Toxin in the water? How to remove?

[SeeCrabRun]

I'm not that new to the hobby, but I'm new to dealing with coral issues.

I have a tank that is coral only, a year established. Recently they aren't doing well. Despite all my testing and troubleshooting, nothing seems to be wrong, yet they continue to be withdrawn and some are starting to die.

Last night while doing water change I washed off the overflow filter in the dirty water bucket and soon after had a cold sweat and dizziness feeling. I did twice the change I normally do, managed to splash myself during the last bit and again had the cold sweat and dizziness.

I remember reading of palytoxin, but I do not have soft corals in this tank. The inhabitants include 2 types of gorgonians, duncan, 2 types of blastos, acan lord, 2 types of montipora, favia, and plate coral.

One blasto is lost, and the 2 montipora are losing polyps. The Duncan hasn't come out in over a week.

I also have a refugium attached. It just contains rock, no macro algae.

What might the toxin be and how do I rid it from the system? I don't run carbon, would that draw it out? There are no nitrates, everything is in its usual range, I only have the standard tests for tank+coral. I have an air pump ran protein skimmer that I just put in to see if it'll produce anything.

 

[joshbrookkate]

I'm no expert so I have no solution to your problem. But I would use polyfilter until you get to the bottom of the problem. And a fan when you are working near the tank.
Good luck....

 

[billdogg]

Polyfilter, LOTS of carbon, and water changes are your friends at this point. Of the things listed I wouldn't think there would be any issues.

 

[SeeCrabRun]

I've got a HOB filter I can run some filter and carbon in. It's a 20 gallon tall tank with a 10 gallon refugium, so the overflow on it isn't big enough to put anything in. I've also started a HOB skimmer that will hopefully pull out some more.

I did a 20% water change last night. How much can I safely do at once? I was certain over 30% at a time or too many too close together would cause things to be unbalanced.

 

[billdogg]

I have done 90% water changes although I wouldn't recommend it. 50% and you'll be fine - just make sure the temp and salinity are matched as closely as possible.

As for filter in your HOB - We are suggesting Polyfilter - not filter floss. Polyfilter is impregnated with magic stuff that will pull toxins out of the water. It changes color to indicate just what it has removed.

 

[Sk8r]

30% first time, wait 2 days, 20%, wait two days, 20%. And wear gloves. And run carbon and Polyfilter.
Toxic gorgonians? Best info is---anybody can be allergic to almost anything: tell your doc about the episode: it could relate to anything from a medical issue because of the exertion or angle of work; to electric shock (in water); to specific allergy to a type of coral, which is unusual without prior sensitization, but then people who've never been stung before can die of bee stings: take it seriously. You might talk to your doc about an Epipen, which is an anybody-can-give-it shot that can get you safely to the hospital...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1294800

 

[SeeCrabRun]

I'll see if my local store has any polyfilter. What I have is the fluval canister refills, which I assume are just floss.

Before things headed south my 2 montis had grown too close to each other and one had started attacking the other. I have wondered if it could be putting off a toxin itself.

One gorgonian is photosynthetic, a purple whip. The other is NPS, a yellow finger that has white polyps. The white polyps seems to have fallen prey to a hermit crab right before this all happened and now only 1 is left.

So I guess it could be any number of these being angry at something. Just never heard of their toxins causing nearly instant reactions in humans upon skin contact. I've only heard that with palytoxin.

 

[reefeqmover]

Poly pad off amazon

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

[Sk8r]

Strongly suggest a conversation with the doc. May want to run an EKG, etc to eliminate any coincidental physical problem. Also may need to familiarize himself with marine toxins and allergens. One thing that does get some people is algae and molds.

 

[SeeCrabRun]

I do have a little bit of an algae bloom after the fighting and die off. I've never had any allergy testing, though I do know I have some allergies. I don't have a primary physician at the moment. I guess this is encouragement to find someone.

When snorkeling one year I was wounded by some coral, though I believe it was just skeleton and no living polyps. I have another tank, fish only, and for the sake of science I did not use gloves during its water change today. No symptoms, so it is limited to the coral tank.

 

[OrQidz]

Scary, I hope you get this figured out quickly and safely. One other idea, you aren't smelling rotten egg/hydrogen sulfide are you? If you have a sand bed with black areas or another area in the tank where a pocket of hydrogen sulfide is lurking, that can also make you ill.

Algae can definitely release toxins so it could be that. Allergies can also be serious!
http://acaai.org/allergies/anaphylaxis

 

[SeeCrabRun]

No smell. I had that once before a long time ago in a tank I was cycling, so I am familiar with what it would smell like.

The skimmer is pulling out a good bit. The local store didn't have polyfilter so I'll have to order some. I put carbon in and I also dosed some Coral Snow that I forgot I had, it did used to make them happy when I used it, not sure why or when I stopped. I noticed there was a bit of hair algae hanging onto the overflow, so it might be masking any nitrates or phosphates currently in the system.

 

[CindyK]

Strongly suggest a conversation with the doc. May want to run an EKG, etc to eliminate any coincidental physical problem.

THIS

Just because you were working on your tank when the symptoms occurred does not mean that your tank is the cause. The symptoms you described can indicate of a number of issues, none of which are caused by your tank. Let a medical professional sort this one out.