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

Scott-CapeCoral

02/27/2010, 07:30 PM

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.

schnitm

02/27/2010, 11:20 PM

I have a number of food "allergies." You summarized some of my symptoms here:

"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)."

I can get some impressive psychological effects along with the physical. I've found I do best if I carefully avoid known problems and benedryl is wonderful stuff when I get into something new. If my ears start ringing I get the benedryl out.

I fragged a big paly colony several weeks ago, maybe 200 heads into 20 or so pieces. I'd broken off a bit two now and then before, but never bnear so much at once. No gloves or anything. I felt sick after a few minutes but finished up. Had significant problems for a couple weeks that are just tapering a way now.

It felt like my "allergy" problems. There's a lot of history in my familly of "sensitivities" to foods and other allergens. I'm thinking this is what happened to me so it's definitely a YMMV thing. I'll be much more carefull with these things in the future.

aussie_chicago

02/28/2010, 12:50 PM

I always wear latex gloves and really,you should wear safety glasses,as Ive heard of people getting the poison in their eyes,from rubbing eye after handling zoos.I always wash my hands and arms thoroughly,just like a surgeon after handling these guys.
Im a paramedic myself,I dont know much about S/S of the toxin,but i would take it easy on these guys for a while,sounds like you have a substantial amount of toxins in your system,you could always be more allergic to the poison than others also.

A. Grandis

02/28/2010, 04:15 PM

The skimmer probably is our best friend to remove any lost mucus from the colonies, most of the time.

Well, I had some of the symtoms you've got, specially the rapid heart rate, sometimes mild chest pain and the anxiety attacks. I had somethig going on with my legs when sleeping, or almost sleeping. I felt like kicking for nothing, and did kick when felt that!! I thought they could be related with something elses, like stress to pay the bills and wake up early to fight traffic.

Reading your post I remember now that has been a while I don't have such symptoms and at the same time I've had been only doing regular maintenance in my tank for many months, without touching the colonies nor cutting them for new frags.

I am the type of person that like to eat health and sometimes exercise. But I do love chocolate!! I was wondering why those sysmptoms were going on. Hey, that was the time I was setting up my system when I felt most of those symptoms!!

In the past I've had my right eye red after a spill when fragging a zoa conoly, but it didn't hurt nor was red for more than 2 hours. I flushed with worm water right after the accident.

I remember one time when I had a reaction on my skin during a frag section, nothing really bad.
I never used gloves to deal with the frags nor to do maintenance.
I'm considering that now.

Anyone else?

Thanks for the thread and info!
Hope that helps.
Grandis.

Plankt0s

03/03/2010, 08:47 PM

Yea, I usually notice the anxiety or sometimes a metallic taste in my mouth. Hard to say what is really going on but I do notice it consistently when working with palys, I even use gloves sometimes.

mgny

03/03/2010, 09:22 PM

I had gotten sick a few times before i put 2 and 2 together. My symptoms would be like the flu starting. That achy feeling you get especially in my legs along with the chills would happen . After a bunch of times with these symptoms i figured it out. The bottom of my 180 was covered with this one particular paly. Every water change i would siphon out all the detritus in them. How did i start the siphon? thats right just suck on the tube. After 3 or so buckets i had my share of palytoxin!!! I also got it from having my face buried in my sump for awhile after a big paly removal via tweezers. If the skimmer does remove the mucus and i think it does you need to be real careful with that stuff at that time. Really glad you brought this up . I have some other questions and observations about this. Mike

Friday Night

03/05/2010, 06:35 PM

Before i wore FULL BSI i was doing some fragging... fragged and then later that night felt beyond sick. Grabbed the porcelain after there was nothing left but acid... rapid heart rate like after 20 red bulls shaking.. later on i noctied i had a open cut on finger drank TONS of water to flush anything out. other then vomiting and feeling like a meth addict with anxiety for a couple of hours.. im here to tell this tale..

