smartwater101
New member
So, unfortunately, at the end of the year my 180g reef experienced a massive die off. Infrequent water changes and waiting too long to replace RO/DI filters"¦ general "œold tank syndrome" type issues that slowly, over the last 7 years, caught up and wiped out damn near everything in my tank"¦ coral, fish, inverts. (Somehow my Anemone survived along with 1 pajama and a red hawk.) A month or so later, after many water changes and getting back to a proper maintenance schedule, it was time to really start attacking the hair algae in the tank. I spent hours manually removing it from the rocks in the tank. This was a massive undertaking considering how bad it had become.
So fast forward to about an hour or two after this removal and I'm having a hell of time breathing. I considered palytoxin, but I also thought I may just be coming down with something. As it got worse I consider going to the ER"¦ then notice my dog having very troubled breathing and I knew a trip to the Emergency vet and ER was necessary. (Seeing your dog breathing like that that is some scary sh*t to say the least. Especially when you're already in pain.) Imaging smoking 60 PACKS of cigarettes in an hour and you'll get an idea of what it feels like.) Painful breathing. Deeper breaths are basically impossible due to the sting. Coughing fits and an overall weakness similar to what you'd feel when getting sick.
Most of the stories about palytoxic that I've heard involve people removing the rocks"¦ boiling them or using something to spray them off having basically aerosolized the poison. None of my rocks were removed and I thought the only thing I sprayed off were various pieces of plastic. it wasn't until I was in the ER I realized the possibility of ingestion as I may not have washed my hands well. One of the rocks I cleaned used to have a MASSIVE zoa colony and once I got home I took a closer look and realized there actually was some remnants of what used to be that colony. As well as a few surviving polyps around the backside of the rock. I had also pulled A LOT of algae/crap and thrown it into a bucket (and siphoned A LOT of gunk into the buckets) Those buckets were emptied into the tub. And what did I use to help flush it down the drain? Hot water from the showerhead. Yay poison mist.
I'll try to keep this next bit short because I could write a 60 page rant about the emergency vet. Once our issues were explained to the vet she said it's likely he's just experiencing back pain"¦ ***? I explained to her his typical behavior while at the vet (happy and looking for cats), his typical behavior in general, behavior while in pain, and this plain-as-day breathing issue. I also reminded her I was on the way to the ER myself. She said she'll look into it"¦
My ER visit was relatively straight forward. After waiting so long... then realizing my dog was having breathing issues... taking him to the emergency vet"¦ going to the ER myself... waiting around at the ER... many hours had passed. I was still having coughing fits and breathing issues but the worst seemed to have passed. The doctor seemed to be familiar with palytoxin but after leaving for a bit (to brush up on her knowledge) she came back very concerned. (concerned doctors are never fun to be around) They considered putting me on oxygen but since the worst seemed to be behind me, they sent me on my way and made it very clear to come back if it got worse.
Soooo I go back to the vet. Can you guess what information she has to share with me? My dog is "œhaving back pains". I've never been so livid. I bit my lip though, listening to her nonsense for as long as I could. (You could poke and push on his back all you wanted and he could not have cared less.) Finally, I mention that the two of us living in the same space, developing the exact same symptoms"¦ at the exact same time"¦ Come on. The likelihood of that being a coincidence is pretty slim. I gave up and bit my lip as she blatantly ignores the obvious and continued to advise me on how to ease his back pain. (I mean ffs it's not like I developed bronchitis in the exact hour my dog throws his back out. Even if it wasn't palytoxin, it was a breathing issue that both of us were CLEARLY having.) A simple "œI don't know" goes a long way and if she couldn't find the source of the issue I would have accepted that. (I'm more upset about her nonsense than the 800$ vet bill.) Just thinking about again is going to give me an aneurysm.
F***. THAT. VET.
Anyway. Long story long:
After many hours (12ish?) of being in pain, waiting for hours at vets and hospitals, both of us are fine. He was good by time he went to bed and was totally fine in the morn. I was having a few issues with breathing the next day but it wasn't anything to write home about as it was clearly improving. It could have been much worse. I was fairly lucky.
I don't write this to scare anyone off. We all have houses filled with various poisons afterall. I just wanted to share my experience as a reminder of why the various poisons in our home don't usually become a problem: proper precautions. I won't be pulling crap off the rocks with my bare hands anymore and you better believe I'll be conscious of washing my hands more thoroughly. Instead of trekking back n forth to the tub, from now on I'll be pumping that gunk straight down the drain. Granted most areas of the tank don't have zoas (or even used to have zoas) but I'll be more cautious in general just for redundancy sake.
