful around their corals, and think seriously about taking some precautions.

View attachment 17479View attachment 17483
 
DD

DD

"Rambo"
Whoa! What kind of paly's were you fragging? Were you wearing gloves at the time also?

I'm glad you didn't get the really bad reactions that I've read about.

I've always been worried about getting poisoned so I am always wearing nitrile gloves and eye protection when attempting to frag anything.
 
jayjigga

jayjigga

Active member
Did you have an open wound when you were fragging or did it happen during fragging? Hope you feel better soon!
 
edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
I was wearing protective eye ware, but no gloves. My reasoning was that I didn't have any cuts on my hands, that is, until the blade I was using sliced my finger. In this case I have to say that gloves would not have helped since the blade would have cut right into it, but I was also being careless with the blade.
 
G

Geo

New member
Get well soon!!! I got a skin rush from a hammer once and did not check it out and it ended up in breaking my skin so bad that it was bleeding for weeks and it looked like an ugly frost bite :(
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
Be careful. Dont even mess with zoa/paly if u have a small cut on your hand.
I even know people who got Marine Tuberculosis from messing with liverock because they scratch their hand on the liverock. Leads to long term antibiotic use.
 
edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
Aquaman said:
harbor freight has 50 nerite gloves for 11 dollars the thicker ones
Click to expand...
Thanks Dave,
I'm actually a dental assistant, so gloves are easily accessible to me, and I can double or triple up on them to make them thicker, but I think my fragging days of zoas and plays has come to an end. Luckily I finished the job last night before I knew anything was wrong, so they are all mounted where I wanted them.
 
Funlad3

Funlad3

Well-known member
Marilyn, feel better! Palytoxin is NOT a substance you want to be exposed too. Keep that think clean, and stay on those antibiotics! Benedril wouldn't be a bad idea at all, either.
 
edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
Thanks everyone for your concerns. My main point in posting this was to remind all of us how things can go wrong so quickly and to be careful. Mine is a minor injury in comparison to what others have experienced, so I really feel quite lucky about that. But some of us tend to forget how dangerous these creatures are, and don't take it seriously. I know I didn't! :doh:
 
DD

DD

"Rambo"
It's good to protect yourself when fragging anything.

Just last week when I was moving my sps to my new tank, I had a mariculture mini colony that I wanted to break into two pieces. Well the skeletons were really thick and I had to use quite a bit of force to frag them. The first one went smoothly, the second shot up and hit my safety glasses! Funny thing was I didn't blink until after it bounced off the glasses and went into my container lol!

A lot of the bacteria and toxins in the marine environment have been around for longer than we've been around. Always best to be cautious.

Marilyn, I'm glad that it was only a minor reaction. What kind of paly's were they? The worst are the grandis from what I've read. They contain the highest levels of palytoxin. There was a thread somewhere on RC I think where the guy was hospitalized after fragging purple deaths I believe. Scary stuff!
 
Aquaman

Aquaman

New member
it was my understanding that its only palys/and some zoas that are dangerous... not any sps that i know of
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top