dangers of reefkeeping

After I would frag Zoo's, (esp. bright orange) my arms would break out in scores of water blisters that would itch. I learned if I would wash my hands and arms immediately after with 10% Benzoyl Peroxide, no breakouts. ( Oxy acne wash and Proactive have 10% B. P.)
 
Hi Travis- there are quite a few more Vibrios that can be put on the list- parahaemolyticus, mimicus, alginolyticus, and of course good ol' cholerae to name a few. I have some old data on the prevalence of pathogenic Vibrios in home and commercial aquariums I did a few years ago if you would like it. Pretty nasty stuff lurking in there. My favorite was finding toxigenic cholera in high numbers in a display tank in a sushi restaurant. Finding the data may take some digging, that was at least 3 computers ago. There are also some strains of toxigenic E. coli and Salmonella enterica and typhi that have been found in marine waters. Also look at Pfiesteria piscida- no reports yet in home aquariums, but knocked some researchers in North Carolina flat when they added a carp to a tank where they were growing it (toxigenesis is induced by fish waste and gill excretions). AMAZING organism- so many forms it can take. Also, my girlfriend got squirted in the eye a few weeks ago while working on a Palythoa colony- severe pseudomembranous conjunctivitis, edema, purulent discharge & light sensitivity. Took over 2 week to clear up. This was just from the water in the bowl, not a direct spray of Palythoa "juice". Also, I had a CNS response to it a few years ago doing research in Mexico. Scariest thing was, as I started losing sensation, I knew I should let someone know, but just didn't have the energy to care. Kinda freaky. Cleared up pretty soon but my mouth tasted like I had been sucking on pennies for a few days afterward. Also caught a little buzz off of tetrodotoxin once, and stung by scorpionfish 3 times (milking them for venom). Oh yeah- is venom from cone snails on your list? (skimmed first post, but I'm tired..). At least 12 different neurotoxins there, each specific to a different part of vertebrate physiology. So yeah- the point of my ramblings- gloves seem like a good idea to me. Nitriles are nice, strong and minimal allergies.
 
olin said:
Hi Travis- there are quite a few more Vibrios that can be put on the list- parahaemolyticus, mimicus, alginolyticus, and of course good ol' cholerae to name a few. I have some old data on the prevalence of pathogenic Vibrios in home and commercial aquariums I did a few years ago if you would like it. Pretty nasty stuff lurking in there. My favorite was finding toxigenic cholera in high numbers in a display tank in a sushi restaurant. Finding the data may take some digging, that was at least 3 computers ago. There are also some strains of toxigenic E. coli and Salmonella enterica and typhi that have been found in marine waters. Also look at Pfiesteria piscida- no reports yet in home aquariums, but knocked some researchers in North Carolina flat when they added a carp to a tank where they were growing it (toxigenesis is induced by fish waste and gill excretions). AMAZING organism- so many forms it can take. Also, my girlfriend got squirted in the eye a few weeks ago while working on a Palythoa colony- severe pseudomembranous conjunctivitis, edema, purulent discharge & light sensitivity. Took over 2 week to clear up. This was just from the water in the bowl, not a direct spray of Palythoa "juice". Also, I had a CNS response to it a few years ago doing research in Mexico. Scariest thing was, as I started losing sensation, I knew I should let someone know, but just didn't have the energy to care. Kinda freaky. Cleared up pretty soon but my mouth tasted like I had been sucking on pennies for a few days afterward. Also caught a little buzz off of tetrodotoxin once, and stung by scorpionfish 3 times (milking them for venom). Oh yeah- is venom from cone snails on your list? (skimmed first post, but I'm tired..). At least 12 different neurotoxins there, each specific to a different part of vertebrate physiology. So yeah- the point of my ramblings- gloves seem like a good idea to me. Nitriles are nice, strong and minimal allergies.
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Wow, thank you very much for all that information. I knew that there were quite a few species of Vibrio, but I was unsure what one is the most common in the home aquarium. I'm sorry to hear that your girlfriend got "zapped". Would you happen to have any pictures? Of course, to the discretion of her. And yes, I do have cone shells on my list. Conotoxin

Also, you got PM olin
 
Well the horror stories keep a coming. The worst thing that's ever happened to me was repeated irritation from touching my old fire coral. When I end up with zoanthid junk in my mouth like Calfo I'll consider my self broke-in to this perilous hobby. ;)
 
One thing I did not see in the list was the deadly "cone snail". These things kill a few people each year in the South Pacific and I once found one in a fresh box of live rock.

One other thing... Fire coral. I have no idea why any reefkeeper would want to keep such a nusiance coral (ugly to boot), but many a reefkeeper has put firecoral in their tank to have it cover everything within weeks.

I have been stung by fire coral TWICE while diving. The more you get stung, the worse it is. As someone posted, your body does not develop an immunity to the nematocysts sting from corals, anemones and other stinging marine invertebrates, in fact, your body becomes more sensitive to them the more you are exposed.

-Alfred
 
Well delaf I've seens some really beautiful fire corals - red, yellow, orange, purple and pink. Those one's I would gladly put up with the sting, but those bright in color I understand to be the most difficult to keep. Bit of a bummer.
 
I have seen PICTURES of really beautiful fire corals, but I have never seen anything but the mustard colored ones for sale.

-Alfred
 
Ya, Eddie at the old Tropical Paradise use to get them in on occasion, but I knew well enough to leave them be. Was hard to leave behind something so colorful.
 
Living in Galveston for a while where man-o-wars frequent, The solution for a sting was simply use some Adolphs meat tenderizer, it took care of the problem so well that life guards kept it handy when the man-o-wars were around.
 
Lets not forget longspined urchins. I stuck the palm of my hand on one. Went through the Coralife gloves. My hand hurt for months after.
 
There was a show on before christmas On discovery channel that these marine biologist where studying a boxed head jellyfish. So they jump into the water to get close to them and all of a sudden both where out of the water fast and said that both of them were stung, One person on the lip and the other i think on the hand. Both people were rushed the the hospital. They were showing these going through there pain cycles, and descritions as best they could. Both were on morphine to the max and were still in pain for two weeks, but slowly subsided. It made me not want to scuba again. Can't remember want water they were in.or where.:eek1: anybody see that show?
 
Marine biologists jumping into a school of jellyfish. I guess they missed that day in college:D
 
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