I learned about Zoanthid toxin the hard way......

[ct_vol]

Thats awful... Thanks for sharing... Hope you feel better soon...

[techigirl78]

Sorry to hear about your trip to the ER and aftermath. Thanks for sharing.

When I was looking around, I found this document: http://www.hsarpabaa.com/Solicitatio...Appendices.pdf

In the summary, it indicates the effects of palytoxins are muscle contractions, heart irregularities, and rigid paralysis. On the bright side, if it was palytoxin that did this to you, it is good that your heart has stayed strong!

Here's another article I found on the CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bm...ts%20Final.pdf It also included dinos in this article. Both being identified as potential public threats - i.e. possible biological weapons - on a number of government sites.

Do you know if your doctors ever tried contacting the CDC or a government hospital?

[bchbum189]

a local lady was put onto bed rest for about a week from moving her palythoas. Once she touched them, her arm began to tingle followed by severe breathing and large amounts of saliva. She went to the point of almost passing out. One week later, she still wasnt recovered fully. These things are nasty little buggers, and i take them very seriously now(rubber gloves)

[2fishy]

*gulp*! I just cleaned the aquarium glass yesterday, and bumped my rock yesterday, a couple of times and then I moved it over to a different area. Time for me to invest in some gloves! Does anyone know if the disposable gloves will protect your hands well enough?

Anyway, thanks for sharing and I hope you do get better soon!

[bchbum189]

i like the coralife gloves, go all the way to ur shoulder, and dont have any powders like some latex gloves have

[tgunn]

WOW, that's some scary stuff!
Hope the after effects clear up for you!

I'm going to be taking a lot of my rocks out of the tank for a thorough scrubbing in a few weeks; I'm going to make sure to wear my heavy neoprene gloves, safety goggles, and perhaps even my half face respirator.

Thanks for sharing!

Tyler

[Frick-n-Frags]

now that sounds like a FUN hobby when you have to wear a hazmat suit to do it.


I think, another issue is people have different sensitivity to foreign irritants. like allergy prone people, and people that get all kinds of nasty rashes etc from any working in the tanks. So it is too easy to point fingers at a more obvious possibility. Most people have played in the water their whole hobby career without incident because they aren't sensitive to whatever is in the water.

I still remain skeptical that this was a palytoxin poisoning also, but that is only my opinion.

[Sheol]

Well, that is a warning to us all. Hope your recovery continues and is complete.

Sincerely,
Matthew

[A.T.T.R]

"The fact remains that I inhaled the steam from boiling the zoanthids and it closed up my lungs. The doctors all agreed that an aerosol toxin breathed in "
yup and i want to know what that was. cause that is scary as hell!
theres definitly more hten one toxin in them.
and according to the least reputable source. palytoxin is a rarity(and thank god since it is the worse)

3 years ago a read abput paly toxin and was scared of all zoas . so i did some reasearch. if ever i have time to find the links ill post them.

but most of the time the people who say things like " i cant feel my hand." its mostly in there head or some other toxin in the tank
for the most part palyy toxin has two effects. nothing. or death within minutes. by stopping your heart

i just really dont want people throwing out zoa;s due to being scared of them

if i remember correctly the toxin is only found when a certin dinoflag is present

[tkeracer619]

Originally posted by A.T.T.R
but most of the time the people who say things like " i cant feel my hand." its mostly in there head or some other toxin in the tank
for the most part palyy toxin has two effects. nothing. or death within minutes. by stopping your heart

In thier head............ maybe in your head.

You are incorrect, it has many effects other than nothing and death. Instead of taking the time for pointless posts. Take the time to dig up your old links and re-read them.




steveoutlaw, sorry you are going through this, I got squirt in the eye a month and a half ago. had a nasty reaction and couldnt see for a week. Hopefully things get better soon, I know the pain can be very real. Let us know how it pans out in the comming weeks.

[RoGeTa]

Thanks for sharing! I've never found Zoas worth the risk. I'm very accident prone, and anything that could happen WILL happen to me (I have a scar on my leg from a fream dirt bike accident to prove it!)! I have also dealt with a mild version of asthma most of my life, and I know that isn't fun. I hope you make a full recovery!

[Aliie]

I wanted some but now I am hesitant to even handle the little buggers! I have asthma and don't think it would be worth the risk either.

