** Share any symptoms of possible palytoxin poisoning you may have experienced.

[DH212]

Best preventive for that type of accident is to get running warm water on the eyes fast after that happens.

Grandis.

Initially when It seeped into my eye. It only stung a little, then stopped. So I thought, no big deal, didn't get me. Next day I look like this:hmm4: Now it's too late to run warm water.

I was fragging zoes and some how got it by my eye and got a form of viral pink eye that took over two weeks to get over, with going to a eye DR. three times a week for them to clean and treat it. Cant think of what all they said it was but, the eye dr would close that side of the office when i was there and were gloves and the hole nine yards . Also now i always get a metal tast when come in contact with any zoes.

My eye is still pink. Doesn't look like it's going to change back any time soon. Thanks for posting. Now, I know I can have a white eye again.

 

[richierich2000]

a coulpe years ago I had set a big rock on a shelf to dry out and kill off the brown Paly's (2-3 months) when I got it down they where all dryed up and dusty I set it in my sump. I know now that was very bad thing to do. my tank crashed and me and my english bulldog got very sick I felt all the things listed here I made it but my dog didn't so keep pets away also.

 

[650-IS350]

Don't try to kill palys by using boiling water.... I've heard bad stories about that.

 

[sTefaniA]

I have also experienced weird symptoms, twice.
The first time was when we had set up our tank, we had a big rock filled with paly's, wich both of us (me and my boyfriend) touched and arranged so it would look best in the tank.
Afterwards I felt sick, and so did my boyfriend.
It was like a bad cold, feeling dizzy, tired and I had problems swallowing
also I felt really thirsty, I drank a lot of water and cola trying to get rid of the thirsty feeling. My hart beat whent up a little.
Also I had problems breathing, it was like the air didnt have enough oxygen, I felt like I needed a deep breath but I couldn't.
I just thougt I was getting a cold and I was tired, it had been a long day setting up the tank.
Next day I still felt a little dizzy but I felt much better.
Never thought about it again.
When we got a new tank a few months later, same thing happened...
It struck me that it was probably because of the paly's.
We sold the big rock, but still have some on another rock.
I know I got sick because of them, but still i dont use gloves or anything.
I just try not to touch them, dont hold them with my hands etc.
When i will have to frag zoa's, I hope I don't forget to use safety glasses and gloves. Next month we will be setting up an even bigger tank. I know now that I am not putting those paly's in the new tank.
Never had any problems with other zoa's, just those...

 

[DH212]

So it's been about nine days of the red eye from poly toxin. It was getting a little better at about day 6, then I started cutting wood for my tank stand and my eye got dry and started getting red again. Stayed red for a couple of days so I tried a salt water rinse my wife told me about. Yesterday I used very little non-iodized salt in a small bowl of water and poured it into my eyeball slowly. Rinsed it the same way 4 times that day. Now it is getting much better. From red to pink. I think if I continue this, it will go from pink to white in the few days.

 

[lostintheocean]

a simple test would be to stop fragging for an extended time span or to weak very thick gloves and see if the symptoms continue.

 

[diddy2k]

first time for me, i'm a newb to the game... something in my tank knocked off 2 polyps of my new radioactive zoos. so since i was target feeding some paly's for the first time i decided to get the colony and singles and glue them back together and secure them higher in the tank. so with frag in left hand and glue in right, i use my teeth to uncap. twist... boom, fingers across lips. i quickly washed my hands with soap, and then washed my face with soap, spitting the whole time. slight stinging kinda like hot sauce. finished placing in tank and all of a sudden felt like i had stood up too fast and noticeable increase of heart rate that i could feel in my neck. my gf was already yelling at me for not using the gloves i just bought for fragging and looked at me and was like "what's wrong". i got on google before i said anything and found rapid heart rate was a symptom. this is the only one i have. 30 minutes have passed and i'm still at 120bpm. after reading here i'm not so concerned anymore.

 

[hollback]

Here is my experience back in March. Scary!

Paly Toxins

 

[GotSopranos?]

What you are having is Panic Attacks Ive had them for the past 5 years it feels like your gonna die or have a heart attack. Every symptom you mentioned I get. Go to your doctor and tell them your having severe panic attacks. They put me on 15mg of Lexapro and I rarely have them now maybe once a month or so. It has nothing to do with Zoas and Palys.

I would like anyone to participate in describing personal detailed symptoms from possible palytoxin poisoning. What I mean exactly is, what have you felt, or felt like, after fragging zoanthids or palythoa.

For almost a year now I've had random "anxiety attacks" They occur out of no-where sometimes. These symptoms from my attacks are best described as, The flight or fight feeling (Scared out of my mind) . Very rapid heart rate. Pain in my chest. Abnormal breathing (Fast shallow breaths that leave me feeling as if I'm suffocating.) Extreme dizzy spells(I've had to pull the emergency air brake in the middle of an intersection while driving a cdl vehicle).

There are other symptoms that have been very strange that seem to have nothing to do with an anxiety attack. One of them being strange swelling in random areas for what seems to be absolutely no reason. One time it was on the side of my head above my ear, another was on the inside of my arm in the bicep area, and other occasions on the bottom of my feet.

