Ever get stung like this?

[Catharsis70]

This is the second time this has happened to me. Doing cleaning hands in tank and BAMMO! nasty pain. Instantly there is a pin size hole in my finger that hurts like a burn not a sting. Run under cold water and the hole increases (not swelling) three to four times in size within minutes. Hurts pretty good for a few days and I have a high pain tolerance. The only corals in the direct area are some Zoas and galaxia this time. Last time a big toad stool leather. Im clueless here. Oh... it leaves a funny metal like taste in my mouth as well. Any ideas? Beside using gloves? LOL

[Saltyllama]

Spearing mantis? IS the metal taste the taste of blood? Galaxia can sting, but I don't think it would leave a hole. :)

Note:
Hot water next time if it's a sting. Important when you get into the dangerous stuff.

[Catharsis70]

Very iron tasting so yeah like blood a bit. Would there be any evidence of mantis in the tank? I have never purchased one and havent added anything new in some time.

Thanks for the hot water tip.

[Saltyllama]

Mantis most often come as hitchhikers on/in liverock. I'm no expert but I do know they tunnel into rock or in the sand below rocks. You may be able to spy some tunnels in the sand at the base of you structure.

Best thing I can think of is to set a glass trap in there over night. (If you don't know what this is I JUST described it to the guy that has a post in this same section titled "should i i just throw in the towel?? fish wont stay alive"

Other than that just keep watching that finger. The hole is the key in my opinion, something took a bite or tried to stab you in my opinion.

[parrotchute]

I've heard of that happening with people who have jellyfish ephyra in their tanks. They're like the juvenile stage of jellyfish, and it can be introduced as a pest.

It could also (more likely) be a bristleworm sting.

[Saltyllama]

I've heard of that happening with people who have jellyfish ephyra in their tanks. They're like the juvenile stage of jellyfish, and it can be introduced as a pest.

It could also (more likely) be a bristleworm sting.


Good point! I hear those feel pretty nasty for a while. :uzi:

[aquaph8]

That would freak me out.

[Saltyllama]

That would freak me out.

Reading this post wouldn't help in that area either. :spin3:

If the hand was green when I woke up... THAT would freak me out. Then it would be time to go to the doc for sure. :wave:

[BLKTANG]

Ive been stung by Zoas,&Palys,bristleworms all kinds of stuff.the onlt time i taste medal is when i get stung by Palys,& Zoos.Never the "pinhole" though.

[Iskandar]

Not to freak you out, but I would go to ER ASAP. You do not want secondary infection to spread...

[rsaha]

I've heard of that happening with people who have jellyfish ephyra in their tanks. They're like the juvenile stage of jellyfish, and it can be introduced as a pest.

It could also (more likely) be a bristleworm sting.

I got stung by a bristleworm about two months ago. Had to pull a couple bristles out of my finger. I would characterize the pain as burn with significant swelling. It has healed just like a burn and I still have a residual "funny numbness" feeling in my finger. I read up about bristleworm stings after it happened. Nasty stuff. I'm going to be alot more careful about this from now on.

[theyammieguy]

Weird, I've never been stung by any of my bristle worms. I've had there bristles in my skin but didn't feel a sting.

[somdinwong]

i am allergi to bristle worms and every time i get hit by one my fingers swell for three days

[JAustin]

i am allergi to bristle worms and every time i get hit by one my fingers swell for three days


me too! we should start a club. My fingers get HUGE and they itch like mad but it's an itch that can not be scratched. Bristle worms suck!

[Fisher72]

Would a bristel worm make a hole?

[Merkurfan]

when I grabbed a bristleworm on a piece of live rock my finger looked fuzzy, but because I have thick skin (I am a mechanic) I don't think they penetrated very far. No pain, just cleaned them off and kept working. Did not leave a hole, and after cleaning the pokers off my finger tasted like water ;)

I don't think it was an encounter with a bristleworm.

[seafansar]

me too! we should start a club. My fingers get HUGE and they itch like mad but it's an itch that can not be scratched. Bristle worms suck!

Me three! And yes it itches like crazy, but I do itch it and run it under hot water to make it less itchy.

Do it look like you've touched a mini cactus? That's what my fingers look like when I get stuck really bad. Other times I don't know I've been stung until the next day when my fingers are swollen, hurt, and itch.

