Palytoxin Poisoning
- Thread starter acerhigh
- Start date
Another thread to consider, FYI.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2063473&highlight=warning+the+dangers
Mucho Reef
Kingpin616
Member
A local feeder almost died and his family became very ill also. He ended up with blood in his lungs. ICU for a few days and hospitalized for a week. He was cleaning some rock with dead zoas with hot water. He did have eye protection and gloves but the steam from the water made the toxin go airborne. Worst case I have come across. There us no known cure they mainly treat symptoms.
TropTrea
New member
I have heard stories that some of the toxins in these corals are strong enough to kill someone if they are injested. People who fragged corals then ate lunch without washing there hands. Not sure how true they were but it is enough to scare some of us.
The interesting thing is that these poisons vary in intensity and "effectiveness" with various zoos and plats. Zoos are suposedly less toxic however with all the designer zoos out there how many are actualy crosses with highly toxic plats? Often in the animal and plant kingdom they say bright colors are usualy a warning that an object is poisinious and to stay away. If this is true here just think we often try to get the brightest colors for zoos. In the process are we trying to grow the most poisinious varieties without realizing it.
The interesting thing is that these poisons vary in intensity and "effectiveness" with various zoos and plats. Zoos are suposedly less toxic however with all the designer zoos out there how many are actualy crosses with highly toxic plats? Often in the animal and plant kingdom they say bright colors are usualy a warning that an object is poisinious and to stay away. If this is true here just think we often try to get the brightest colors for zoos. In the process are we trying to grow the most poisinious varieties without realizing it.
This is good to know. I was gluing zoa frags the other day, and didnt realize im supposed to wash my hands. (reef noob) my eye on the inside has been all red, and irritated these past few days, I thought I had pink eye. Im betting this is related. Ive been flushing it and keeping it clean, patting it dry. its improved, and my vitamins help.
What do they recommend you wash your hands with? just soap and water? Do I need some special solution that helps better remove toxins?
What do they recommend you wash your hands with? just soap and water? Do I need some special solution that helps better remove toxins?
Good old hot soap and water will suffice. Anti-bacterial soap is good as well, just don't use the latter to much. Also, keep an eye on it, no pun intended. Often it is just salt water irritation or several other possibilities as listed in this thread and others in this forum.
Good luck.
Mucho
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Wow !!!!
fishmanfabiano
New member
hdey fellow fish geeks, my name is matt. anyway i make all the frags there myself and over the years ive had some real horror stories but these types of things happen when you work with wild animals and deadly organisms. ive been stung by lion fish which was painful and bit by piranahs and big morray eels which looked worse than it was, the fox face sting was 1 of the worst days of my life as my arm turned black and purple from the elblow to my finger tips and it felt like someone was holdiong fire to my arm for several hours it also made me dizzy and delerious. i have been attacked by large snakes and even a kinkajou which almost killed me as it bit into my neck and head trying to severe my spinal cord, and much much more, its not that im not careful its just that ive been doing it for 13 years and well accidents happen. but now down to my story of a horrible experience while fragging. i make roughly 100 frags a week at work and i have always worn heavy duty nitrile gloves while working as well as safty goggles. i have read many horror stories about people getting severly sick or even dying from corals so i try to take the necessary precautions. i now work with safety gloves, safety goggles, and an air purifying safety mask. the reason for the mask is because i was sub-fataly poisoned 1 day while making frags for about 6 hours. i didnt have any cuts on my hands and i wore the gloves, and it didnt get into my eyes because i was wearing goggles, what actually happened was i was working for so long cutting up so many colonies of zoos and palythoas that the poison known as palytoxica (which according to a recent article in coral magazine is known as the most deadly substance known to mankind) was slowly evaporating into the air. as i worked i was breathing in this poison a little at a time and by the time i got home i was ready to collapse and die....first my bopdy tempurature spiked to 102 degrees farenheight, although my body was hot and i was sweating like a marathon runner, i felt frozen. my teeth wouldnt stop chattering i put on 3 layers of clothing and jumped under 2 blankets. my body still just freezing. i then felt dizzy and got a bad headache, my stomache was in pain and i felt the urge to vomit although i never did. then the pain moved upward i felt slight stings throughout my chest cavity and then it got to my lungs. this is the part where i thought i was going to die. it felt like someone was grasping my lungs and squeezing them, i could hardley breath and my lungs felt like they were on fire every time i breathed in, i didnt even wanna breath because it hurt so much to. then i passed out. when i woke up i was completely fine. i did some research and it turns out i almost didnt make it that i was only missing a few more symtoms of fatal palytoxica poisoning which were, pins and needles feeling throuighout entire body, black urine, liver, heart, or kidney shut down. what happens is the palytoxica enters your blood stream and just goes to work, and its job is to kill every cell in sight. i highly reccomend protecting yourself as much as possible when working with fragging corals. wearing a gas mask and gloves can save your life.
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Fishman, I read that same article and it kinda freaked me out, but really spiked my interest. I'll definitely be more careful with my tank.
So question for you guys. Any recommendations on gloves when working with your tank? I'm about to start fragging and wasn't sure if some types of gloves are harmful to the tank when reaching in, or if just any old latex glove is good enough.
So question for you guys. Any recommendations on gloves when working with your tank? I'm about to start fragging and wasn't sure if some types of gloves are harmful to the tank when reaching in, or if just any old latex glove is good enough.
goofy reefer
New member
wow I had no idea that the toxin in the zoas was so powerful thank for the info and glad everyones ok
ok..........wanted to bump this thread. I am currently going through this exact same thing. Since Saturday, I have been to 2 seperate EDs (been transfered) and had to go back last night after I have completely lost my sight in my left eye. This is exactly my story to the tee right now.
I knew of the risk and apparently didnt wash my hands after handling the paly. Am very glad someone forwarded this to me, as today the doctors told me they are unsure if I will regain the vision in my left eye, and this gives me some hope! Currently on eye drops every hour
please everyone take this seriously. I have always been like..........i have handled them thousands of times and never had any issues..........however it only took 1 paly to do this to me!
I knew of the risk and apparently didnt wash my hands after handling the paly. Am very glad someone forwarded this to me, as today the doctors told me they are unsure if I will regain the vision in my left eye, and this gives me some hope! Currently on eye drops every hour
please everyone take this seriously. I have always been like..........i have handled them thousands of times and never had any issues..........however it only took 1 paly to do this to me!
ros_sco
Premium Member
How's the eye doing?
A. Grandis
Active member
People talk about "Palys" being the worse or the only one, but it could be that many times they aren't even identifying it correctly.
Zoanthids in general have toxins and that will include Zoanthus spp., Palythoa spp. and Protopalythoa spp.
We need to be careful with ALL the zoanthids.
I believe there are a few types of toxins the zoanthids use as protection. Palytoxin could be only one of them.
Here we teach the kids not to touch the reef and make sure they have water shoes when fishing on the rocks!
Grandis.
Zoanthids in general have toxins and that will include Zoanthus spp., Palythoa spp. and Protopalythoa spp.
We need to be careful with ALL the zoanthids.
I believe there are a few types of toxins the zoanthids use as protection. Palytoxin could be only one of them.
Here we teach the kids not to touch the reef and make sure they have water shoes when fishing on the rocks!
Grandis.
