I got Off! in my tank (DEET)

[lilchris]

I just lost a bellus angel and a sunburst anthia doing the same thing. I went golfing and sprayed "Off". When I gothome I started to clean the tank. I washed my hands but not my arms. As I was cleaning the glass and pulling out some detrius from the sand bed, I noticed the bellus going crazy. She literally died in front of my eyes. The sunburst, wrasse and Atlantic blue tang was laying on their sides breathing hard. When I seen this, I pulled out my test kits to see if the tank was cycling due to the sand being moved around. No Ammonia, then I caught a wiff if my sleeve, the Bug spray. I put in a bag of carbon and tried to speed up the water change. I had to remove my temp sump and put the original back in. it took a while, at the end of the day, I lost my 2 favorite fish.

 

[jungliztkruger]

nothing beats a good dose of wit

 

[Fig]

If you had red bugs in your system, maybe you don't now

 

[RedSkaNite]

As of this morning, everything seems fine. I really only have very hardy stuff in my tank right now. Xenia, hermits, damsels. I was mostly worried about my mantis.

 

[hwttdz]

Plus the skimmer should remove the stuff very effectively. It looks like deet can inhibit the breakdown of acetylcholine. Effectively causing first muscle weakening then paralysis. So corals should actually be fine (unless there are other effects which is not hard to imagine), and if the fish survive until the concentration starts to lessen they should also be fine.

 

[Elysia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15474545#post15474545 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lilchris
I just lost a bellus angel and a sunburst anthia doing the same thing.

I'm sorry to hear that. I am really careful to not spray anything in the house, but this year especially I have avoided going out at peak mosquito times mainly because the only effective repelent I have ever used is 100% DEET, and I figure sooner or later I am going to slip up and put a coated arm in my tank.

hwttdz, thanks for the information. Its nice to know what the symptoms may be. For now, the consensus seems to be to increase skimming and introduce fresh carbon if you think you may have put DEET sprayed hands in your tank?