Hammer coral stung me~!!!!!

aj1980

SCRK Member
I was rearranging my tank yesterday and hammer coral stung me on my thumb that has a open wound.I ran hot water for good 15 mins and the pain stop but, pain started again last night and this morning, my thumb has swelled up and looks infected.

It's till throbbing as I type this....has anyone experienced this and have any suggestions?

Went to the doctor this morning and was prescribed minocycline 100mg & omnicef 300mg.
 
was it something like this??

untitled.jpg




oh wait, wrong kind of hammer...lol...j/k bro, sorry to hear about you getting stung but if it makes you feel better i once got stung by my blue hippo tang and the pain went away in 2 days. I'm pretty sure yours will too.
 
corals never stung me before and I thought everything would be fine until yesterday.
Now, I'll always wear a glove before I put my hand in my tank.
 
I've gotten stung by pretty much all my euphyllia, it happens. But i'm crazy and don't like gloves.. :)
Hope your thumb gets better!
 
I smashed my knee cap surfing in puerto rico on a huge brain coral, it got so infected that they prescribed me two different antibiotics. Corals dont mess around! I feel your pain!
 
Most, if not all, corals have stinging cells in one form or another, however few are strong enough to penetrate the upper epidermis layer of human skin.
(This is why we are able to handle anemones with relative safety)

Your open wound merely provided an open path into the dermis layer where blood vessels, hair follicles, and (as you so quickly found out) nerve endings reside.

OUCH!

Consider yourself lucky. Your wound will heal with little/no affect.
I, on the other hand, have developed a nasty neurological reaction (similar to a bad allergy) to the proteins from the hammer corals naturally occurring mucus.
A few minutes of rearranging my corals without gloves usually leads to a nasty batch of itchy welts and blisters on my hands, wrists, and forearms
 
was it something like this??

untitled.jpg




oh wait, wrong kind of hammer...lol...j/k bro, sorry to hear about you getting stung but if it makes you feel better i once got stung by my blue hippo tang and the pain went away in 2 days. I'm pretty sure yours will too.

I didn't know a hippo could sting. I'm always careful around my foxface because of the venomous spines but never around my tangs...
 
I have handled my hammer & other corals numerous times. The only ones I ever really worry about are the zoas & palys. Yesterday I was rearranging things a bit & later on I developed a patch of stinging welts on my forearm. I brushed up against my hammer with that part of my arm & I figured it had to be from that but didn't know it was possible to get stung by it! I googled it & found this thread. Glad to confirm it can & does happen. I'll definitely be more careful from now on! If I can figure out how to post a pic from my phone onto here, I'll post one.
On another note... It's cool to see this thread is all SoCali peeps! I've been a member of this forum since Jan but never posted. I've been to a couple SCRK meetings & probably even met some of you :)
 
I have handled my hammer & other corals numerous times. The only ones I ever really worry about are the zoas & palys. Yesterday I was rearranging things a bit & later on I developed a patch of stinging welts on my forearm. I brushed up against my hammer with that part of my arm & I figured it had to be from that but didn't know it was possible to get stung by it! I googled it & found this thread. Glad to confirm it can & does happen. I'll definitely be more careful from now on! If I can figure out how to post a pic from my phone onto here, I'll post one.
On another note... It's cool to see this thread is all SoCali peeps! I've been a member of this forum since Jan but never posted. I've been to a couple SCRK meetings & probably even met some of you :)
 
Yep, my torch got me through a small cut on my finger just a few weeks ago....it was by far the worse sting I've ever felt from my tank. The little spearletts must have hit right on the nerve endings. Soaked in vinegar for a bit and then hot water bath with alot of soap. Healed ok after a few days
 
After reading about some of the infections people have gotten from their tanks I decided to get a pair of long gloves... Best $10 investment I'd say

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
I have gloves but wearing them is asking for bigger problems like knocking rocks down & breaking corals. If I wore gloves I wouldn't have the control needed to do a lot of what I need to in the tank. Maybe it's because it's hard to find any gloves that will fit a petite woman well, but I really don't think it would be much better if I had large man hands in the gloves. Knowing now that corals can sting humans, I will be much more careful in the future.
 
Rule #1 - If there's an open wound and your going in, no glove no love. Sorry fish tank, maybe next time?

This rule also relates to many other life situations
 
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