But the two major lessons this poisoning has taught me?
ONE: Learn to walk the f*** away when a medical "œprofessional" ignores you. And TWO: Zoanthids are ugly af
Lesson Status: Learned.
So fast forward to about an hour or two after this removal and I'm having a hell of time breathing. I considered palytoxin, but I also thought I may just be coming down with something. As it got worse I consider going to the ER"¦ then notice my dog having very troubled breathing and I knew a trip to the Emergency vet and ER was necessary. (Seeing your dog breathing like that that is some scary sh*t to say the least. Especially when you're already in pain.) Imaging smoking 60 PACKS of cigarettes in an hour and you'll get an idea of what it feels like.) Painful breathing. Deeper breaths are basically impossible due to the sting. Coughing fits and an overall weakness similar to what you'd feel when getting sick.
Most of the stories about palytoxic that I've heard involve people removing the rocks"¦ boiling them or using something to spray them off having basically aerosolized the poison. None of my rocks were removed and I thought the only thing I sprayed off were various pieces of plastic. it wasn't until I was in the ER I realized the possibility of ingestion as I may not have washed my hands well. One of the rocks I cleaned used to have a MASSIVE zoa colony and once I got home I took a closer look and realized there actually was some remnants of what used to be that colony. As well as a few surviving polyps around the backside of the rock. I had also pulled A LOT of algae/crap and thrown it into a bucket (and siphoned A LOT of gunk into the buckets) Those buckets were emptied into the tub. And what did I use to help flush it down the drain? Hot water from the showerhead. Yay poison mist.
I'll try to keep this next bit short because I could write a 60 page rant about the emergency vet. Once our issues were explained to the vet she said it's likely he's just experiencing back pain"¦ ***? I explained to her his typical behavior while at the vet (happy and looking for cats), his typical behavior in general, behavior while in pain, and this plain-as-day breathing issue. I also reminded her I was on the way to the ER myself. She said she'll look into it"¦
My ER visit was relatively straight forward. After waiting so long... then realizing my dog was having breathing issues... taking him to the emergency vet"¦ going to the ER myself... waiting around at the ER... many hours had passed. I was still having coughing fits and breathing issues but the worst seemed to have passed. The doctor seemed to be familiar with palytoxin but after leaving for a bit (to brush up on her knowledge) she came back very concerned. (concerned doctors are never fun to be around) They considered putting me on oxygen but since the worst seemed to be behind me, they sent me on my way and made it very clear to come back if it got worse.
Soooo I go back to the vet. Can you guess what information she has to share with me? My dog is "œhaving back pains". I've never been so livid. I bit my lip though, listening to her nonsense for as long as I could. (You could poke and push on his back all you wanted and he could not have cared less.) Finally, I mention that the two of us living in the same space, developing the exact same symptoms"¦ at the exact same time"¦ Come on. The likelihood of that being a coincidence is pretty slim. I gave up and bit my lip as she blatantly ignores the obvious and continued to advise me on how to ease his back pain. (I mean ffs it's not like I developed bronchitis in the exact hour my dog throws his back out. Even if it wasn't palytoxin, it was a breathing issue that both of us were CLEARLY having.) A simple "œI don't know" goes a long way and if she couldn't find the source of the issue I would have accepted that. (I'm more upset about her nonsense than the 800$ vet bill.) Just thinking about again is going to give me an aneurysm.
F***. THAT. VET.
Anyway. Long story long:
After many hours (12ish?) of being in pain, waiting for hours at vets and hospitals, both of us are fine. He was good by time he went to bed and was totally fine in the morn. I was having a few issues with breathing the next day but it wasn't anything to write home about as it was clearly improving. It could have been much worse. I was fairly lucky.
I don't write this to scare anyone off. We all have houses filled with various poisons afterall. I just wanted to share my experience as a reminder of why the various poisons in our home don't usually become a problem: proper precautions. I won't be pulling crap off the rocks with my bare hands anymore and you better believe I'll be conscious of washing my hands more thoroughly. Instead of trekking back n forth to the tub, from now on I'll be pumping that gunk straight down the drain. Granted most areas of the tank don't have zoas (or even used to have zoas) but I'll be more cautious in general just for redundancy sake.
But the two major lessons this poisoning has taught me?
ONE: Learn to walk the f*** away when a medical "œprofessional" ignores you. And TWO: Zoanthids are ugly af
Lesson Status: Learned.
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