Another...your tank can be dangerous thread.

[Flipturn88]

Wow...it's sometimes hard to believe that our tanks are capable of such harm. I sometimes get stung by my anemone, which makes my arm tingle, but I've never considered the effects of the micro-life before...

Glad to hear you are okay; that was one knarly infection!

 

[TANGBOY5000]

I agree, what were those docters doing? I just can't fathom how they couldn't culture something from that mess.

 

[chewie]

Good lord Sean! Glad you're OK. I have never worn gloves in my tank, even after numerous stings, but will seriously consider them.

Thanks for sharing:thumbsup: (no pun intended )

 

[shred5]

WOW gross.. thank god you went to the hospital.. alot of people ignore problems and cuts and what not that they get from their tanks. I have had rashes and I have been bit several times by things in a tank.. I know a girl that got stung By a capret anemone and she almost died. I have heard of peoplpe getting real sick from zoo's.. I stick my hand in my tank and never really think about ti till you see something like this...

Dave

 

[swedge]

I agree, what were those docters doing? I just can't fathom how they couldn't culture something from that mess.

Well the problem is that some bugs need very specific conditions to be cultured. Yet when a lab trys to grow bugs from a submitted sample those very specific conditions might not be met by the general culture media used to normally isolate bacteria/bug growth. Unless the lab has an idea what it is trying to isolate, it might not be able to grow anything from the sample. See, a nice Catch 22. For example most Mycobacterium are very difficult to isolate and grow in the lab, while E-coli grow almost on anything.

 

[SeanT]

Here is a pic of my thumb as of 4 minutes ago.
Almost a month to the day.
Gnarly. My daughter thinks its cool.

 

[treszoks]

For some reason Thumb Wars came to mind Glad you're okay.

 

[rags111875]

just for the record, what do you have stocked in your tank anyway, as far as corals and where you received your LR and LS from?

 

[alde]

Looks much better. Glad it is healing up.

I had a bad experience with zoos a couple of years back and posted about it. It's funny how many people just shrug it off and think your nuts. A picture really brings it home though. I have been using those funny looking long gloves ever since I had my episode. It was not fun.

 

[Ron Leversee]

Looks better!! Thanks for this info.. and the pics... Makes one re-examine the way we do things in our tanks...

GLOVES are lookin better now!!!

 

[cypres]

That first pic is making me hungry. I'm going to get some chinese food.

 

[SeanT]

just for the record, what do you have stocked in your tank anyway, as far as corals and where you received your LR and LS from?

Hmmm.
I have a lot.
Zo's, polyps, shrooms, rics, LPS, SPS etc.
LR comes from all over the Pacific.
Therein lay the problem.
No way to pin it down.

The one thing I am sure of is that I wasn't "bitten".
I had no pain or redness or swelling etc.

For the record, the day I got out of the hospital I ordered aqua gloves and have used them religiously since. lol

 

[TANGBOY5000]

Yeah my arm went completely numb for like 2 hours after I got stung from my Haddoni anemone. But, as in all things, I still didn't learn my lesson.

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

Where's the best place to get quality reef gloves? :lol:

No.... Seriously!

 

[SeanT]

These are what I purchased.
Aqua Gloves.

 

[alde]

These are what I purchased.
Aqua Gloves.

Those are the same ones I use. They make it hard to work on small stuff, but it's better then getting sick or worse.

 

[Playdope]

I have the "Aqua gloves too, and yes, they do make it slightly tough to get to small things (snails, etc..). Thought I might add that some places sell packs of shoulder length gloves, that are thinner. Check out custom aquatic... they've got'em.

Jon

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

Hey, the human sea apple. Nice to meetcha!!! ( seriously, that looks brutal. Glad you are OK)

OK, 3'll get you five that your eyesight is better than mine. I was born this way. I also was born with zero allergies to anything including poison ivy, beestings and anything else people tend to be sensitive to. I used to have anemones(probably every kind available at some time-except fire anemones ) that I rated by "stickiness" not the diameter of my arm swelling


SO, preach to the sensitives. YOU need to wear gloves, I don't. Working in my tank cauterizes any little dings, heals infections(like seafood infections, which if you ever worked in a restaurant like cracking crab legs etc you get a million little infections off the seafood+chicken+meat) and in general has given me a good feedback in the most of my life I have been playing in my saltwater tanks(since age 15).

So why should I even give this a second thought? I don't tell people with 20/20 vision to wear glasses just because I have glass block windows strapped to my face. (OK, making a joke, but hopefully you get my point)

 

[Thunnus]

I think that it was just a coincidence that you were working on your tank when your infection set in. Before starting my business I spent some years in ER's nursing. Many a time people came in with similar infections from hangnails, bumps, and even pimples. Your doc didnt tell you everything about your blood and discharge cultures. It would be absolutely impossible to have a finger looking like that and show nothing in either culture. The most minute scratch can produce some amazing infections as you well know. You are right gloves are a good idea for both us and the tanks inhabitants. I just ordered a pair!

 

[Micki]

Wow, really makes one stop and think. Thanks for sharing.