Another...your tank can be dangerous thread.

[Rhodophyta]

I would venture to say that this is important for people with tanks 55 gallons or so and smaller. There's no way anyone could pull my 220 down, without a truck and a chain.

It is not a matter of size and weight. The depth (from front to back) is a factor, but stability is not certain just because a tank has 18" or 24" depth of field. The old saying is, "The bigger they are the harder they fall." What I have seen people do with multiple tanks on one stand or one large tank, is to build the stand so that the top goes almost to the ceiling. They can do this even in an apartment or rented property where lagging into the studs or joists might be frowned on. The top part can be a storage cabinet or bookcase that slides in on top and is then carriage bolted together. That makes moving it later a lot simpler.

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

kids can get into the darndest places no one would wanna have me as there kid i got into every thing and more !

 

[kingkillyah]

Man that Looks like it Hurted AloT !!

 

[dvr16]

if you have soft corals such as button polyps and you had an open wound and rubbed up against them they can cause a nasty infection as im pretty sure the mucous they excrete is toxic/harmful

 

[3_high_low]

Hey dvr16....

[welcome]

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

YES hello dvr16 Not as fancy as above but just the same welcome !!

 

[Rhodophyta]

Now you have me wondering about this funny little lump I have on my right palm. I think it showed up shortly after I set up my first salt water tank, maybe I should finally listen to my wife and see a doctor about it.

There is at least one mycobacteria that can cause a lump on human skin. It can gradually open up into a lesion and takes months to heal. Because it is a relative of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and leprosy, you may end up testing false positive for TB. In humans it stays restricted to the skin, but is inevitably fatal to fish.

http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/mmi/lsteyn/lecture.html

 

[BiGOrange]

Can someone post all the stuff you can get off the public phone?

 

[3_high_low]

Can someone post all the stuff you can get off the public phone?

A phone that has been dipped in a reef aquarium or a regular phone?:smokin:

 

[dvr16]

thanks for the welcome. sorry to hear about your hand. love the site. great info and good people = a good time for all

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

regular phone !

 

[Questin]

So a good rule of thumb is to wear gloves!

Well, I have zoo's in my tank, and have read up a lot about them, and every book on zoo's and every detailed artical on zoo's that I have ever read have all said the same thing.

Never! work in a tank with zoo's if you have ANY kind of cuts on your hands.

If a dog can die just from drinking the water of a tub that has a few zoo's in it, then a small cut on your thumb could get a serious infection.

 

[Radicaljbr]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not been on this site for a while. And now I might not ever come back after seeing this. My birthday is tomorrow, I sure know what I am going to ask for.

:mad2:

 

[mandarindragonets]

I believe Tippy toe is right on. Mycobacterium marinum is a likely cause, especially if you had open cuts on your finger!! Glad your o.k.

 

[BobB]

I skipped to the end of this thread, so I hope I'm not repeating something already said. From the description of the incident and the photo of the wound, I all but rule out Mycobacterium marinum. I worked with M. marinum for several years and wrote a review on its infection process. While I don't profess to be an expert an infection from M. marinum simply doesn't progress that fast. However, your photos and reported symptoms do coincide nicely with a Vibrio vulnificus infection, which have hallmarks of rapid sepsis spreading from infected digits or limbs. There's no way for me to know, but that's my educated guess.

I hope you are now well and that we all have learned to glove our hands when working in our tanks. BTW, I routinely wash with Betadine (iodine soap lotion) after working with my tanks. Something I learned from the head vet at the National Aquarium.

 

[ReeferMac]

I routinely wash with Betadine (iodine soap lotion) after working with my tanks. Something I learned from the head vet at the National Aquarium.

Hmmm.. very good idea, especially after a lot of work in there (e.g. re-arranging). I can get that at the local pharmacy chain, can't I?

- Mac

 

[BobB]

I believe that many drug stores have it, but you'll have to ask to be sure. FWIW: I've seen betadine at the local Safeway grocery store in the drugs section, so maybe its stocked in other grocery chains as well.

 

[Rhodophyta]

Yes Betadine is over-the-counter. It should not be hard to find.

 

[mandarindragonets]

Betadine? Is this an anti-bacterial soap?? Wouldn't any anti-bacterial hand soap work??

 

[Aquatect]

At my LFS, I was doing getting out a few discus for a customer and one of them (I think it was a discus that did it, may have been something else but anyway...) spined me on the top of my finger. It didnt hurt that much, although the acid water didnt feel great... Well, a few weeks later I notice ive got this big welt/lump on my finger. Hmm... I thought it was just a wound becauhe it was healing fine... or so I thought...

After a while, it wasnt getting any better and infact looked worse. A family friend thats a doctor said he'd take a look at it. His diagnosis:

Mycobacterium Marinum(I know plenty about it now, BobB!) AKA Fish Tuberculosis, closely related to leprosy. Whoa... So I was on a strogn antibiotic for about 3 months. It was filled with pus and blood when he cut it to get a swab for culture. Dangerous stuff, and it's in every tank. Just gotta be careful of open wounds...