Palytoxin=OUCH

edsbeaker

Member
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!
There were 7 different kinds, 5 of which were palys and 2 of those grandis. I have no idea which of them got me, though.

PM me any medical questions if you have any. I'll be glad to help. Get well...and be careful!
Thanks Brian! I do have one question that came up after I left the Drs. office, so I think I will PM you!
 

DD

"Rambo"
it was my understanding that its only palys/and some zoas that are dangerous... not any sps that i know of
Dave it's better to exercise caution when dealing with anything in your aquarium.

Whenever you touch sps, they slime up. That slime can contain any number of things that can cause an adverse reaction.

The best tip I heard when I first started up was "keep your hands out of the tank". This meant a few things; lets stuff grow by not messing with it, wear shoulder length gloves whenever doing anything inside of the tank because you protect yourself from various bacteria that reside in our aquariums, and you protect your corals and fish from whatever is on your skin (soap, oil, lotions, contaminants, etc.).
 

fishyfish22

Premium member
it's amazing how vulnerable the corals look in the tank yet they can be so dangerous to people... wow... glad it was only something minor, hope you get better!
 

Pufferpunk

New member
I hope it doesn't get way worse by tomorrow! I've gotten palytoxin in a cut but never actually cut myself with the blade I was using to frag them. OUCH!
 

frostyjay1

Active member
I'm sorry you hurt yourself :cray: it's gotta suck bad. But the moral of the story for us it's to learn from each other's mistakes.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
 

Tank2379

Active member
I got some in my eye a couple months ago luckily it wasn't alot and I didn't loose an eye. I didn't have eye protection on but I did have gloves... So I know how you feel... my eye was red and crusty for like a week but the antibotics worked so just keep taking them as prescribed an you'll be fine ... Now I know to wear both gloves and glasses... If I do ever handle them out of the water keep them point towards to the water to prevent them from Squirting at you...
 

CoralN00b

New member
Marilyn, I hope you feel better and heal up soon.

Also, thank you for sharing this info. I have read a lot on here about this and glad I did. I hope to have some fragging within the year and based on everything I have read, this is how I will look when doing so.

 

edsbeaker

Member
Marilyn, I hope you feel better and heal up soon.

Also, thank you for sharing this info. I have read a lot on here about this and glad I did. I hope to have some fragging within the year and based on everything I have read, this is how I will look when doing so.

:rofl:
That's hilarious!
 

tkh

New member
Woah, glad this wasn't any worse! Ironically I was reading more about palytoxin poisoning just the other day - there are some true horror stories out there, this isn't a trivial toxin!

On a side note, the mechanism by which the toxin works is ingenious! It disrupts your cells sodium pumps... Which is such an intrinsic and basic function of cells in general that the toxin has the potential of working on any cell! I mean, how cool is that! Hmm, ok, maybe not the thread for marveling at palytoxin....

I really hope you feel better soon! Thanks for sharing a reminder to us all to be careful with our tanks!
 

dohc97

Member
Get better, im one of the ones who got an infection from just having my hands in tank. i wrench for a living so im always scratched up, one day my forearm started swelling up, i let it go a few days until it looked like i had a volcano ready to blow on my arm. Doctor visit, they "drained" the wound and put me on antibiotics for about 2 months. i have a crater left over and the memory of the pain when they squeezed my arm like an orange. Looks like you are better than me at getting medical care though so you will hopefully not be scarred up.
 

1mg

New member
now you got me nervous. I should be getting back to work soon and im a machinist. I don't think there is a day I have worked without at least one cut and metal splinters in my hands. was it a frag tank or just full of zoas Jose. I don't have a lot of zoas so would I still be in danger just putting my hands in the tank. also I always wash my hands and take a shower when I get off work but could the metal chips in my skin contaminate the tank.
 
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