torchgirl

03/07/2010, 07:38 PM

I've also experienced a metallic taste in my mouth, even when I swear there was no way my hands were anywhere near my mouth. I've had the flu symptoms twice. The first time I wasn't sure, but the second time I was certain. Wasn't sick to my stomach, but bad chills and aches for a few hours.

srjordon

03/07/2010, 11:07 PM

I was doing some fragging and I had a cut on my finger got some paly mucus in it, about an hour later I had the metalic taste in my mouth, for about 2 hours. Next time I will use gloves

the808state

03/10/2010, 03:02 PM

palytoxin = dead

There are no symptoms... Well maybe some a few minutes before you expire.

Bacterial infection is what most people get. Those with high alergies will see more symptoms.

BTW, Lexapro or Zoloft will help with those anxiety attacks.

Guygettnby

03/10/2010, 05:15 PM

BTW, Lexapro or Zoloft will help with those anxiety attacks.

dont forget xanax!! what a life saver that is :lol:

E.intheC

03/10/2010, 08:50 PM

interesting thread.

DH212

03/15/2010, 11:59 AM

Just got toxin in the eye 2 days ago cutting pe. As soon as it squirted, my eyes closed....reflex. A little bit of the toxin seeped into the eye. I felt a little sting, very minor. So I rinsed it only a little with warm water and continued fragging thinking no big deal. What an idiot I was. Same night I got red eye, no pain, no itch, just red. Then I tried lubricating drops left over from my lasik surgery. Didn't work. So I went to walgreens and got visine for red eye. Dropped it all day and didn't work. Today my eye is red and I can see the red vains clearly, little swollen, little throbbing and feeling miserable. So I went on google to find all the information I can get on what to do and I come across this thread. Just want everyone to know, wear glasses. It's not worth it. I don't think I will loose my eye, but it feels like crap. I will never frag again without glasses and gloves.

Scott-CapeCoral

03/15/2010, 03:03 PM

Greats posts folks. Thanks for participating and keep them coming.

To DH212 I hope you make a full recovery. Sorry to hear that.

DH212

03/16/2010, 05:36 PM

The top of my eye looks white now. The middle stays pink color and a little swollen. When I stare strait and move my head side to side, it forms a little bubble on the pink part next to the eyeball. Doesn't feel too bad now, just dry. I think I will have a full recovery soon.

Just be careful everyone. I barely got a drip in my eye and look what happened. If the polytoxin actually squirted in, I may be blind.

650-IS350

03/16/2010, 10:16 PM

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T8B-4WR2C1S-5&_user=10&_coverDate=07%2F09%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1253008439&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7407cb27e7d84015fd3ee7727b11d33c

eclown

03/18/2010, 07:45 PM

Palytoxin=death, perhaps in some cases that get enough toxin.
I am here to say that I had the crap scared out of me while fragging one day.
After fragging, I moved everthing back to the tank an WHAM! Rapid heart rate and very flush face...like I ate too much B12.

From what I knew, I thought....I'm dead, right? Symptoms existed for about 20 mins. and started to decline.

I should have called 911, but I'm a guy. "It'll pass".
I'm VERY careful now....I don't want my wife to call me #$%^&* anymore.

A. Grandis

03/18/2010, 08:21 PM

au01st

03/18/2010, 08:28 PM

I had a bit of juice squirt in my mouth once. My tounge was numb in about 5minutes and stayed that way for appx 4 hours. Now I wear gloves, goggles, and one of those breather masks like for lawn care. That one incident was enough for me...

reein101

03/18/2010, 08:29 PM

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.

DH212

03/19/2010, 10:16 AM

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

03/19/2010, 02:50 PM

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

03/19/2010, 02:57 PM

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

sTefaniA

03/22/2010, 08:51 AM

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

03/22/2010, 10:42 AM

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

03/22/2010, 01:49 PM

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

07/14/2010, 08:18 PM

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

07/15/2010, 08:07 AM

Here is my experience back in March. Scary!