[IndyMatt]

Whenever I frag Zoos I wear gloves and glasses.

Don't forget to protect your eyes!

[tkeracer619]

Don't be scared of the zoanthid, just know that it is possible for them to be dangerious.

The best thing to do is wear goggles/gloves and do your fragging under water. They cant shoot you from under water.

I have asthma, its of no greater concern to asthmatics than any other human. If anything we already have the steroids that the doctors gave Steve.

[steveoutlaw]

Thanks everyone.

Don't get me wrong.......I'm not telling everyone to go and get rid of their zoos. I just want to make people aware of how dangerous they can be and to be careful when handling them. And I don't care what you read on the internet, DO NOT use boiling water to kill them.

Also, the only reason this is affecting my bronchial tubes is because I breathed the toxin in. As long as you don't breath it in you won't have any troubles like this.

I guess just use common sense and KNOW what you have in your tank.

[Tynan Rasmus]

eek! thanks for the info.

[funkyman]

Hang in there. Thanks for the info.

[reefman13]

Really sorry about that...good moral though

[j.prostrata]

I believe last yr something similar happened to me.. I did not inhale it but rather injested it after touching a very similiar green with strips zoo that came in as a hicthhiker. I have many of them now but never try to touch them and when I do I wash my hands very well. I placed my corals in the tank that night and forgot to wash my hands and ate super. At this time I did not even notice the zoos attached to the sps base. Later that night I started getting wierd heart iregularities like skipping beats and things like that. Also I got some cramping in my leggs. We lets just say 1 week later they finally went away.. I did not go to the ER I was to chicken to hear what they would say. I did not even think about the zoos until a few weeks later when I noticed them on the sps base. I then did some reading and I fealt that was what happened to me aswell.. I have told other so fthis but they do not bleive me.. I wrestled in college and have always been in decent shape and never had any heart irregularities in my life and to this day I do not anymore. Hope you do better and come aorund like I have.

Peace

[clekchau]

wow that is scary, thanks for sharing that story, hope you get better

[TWallace]

Thanks for sharing this info. I knew zoanthids contained palytoxin, but probably would not have thought about inhaling it accidentally.

[vessxpress1]

Man, here we go again.

There's no reason to be scared to death of zoanthids. I've handled them with bare hands a lot. I've had one squirt me directly in the eye. Nothing has ever happened to me because of zoanthids.

If you have severe allergy problems, then yes, maybe it is a good idea to take extra precaution. If you're worried about this incident happening to you, just don't boil them and inhale the steam! Whether it was the cause or not.

If you get some zoos on a rock and you don't want them there any more, get a good chisel and a hammer. Break that part of the rock off and discard it.

There's no point in being terrified of zoos. Just wash your hands well after handling them.

[lanman3]

Originally posted by vessxpress1
Man, here we go again.

There's no reason to be scared to death of zoanthids. I've handled them with bare hands a lot. I've had one squirt me directly in the eye. Nothing has ever happened to me because of zoanthids.

And there's no reason to be afraid of cars and trucks. I've driven around them a lot, and I'm still alive. I've even had a truck run me off the road once - but nothing really bad has ever happened to me because of traffic. I think all of these people getting killed in car accidents is just 'anecdotal' evidence that cars are dangerous. I'll believe it when I see it first-hand.

(I was over at Steve's house later that day, somewhere between zoanthid tea and the trip to the hospital. Man was getting SICK!)

bob

[scunan]

I think alot of what will happen to you depends on your genes. I have never had a problem with my zoos but never inhaled them. I have touched them many times with cuts on my hands and it was not intentional but nothing happened. I think it is like poison ivy, I could wash my hands with the stuff and not even get the slightest reaction. If my wife even goes near the stuff it will be all over her.

[steveanddanni]

Originally posted by kathainbowen
Oh, and by the by, if you feel an attack coming on and your friends/families want you to go to the ER, don't be stubborn and just go. My roomie had bad asthma and would always refuse to go to the ER until things got really, really scary.

My thoughts and pagan prayers are with you.

As a respiratory therapist the worst thing you can do with a severe asthma attack is to wait. That is a good way to end up with a tube down your throat and on a ventilator for a few days. Well that goes for any type of breathing problems, they usually never get better on their own without medical intervention.