Now lately I've been noticing alot of this is happening shortly after fragging or handling zoanthids and paly's. I'm always fragging them, so I'm exposed to them usually every week or two. This got Delilah and I thinking this is a very possible culprit for what's been going on with me. I also realised these started around the time really started fragging these guys like crazy. About a year or more ago. I've been doing alot of reading about the palytoxin and symptoms of palytoxin poisoning and it is a mirror image of exactly what I described b4 to you all just now, and the doctors. I've gone to the ER twice in the middle of the night for these reasons. Once during work via ambulance. I'm really wondering if this is the reason behind all of this madness. If so, I'll need to make new doctors appointments and let them know what I think has been happening. I'm only 25 years old, I shouldn't be feeling as if I'm dieing like this. I'm very excited to know that I may have found out the reason.. This palytoxin is no joke people. Read about it, and some of the reported cases- you'll wear gloves from then on.. Please share some experiences any of you have had. Even if you thought they weren't coral toxin related. It would help me out a lot thanks a million.

Scott.

 

[buy_baff]

When ever I frag zoas or palys I always feel a little light headed and my heart beats fast for a little while. I generaly don't worry about it but I do wash my hands very well after as getting myself sick is one thing getting someone else sick is another story.

 

[intrancewetrust]

** Share any symptoms of possible palytoxin poisoning you may have experienced.

[violation]

 

[TeebD]

I've noticed I get dizzy after fragging for about 15-20 mins. Since I started wearing latex gloves, I don't get that anymore. From what I understand palytoxin is nothing to mess with.

 

[fraggleRocks]

I had a big mark on the back of my hand that looked similar to a burn mark, made the whole back of my hand blotchy.

Happened after some zoas were cut and slimed on my cutting board. i was rinsing it off with water, and thought it had been rinsed well enough, so i flipped over both hands and proceeded to "push" the leftover water from the board into the sink. Guess some slime was still in the water.

It diddnt stop itching and burning for FOUR WHOLE DAYS. The swelling and itching has gone away by itself, but the "burn" mark is still there, only smaller.

This happeded about 11 days ago.

Learned my lesson for sure...

 

[Scott-CapeCoral]

Very good detailed posts everyone. Hope others are learning from these, and not the hard way. Keep sharing.

 

[amc1101d1]

Fragglerocks- i also had the burn looking spot on the back on my left hand. Happened two days ago, as I was cleaning my live rock with a metal wire scrubber (to remove fine hair algae) before returning to DT after I had fragged some zoo's. Actually the poison some how got on the wires of the scrubber (I think), as I was scrubbing the wires caught my hand and left 7 holes unseen by the eye unless I squeezed hard to cause blood to exit. Cleaned thoroughly with warm water and anti bacterial soap. Went to bed had slight ach in hand but no other symptoms and could hardly tell anything had occurred in this area of my hand. 24 hours later it looks like a burn the size of a dime. Almost like a nuclear burn with the skin turning extremely red and swollen. The seven holes now are filled with a white puss under a red infected area. The skin has become so sore, tight, and sensitive that it has began to hurt non stop and especially when I touch that area or stretch the skin in any fashion. have taken pics and hopefully will get around to posting them here to see if your hand looked as mine does now.

Can't stress enough the importance of awareness while handling poisons!

 

[griss]

I would hope that anyone who is still experiencing any symptoms after fragging has seen or plans to see a Doctor VERY soon.

 

[bosko]

uncontrolable sneezing, high fevers, body aches, vomiting happened to my whole family. (TWICE). i don't have anymore zoanthids in my tank

 

[RokleM]

uncontrolable sneezing, high fevers, body aches, vomiting happened to my whole family. (TWICE). i don't have anymore zoanthids in my tank

:hmm2: What??? Did you cook dinner after fragging without washing your hands or something? Add zoas as a garnish to a meal?

 

[VegasMike]

Similar esperience here, I had been doing a littel bit of rockscaping and moving around some rocks with some polyps on them. Did not think much and ended up just touching the corner of my eye.

I got the burning very quickly. The eye turned blood red adn I flushed my eye out thoroughly. I also took a benedryl, just in case. My wife returned home from shopping and freaked, wanted me to go to the hospital. We compomised on called the eye doc, who happens to be a friend. He called me back five minutes after leaving the message with his service on a Sunday. His advice was to flush my eye out (done) and take a benedryl (done). He also said that the eyes were not an easy place to introduce toxins for a systemic reaction. WRONG. Everything started tasting metallic about an hour later. The tase thing cleared up in about 24 hours, but ti took my eye about a week. To this day (four years since), the outside corner of my left eye tends to get irritated more often than any other part of my eyes.

 

[TangsRule]

I have had these for many years - and 2 weeks ago I moved them bare hand in the main(dropped them) and when I picked the frag back up, I touched one of the polyps a bit and got that mucus on my index finger - right hand......only thing i moved that morning and didn't wash hands really well. Only rinsed fingers in the sink and went on about my day....A bit later I stepped outside for smoke - using the same fingers for a cig....within seconds - my lips were tingly. Licking them with my tounge made my tounge tingle, and seconds later the front 1/2 of my mouth was numb. Within minutes I was vomiting badly and having very rapid pulse rate, and fast but short respiration...Was an hour before the serious symptoms cleared up - most of the day before my lips/mouth was not numb. But I had an awful metallic taste for a week. (should have called 911, but didn't)

I dunno if it was exposure to palytoxin, but I'm not doing that again. I believe it was exposure to very tiny ammounts injested. I usually use gloves or mechanical grabbers in my mains- but the lights had just come on, and this frag had gotten knocked over in the night, and I was only gonna flip it upright, so what's a quick arm dip in the tank gonna do? ? ? right? (go easy on me, first post, smoker, didn't call 911 - I'd not heard of palytoxin)

Palythoa likely Protopalythoa mutuki :


3/4" dia. polyps