Paly Toxins (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1821465)

GotSopranos?

07/15/2010, 12:05 PM

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

07/15/2010, 01:35 PM

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

07/15/2010, 07:53 PM

[violation]

TeebD

07/15/2010, 08:27 PM

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

07/16/2010, 02:40 PM

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

07/25/2010, 05:05 PM

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

amc1101d1

01/17/2011, 12:30 AM

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

01/17/2011, 11:48 AM

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

bosko

01/19/2011, 07:37 AM

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

RokleM

01/19/2011, 08:11 AM

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

01/19/2011, 08:37 AM

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

02/04/2011, 01:29 AM

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

Flippers4pups

02/04/2011, 01:48 AM

Ok, I came across this while checking out our friends over in Africa that reef keep, Good read:http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/showthread.php?t=3064&highlight=palytoxin+poisoning

NewbyReefer

03/12/2012, 11:05 AM

hollback

03/12/2012, 12:10 PM

MUCHO REEF

03/12/2012, 01:19 PM

I was messing around with some zoa yesterday and shortly after my thumb(witch is split) started to throb. The pain/sensation continued through the day slowly moving up my arm. Had to take some pain killers just to go to bed. Today I still have a throbbing pain all the way up my arm and my shoulder is killing me. Hopefully it goes away soon but I'm going to try the benedryl idea to see if that helps at all.

Listen to Hollback.

Hello, I am not being rude and I mean absolutely no disrespect. But I don't understand why you are sharing this now when you need to stop right now, call someone, and get to an ER ASAP. There are several threads right here in the forum regarding this issue my friend. Thanks again for sharing, but please log off and see a doctor and share these links with your doctor. It may very well be nothing more than one of the compounds within these polyps which is causing your issue. I doubt very seriously that it is PT ( Palytoxin ), as you would be gravely ill by now or most likely dead. It could be MM but you won't know till you see a doctor. Contact your doctor now my friend and read the links below or access them from the hospital. Again, I mean no harm my friend.

Mucho Reef

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2063473

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1858696

jwolcott

08/29/2012, 07:36 PM

Hi all, well the 1st and 2nd time I got sick after rearranging my zoa tank I thought it was coincidence, just the flu or food poisoning. Asmia like symbols, like the flu with tight breathing and chills. Don't really scare me just didn't feel good and went to bed. After the 3rd time getting sick and seeing 2 clowns and a bunch of mushroom corals die I realized it was the tank. I have a wide variety of zoas and polyps and love 'em. I have no idea which did the damage but wears gloves now. Thanks and good reefing.

noritren

09/23/2012, 01:08 PM

650-IS350

09/23/2012, 01:16 PM

why are you dipping in peroxide dipping for pox??? why aren't you using the usual cure for pox

noritren

09/23/2012, 01:31 PM

furan 2 is unavailable here in italy . peroxide dip worked in the past.
The poisoning is maybe related to h2o2 foam or maybe because my hands are scratched by parrot any time

A. Grandis

09/23/2012, 01:31 PM

i've just poisoned by zoanthus last night while dipping a large zoanthus rock in h2o2 for zoapox. I always thought that only palytoa are dangerous so i didn't use gloves.
After a couple of hours i felt sick, dizziness,chills, cramps, pain all over the body and ipersensitive skin and something like tetanus symptoms (arched back, restless legs,stiff neck).Asthma like symptoms too.
The symptoms lasts for 12 hours then disappears leaving me weak.
Poison control center said to check for any sign of renal failure and to drink a lot of water

Many don't even know what is a Palythoa and call Zoanthus spp. "palys".
Once again we should be careful with all the zoanthids, not only the Palythoa spp., but Zoanthus and Protopalythoa spp. also.

