My husband and I have been reef keepers for approx 15 years. We bought a new display tank and when switching over to the new tank some rock went into a holding tank and some we put outside to dry because it had Aptasia on it. The rock sat outside for over a week in the sun.
Last week I left to do errands and came home a few hours later to find all three of my dogs sick and my husband sick. When questioning him to what he had done or ate he told me he had brought some of the rock into the kitchen and had washed it in the sink using a scrub brush and hot water. The dogs had been in the living room next to the kitchen.
Having read many threads over the years about palyotoxin I took the dogs to the emergenc Vet and my husband to the ER. My husband became very sick at the ER. He had a high white count that they gave him antibiotics for. After a few hours of misery he started to feel better. For the last week he has felt like a truck ran him over but getting better each day. He will have to have another blood test to check his white count next week.
My dogs all spiked high fevers. The Rottweiler had 105.5 and our little dog 103.
They were given meds and water baths to bring their temps down. They stared to feel better a few hours after their fevers came down.
Please everyone never wash live rock even if it has been dead for a week. We think the dead bacteria got aerosolized by the hot water and scrubbing. I had read all the thread about palyotoxin and had mentioned it to him in passing but he really didnt think washing dead rock would almost kill him and our dogs.
Last week I left to do errands and came home a few hours later to find all three of my dogs sick and my husband sick. When questioning him to what he had done or ate he told me he had brought some of the rock into the kitchen and had washed it in the sink using a scrub brush and hot water. The dogs had been in the living room next to the kitchen.
Having read many threads over the years about palyotoxin I took the dogs to the emergenc Vet and my husband to the ER. My husband became very sick at the ER. He had a high white count that they gave him antibiotics for. After a few hours of misery he started to feel better. For the last week he has felt like a truck ran him over but getting better each day. He will have to have another blood test to check his white count next week.
My dogs all spiked high fevers. The Rottweiler had 105.5 and our little dog 103.
They were given meds and water baths to bring their temps down. They stared to feel better a few hours after their fevers came down.
Please everyone never wash live rock even if it has been dead for a week. We think the dead bacteria got aerosolized by the hot water and scrubbing. I had read all the thread about palyotoxin and had mentioned it to him in passing but he really didnt think washing dead rock would almost kill him and our dogs.