Also jamming your fingers into a vermetid snail hurts like heck and leaves a nice little hole that bleeds for a while.

[aquaph8]

when I grabbed a bristleworm on a piece of live rock my finger looked fuzzy, but because I have thick skin (I am a mechanic) I don't think they penetrated very far. No pain, just cleaned them off and kept working. Did not leave a hole, and after cleaning the pokers off my finger tasted like water ;)

I don't think it was an encounter with a bristleworm.

I had the same experience with my iron worker hands. we dont take no crap from no bristle worms LOL

[jflick345]

You don't have a long spined urchin (Diadema), do you? Reason I ask is there sting can have a nasty effect on some people and metallic taste in the mouth is a definite symptom of some marine toxins

[Catharsis70]

Its still kind of throbby. wound hasnt gotten any larger. There wasnt anything physicaly in my skin like a stinger or bristle that I could tell. It did happen near a zoa colony and that seams like its where whatever got me was. Ive not seen any bristle worms of size in this tank but that surely doesnt rule it out. I called the E.R. and they said, after being on hold a while, to "keep an eye on it. come in if it worsens or a fever developes." Im pretty sure it wasnt the first time they had heard this and that they had no better knowledge now than then.

[Kingumar]

i would take a picture of your finger and upload it. Might be easier to tell.. I hope :)

[xmasia]

what about a fire worm ive heard there bite/sting is worse than bristle worms. there more red in color than the bristle if im not mistaken.

[returnofsid]

The metallic taste bothers me. That's a sign of some type of toxin or poison. I'd suggest getting to a Dr ASAP. Unfortunately, most Drs are going to be fairly clueless about the dangers of most of our marine critters.

[baja_01]

On a side note, with bristleworm stings, dont try to get the fuzz out by hand. Chances are you will just make it worse.

Get some vinegar and soak the sting in it, the spines will dissolve in a 10-20 mins.

[strout]

Keep us updated on this, I agree with returnofsid, thats not a good thing when you have a taste in your mouth.

[Patrick12]

Still have a scar from a sting by a midnight anemone.

[Frick-n-Frags]

yeah, i got that metallic taste one time after fragging a bunch of P grandis.

my best guess was i absorbed something from those. that is weird too. i did not like that.

you can do the cactus spine trick on bristeworm bristles with elmer's glue. every american kid has made "skin" with their glue in school.

the rich kids did the brazilian wax thing :D

[iwishtofish]

Catharsis70, I hope everything turns out OK with your injury. I think seafansar mentioned a good possible explanation - a needle-sharp vermited snail tube. Have you seen any vermiteds in your tank?

And guys/gals, how about gloves, tongs, and forceps for moving things around inside the tank? I know gloves that are thick enough to be more protective (like Aquagloves) can be cumbersome, but you don't need to feel much to move a rock. And there are a great assortment of tools available for moving smaller things. I know its not always possible, but maybe as a general rule?

[Cyn_D]

I would go to the emergency room
I doubt they will be able to pin point it out, but hopefully they can give you something for the pain and that taste in your mouth

[aquaph8]

yeah, i got that metallic taste one time after fragging a bunch of P grandis.

my best guess was i absorbed something from those. that is weird too. i did not like that.

you can do the cactus spine trick on bristeworm bristles with elmer's glue. every american kid has made "skin" with their glue in school.

the rich kids did the brazilian wax thing :D

duct tape works great too.

[iceman79]

Sounds like a coral or bristle worm sting take a benedryl it will help with your allegric reaction

[goldmaniac]

vermetid snail, maybe

I have them all over my tank, and when i move rock, they routinely break off under the skin of my fingers. that may be why the pain is continuing. like a splinter.

once, a vermetid snail tube stuck into my finger, and the base broke off from the rock. I had a quarter-inch tube sticking out of my finger, and blood was coming out the end of the tube underwater. It was pretty awesome looking.

anyway, that would also explain the hole.

[teeteeplz]

Good luck with this mystery toxin, I had never heard about getting a taste in your mouth from a sting before... sounds scary too me.