I believe the problem could be caused because of a possible excessive dose of H2O2 used in the treatment, forcing the poison to be expelled by the polyps. I usually recommend 1 part of H2O2 to 2 or 3 parts of tank water. H2O2 is used mainly to treat algae from plugs, and shouldn't be added to the tank in the normal basis IMO, nor used more than 50%50% because it can damage the zoas. I never had good luck treating frags with more than 50%50%.

650-IS350 is write. H2O2 shouldn't be used for pox. Furan 2 is normaly recommended.

http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

Grandis.

A. Grandis

09/23/2012, 01:34 PM

furan 2 is unavailable here in italy . peroxide dip worked in the past.
The poisoning is maybe related to h2o2 foam or maybe because my hands are scratched by parrot any time

Perhaps you didn't have pox in the past. I don't remember anyone that could cure pox with H2O2. Please let us know the procedure you used.
Thanks,
Grandis.

noritren

09/23/2012, 01:36 PM

it was 1:10 h2'o2 tank water....the difference this time was that i added some buffer to raise alkalinity in the dipping box

noritren

09/23/2012, 01:59 PM

it's surely pox...small white dots that increase in size causing erosion in the tissue.
1:10 h202 3%, tank water in a box and dipping for 20 minutes.
but i think is not a definitive cure, because after 3 4 months the problem come back

edit: I forgot to mention to gently brush the polyps with hands, possibly scratched by parrot to achieve a better result

SDW

01/01/2013, 05:30 PM

I recently was cleaning my tank after my heater went out and everything died. After this happened, I started getting a algea infestation, with lots of green hair algea. So, I thought the best way to get it back to normal would be to clean the rocks with a little elbow grease and a toothbrush. I took the rocks out and started cleaning, and like I said earlier, everything was "dead". After about 20 to 30 minutes I started sneezing uncontrollably, and then after about an hour or so, I started having shortness of breath, and very shallow rapid breathing. I thought if I just lay down for a bit it would get better. After another 1 hour, I couldn't catch my breath and decided I better go to the hospital. The usual tests were done, EKG, xray, labs, all negative. By the next am, my labs indicated I was septic and needed to be transferred to the ICU. A day later and a lot of fluids to keep my blood pressure up, I was moved back to a regular room. 3 days later I was able to go home, and a week later I was about 95% back to normal, still occasional shortness of breath with activity. I think that I inhaled some palytoxin from the "dead zoas" on the rocks while I was cleaning. My LFS owner was the one who put 2+2 for me...THANKS Dan!

billdogg

03/31/2013, 06:27 AM

And now for my .02.

Had to move my 60g cube yesterday to make way for new carpet. The main rock in the tank is siliconed to the bottom (who knew pumice floats???) The entire top of the rock is covered with both zoanthids and palythoas. Brushing against them was unavoidable as I cleared out all the loose rock, but I gave it no thought because I have never been bothered before. By the time I was done, my right arm was bright red, and I got several small scrapes as a bonus. This morning (about 18hrs later) my arm is very sensitive to touch, and it feels like it has a severe sunburn. The skin around all scrapes is a puckered white (palytoxin being a vasoconstrictor, I'm not surprised). I'll be keeping an eye on it as the day progresses. If it seems to be getting worse, I'll be off the the Urgent Care, where they will not have a clue. I have already printed out several articles regarding incidental exposure to take with me to help guide them with diagnosis/treatment.

Maybe gloves when I move the tank back to the living room????

GroktheCube

03/31/2013, 08:08 PM

I've always been a fan of nitrile gloves, to protect yourself from you cnidarians and vice-versa. If need be, you can get shoulder-length gloves.

In your case, it may just be stings, not palytoxin. Mild cnidarian stings are often not immediately noticeable.

