Do sponges contain toxin?

[rt67ghy]

Do the normal sponges we have growing in our tanks contain toxins dangerous enough to blind someone?

 

[username in use]

Probably not. However, caution should always be used with everything in our tanks because who knows what is in there and how it will affect each individual.

 

[rt67ghy]

Thanks for the reply. I was scraping some sponge off some rocks on which I have LPS and a drop of water from the sponge splashed into my eye. I forgot to wash out my eye since I was too busy with my corals and 8 hours later my eye started acting up. Thankfully today it's fine but it just goes to show how easily accidents can happen when we're doing something that we consider a regular routine. I'll wear goggles in future for sure. Thankfully I wasn't working with palys.

 

[snorvich]

Extreme care with tank contents and eyes or open cuts should be exercised.

 

[KafudaFish]

Perhaps a few sponge spicules scratched your eye and eventually you flushed them with tears.

 

[CStrickland]

if I got anything from my tank in my eye I'd be at the ER in a hurry.

I had a fluke accident where one of those crusty boogers you get when you're sleeping scratched my eyeball, the doc's were surprisingly serious about it. They said there are infections you can get that don't have a lot of symptoms until you go blind. Even if they don't know anything about palytoxin or sponges, they can see if there's an injury by how your body is reacting to it and prevent a lot of damage. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Bent]

Conjunctivitis (pink eye) caused by pathogenic, atypical aggressive bacteria is no laughing matter dude.

I've seen people loose eyes from it.

I'd see a physician, hard to tell what you could get growing in there. At least get some antibiotic eye drops.

 

[rt67ghy]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I suppose certain micro organisms or marine critters could live and grow in the saline solution in our eyes. It would be anyone's worst nightmare.

 

[Bent]

Yep. You could one day see this looking back at you in the mirror one morning:

 

[CStrickland]

Ugh.
My eye was fine but bents pic gave me a heart attack and now I'm dead

 

[Bent]

Lol eye worms. Gotta love the creepy stuff.

 

[CStrickland]

This thread turned up in the lounge...
They think you're funny too B
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24080309#post24080309

 

[Bent]

This thread turned up in the lounge...
They think you're funny too B
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24080309#post24080309

I have a love/hate relationship with that thread.

On one hand it's hysterical, and on the other it's borderline wrong at times.

Kinda like a holocaust joke. Sometimes it's funny, but at the same time you feel bad for laughing.

 

[rt67ghy]

Yep. You could one day see this looking back at you in the mirror one morning:

This is exactly what I was referring to. Once they take root in the eye they can probably reproduce/ release cysts which can creep into the brain. Very scary.

 

[cloak]

Extreme care with tank contents and eyes or open cuts should be exercised.

+1

My dumb a$$ kind of goes by the theory that I'm not going to hurt it so it shouldn't hurt me. So far so good. I should probably cut down on the sweets though...

There's always going to be some horror stories, but these are few & far between IMO. Don't let it discourage you. GL.