[LISound]

Don't want to scare you but I did know someone who got this. I forget the actual name for it but it was nasty. try reaching out to Steven Pro, i think he's on the boards here. He got this from one of his fish tanks, or something close to it. His friend almost lost his finger because of it.

Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium in the same family as those that cause cholera, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It lives in warm seawater and is part of a group of Vibrios that are called “halophilic” because they require salt.
The CDC reports that Vibrio vulnificus causes infection in the skin when open wounds are exposed to warm seawater, infections that may lead to skin breakdown and ulceration.
Vibrio vulnificus can be treated with an aggressive attack of antibiotics — doxycycline or a third-generation cephalosporin.

[lostintheocean]

i would start using gloves when working in the tank

[Wolfmann81]

a lot of these common stings that we all get generally do not leave a hole in your finger. That would be alarming to me. I have been stung by a lot of things in my tank but only had a hole in my finger when I got stung by my urchin (big ouch by the way). If anything like a sting (especially with a metallic taste) happened and persisted for more than an hour I would probably think about going to the ER.

[Catharsis70]

It took about four days for the would itself to heal to a point it was no longer painfull. Ive been sitting at the tank with a flash light at night trying to find the perp. No luck so far.

[Aristarchus]

Glad to hear everything turned out OK. FWIW I get a metallic taste every time I shock myself on accident :D

[Reeefer]

My father-in-law got stung by one of the dorsal fins on his lionfish last year. His arm swelled up HUGE. I remember the night my mother-in-law called. I told her to take him to the ER immediately. They had never dealt with anything like it and had to consult the internet for treatment.

[uncleof6]

I am not a toxicologist, however I am familiar with two specific marine toxins. Both will cause dysguesia (metallic taste). The first being Clupeotoxin, usual poisoning from eating contaminated fish: herring, anchovies, bonefish, slickheads, tarpons, and sardines. (Often fatal within 15 minutes) Palytoxin, is also a potent marine toxin, that can cause paresthesia, dysguesia, hypertension, respiratory depression, coma, and death. Dermatalogic toxcitiy can persist for several days. It is not generally fatal, unless it is ingested, or the pathway is intravenous. (Fatal within a few minutes) Dermal absorbtion is a common pathway, when handling Zoanthid coral, without barrier protection.

In short, wear gloves! When you stick your hand in the tank, get stung, or cut, what have you, and you get a metallic taste in your mouth, call a Doctor, go to ER, call poison control center, yadda yadda, cause it is POSSIBLE that you may not be around to ask about it on RC.

Regards,

Jim

[Frick-n-Frags]

like what goldmaniac said,
i get skewered on worm tubes and varmint-tid snails all the time. the worm tubes break off sometimes and it gets a little tender and those bleed sometimes and definitely leave a hole.

yeah and the slightly itchy dose of bristleworm bristles from grabbing the worm with the rock or cheato wad etc... but no coral has ever zapped me.

[squidy3]

I am SO wearing gloves from now on! So far I have not been stung but not willing to take a chance.

[Frick-n-Frags]

also, what everyone has to remember, like allergies, everyone has different sensitivity levels, so it is very difficult to pigeonhole any specific reaction with any specific thing in the tank.

some of us have low sensitivity, some very high. i sit and read the horror stories in awe sometimes. some are pretty scary. i feel bad for those folks. they have an extra degree of hassle to deal with and really do have to be extra careful. some dont have to give it a second thought for most stuff in the tank.

[Wolfmann81]

I have these gloves, they work very very well when moving rocks around and doing 'macro' type work (not delicately placing corals, becuase they are too thick for that).

http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife_Aqua_Gloves_%28One_Pair_Shoulder_Length_Protective_Gloves%29_Protective_Gloves_for_Saltwate r_Aquariums-Coralife-ES09505-FIMTPG-vi.html

[fstlane4me]

I have these gloves, they work very very well when moving rocks around and doing 'macro' type work (not delicately placing corals, becuase they are too thick for that).

http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife_Aqua_Gloves_%28One_Pair_Shoulder_Length_Protective_Gloves%29_Protective_Gloves_for_Saltwate r_Aquariums-Coralife-ES09505-FIMTPG-vi.html

Those are pretty nice.I'll have to get some of those.After reading this thread I think it's when I'll get stung not if.

[957Dom]

What is a good pellet food for feeding corals?