TrueIrishFan616

04/06/2013, 07:01 PM

Not sure if I had an issue with this poison, but the other day I was placing my first zoa frag in my new tank. I had never heard of any poison with these before so i just used my bare hand. This frag was not on a stone or frag rock. It was just a sorry looking piece of zoa that my lfs gave me for free because it looked like it was doomed. I took it home and hand placed it in a little nook on a piece of rock. It now looks great and has tripled in size in 2 weeks. However, that night, IU was playing their last game in the tournament and when I get nervous I tend to chew on my finger nails. It started with me sweating. Then I got chills. Then I got very nauseous. My tounge was a little numbish and my beer was starting to taste very metallic. So I said screw it...I'm goin to bed. It lasted for about 4 hours. Sucked! I now wear gloves, and I'll start wearing eye protection from this point forward. Thanks for this thread. Very very informative.

pjb9166

04/06/2013, 07:28 PM

I just have a frag that I purchased today. About 15 polyps. I had handled it a few times trying to place it to get best view.
well a few hrs after my sinuses are burning, eyes burn and headache. Could this be symptoms?.

Paul:sad1:

noritren

04/19/2013, 09:04 AM

poisoned again...thirth time! the second time, i was only cleaning some rocks with brush, and after 1 hour i ended up in ER.
After that, a local authority for biotoxin monitoring takes away my paly and analyze it: palytoxin at high level and Vibrio Vulnificus bacteria inside polips.
Last week poisoned again (Creatine phosphokinase above normal confirm palytoxin effect), so i discovered my other zoanthid (that i had for 10 years without any problem, also while fragmenting, brushing,..) is toxic at high level too.
Perhaps bacteria have made it poisonous as well?

NewbyReefer

04/22/2013, 06:10 PM

Got shot in the eye on saturday by a purple zoa. Eye burns and feels like someone keeps poking me in it. Also got some in my mouth but instantly rinsed with straight peroxide. So I didn't get sick, just a messed up eye.

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee513/joshwhit3385/IMG-20130422-01782_zpsf7d2f789.jpg (http://s1231.photobucket.com/user/joshwhit3385/media/IMG-20130422-01782_zpsf7d2f789.jpg.html)

Yes I've been to the hospital.

noritren

06/28/2013, 11:17 AM

fourth time...this time i found and removed some childs of the paly's colony removed months ago. I took them with gloves and then put them in a small box with tank water waiting for bring them to a lab. This time only the exhalation was enough to poisoning me. Asthma-like symptoms and fever at 40° C. I avoided to go to ER because i think that this time they would call the psychiatric care

A. Grandis

06/29/2013, 08:06 PM

Good to have you guys reporting the poisoning here!!
Thanks very much for taking the time.

It would be great if you could post PICTURES OF THE ZOANTHIDS you are talking about, beside your injuries, so we would have a collection of images to know what exactly organisms we're talking about.

Please avoid identify them only with their usual "cartoon names".

It is not late to post your pictures and relate them to your past post number (on the top right of every post).

Thanks, share the info and keep this rolling!!!

Be safe out there!!

Grandis.

toontjuh

07/01/2013, 07:44 PM

I've been getting sick for the past 8 or 9 months or so. At first didn't even think about my ugly brown palys which i've rearanged for way too many times. After each time handling them the symptoms would get way worse.

Numb fingers. Tingeling all over my arms. A heavy metal taste in my mouth. Drinking anything was like drinking rusty old water. Heavy fevers which lasted for days and days. My breathing was terrible. Lots of clear mucus. Unable to tell wether i was warm or cold. Constant migraines. Waking up in the middle of the night with full body cramps. Fainting. Emergency trips to the nightcare. The list carries on.

ended up staying home for a few months, but with nothing to do i kept busy with my aquarium.
finally i had terrible trouble even walking. Picking up a glas of water to drink was way too troublesome. Very confused. Unable to eat. Constantly throwing up. Constantly sleeping, sometimes for several days. Or unable to sleep and awake for several days.

as soon as i touched my tank water the entire proces would start again. I just couldn't put two and two together.

when the weight started dropping faster and faster and after so many tests without zero results, even brainscans and x rays. I started selling my corals, because i wasn't able to care for them.Now after not having touched any type of pally or zoa for almost 2 months things are getting better.

