Zoa lovers - Palytoxin Warning

[DrHank]

At the risk of being redundant, I feel that the following thread should be required reading in this forum. Hopefully the moderators will agree.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1083843

Reef keeping is a wonderful hobby but is not without risks. Please be careful!

[dippin61]

im sorry, but what the OP did was extremely stupid. and obviously he had no idea what he was doing... i mean.. POURING boiling water on them???? most people use a syringe, and inject them, and who knows where the hell he got that idea from.

or how about you just pull the mats up?

then on top of it, he just inhaled the steam like it was an aroma bath...

[Frick-n-Frags]

:D

[acrouse]

I think it is a great idea for new members to read about the possible bad side effects from handling zoas. I realize that the chances of occurance are very, very slim--however, it only takes once before its too late.
I still consider myself very new to saltwater (1+ years) and I was very greatful to have stumbled upon the thread about the dog that had eaten the zoas and died, or else I still would not have any idea that zoas have the toxin that can be deadly to humans.
It seems many people on the other threads do not take the potential serious as they have handled them many, many times with no incident. However, if you could limit a potentially dangerous situation by wearing a pair of rubber gloves, you would think more reefers would take the precautions.

jolene

[DrHank]

It's true that people do dumb things. I remember reading about a guy who boiled his live rock because he thought that's what "cooking rock" ment.

I learned a long time ago that it's far better to admit I don't know than to guess wrong. The only dumb question is the one a person doesn't ask.

[drummereef]

One of my LFS store workers ingested some palytoxin while fragging zoas. Sent him to the hospital with severe flu-like symptoms. Be careful. ;)