they could never find out what was wrong, all test result left them clueless. I never got a definitive answer if it was my pally's. All i know is the huge difference i am feelling.

reading through this post made me realize how careless i was with them.

i even let the rocks with pally's dry in my room for days and then just scraped them off with water or boiled them off. Constantly getting a dose of palytoxin.

jnotjane

03/08/2014, 08:05 AM

I know this is an older thread, but I'll chime in on my experience from about 18 months ago. I keep a 29G Biocube and at the time I lived in Phoenix and had several nice colonies of zoas and palys, along with a number of other lps corals. I had just gone through a rough patch in my life (lost a parent, 2 pets and a close famnily friend in the span of a few months) and in my depression I had let my tank go. I finally got around to cleaning the tank up, which involved moving corals around and lots of slime.

The first night I was sick, it hit suddenly and we thought I had food poisoning. I threw up until there was nothing left, then kept throwing up. After that initial bout, I would throw up about 45 minutes after eating anything remotely solid. Over the course of the next 2 months, multiple ER visits and every test the drs could think of, the last test they finally performed was an upper gastric test that showed my upper stomach muscles were not functioning. Basically, the nerves in my upper stomach were paralyzed.

Fortunately, after 2 months, the muscles gradually regained function. It took about 6 months before I could eat normally and I still after 18 months have to be careful with certain foods, but I'm pretty much fully recovered. The drs. never did figure out a definitive diagnosis, all blolod test showed no sign of an infection or other pathogen. But the liver function indicated I may have been poisoned. At one point things were so bad that my husband and I actually discussed what was to be done if I died (I NEVER want to see that look on his face agian!).

The best guess the drs. had is that I somehow ingested a small amount of palytoxin by eating or drinking something after cleaning my tank. I now am extremely cautious of handling any corals and scrub down with lots of soap and hot water and then wait a bit before eating or drinking anything. Was it palytoxin? Was it something else in the water? I don't know for sure, but I'm not taking anymore chances.

r1racer

02/04/2015, 02:49 PM

For the last week I have been moving my rocks around and plucking off vermatids bare handed. Caught what I thought was a cold for three days. The next day I go back into the tank because my rasta zoas were tipped over on their frag plug. They were clearly stressed and I moved them...I touched them as I felt the slime.

Fast forward to this morning and my left upper eye lid was swollen and still is a bit 14 hours later. Also, when I drink water underneath my lip on the inside of my mouth goes numb and tingles. My hands are cold and I am getting tingles from my shoulder to my fingertips and developing a minor headache.

I also had wheezing for about 15 minutes last night about 10 minutes after I touched them.

650-IS350

02/07/2015, 12:19 AM

numbness and tingling in the mouth is usually signs of poisoning. same as metallic taste.

To everyone ALWAYS use Protective equipment. Safety glasses, gloves, mask. In the case of any squirting. Do not take things for granted.

mystikal

04/26/2015, 08:11 PM

curious to know how long these symptoms may have lasted for?
12 hours-One day-two day-one month-two months?

mfin77

09/03/2017, 07:22 PM

Which corals are poisonous? When people say palys on here do you mean zoos? I'd like to stay away from the poisonous corals

kinomatika

09/10/2017, 11:07 AM

just had an exciting run-in with palytoxin myself.

got some live rock the other day and didn't realise that one of them was just totally encrusted with palythoas. i'm actually really new to the hobby so i didn't know what they were at all and thought they were probably just very small aiptasia. i pull the rock, dunk it in the utility sink full of water as hot as i can stand, and start picking these itty bitty palythoas off the rock with planting tweezers.

that was at about 7am today, and it's noon now. i feel alright except for shortness of breath and i can't quite inhale all the way, sort of the same feeling you get when you inhale water after swimming.

no headaches, runny nose, tingling or numbness, though i did have a mild metallic taste in my mouth for a bit. i'm gonna take some benadryl and if it doesn't get better by tomorrow i'll go to the doc.