Kessil

Polytoxin poisoning

Jeremy

Jeremy

Guest
BARcard
So I just relocated to San Leandro from San Diego and am still active on the local forum down there. I was browsing the boards this morning and came across this. I thought with the frag swap coming and just as a general precaution I would post this up for anyone unaware of the dangers in our tanks. Be sure to click the link and read the advanced aquarist article.

http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105640

Jeremy

Sent using tapatalk4 from my GS III
 
yep, when i frag my zoas and paly's i do it in a bucket submerged in water. long tweezers, gloves, goggles and scissors. In fact, this is why i barely keep any zoas or palys.
 
Great post Jeremy. Yeah every now and then someone does something lets just call it irresponsible for lack of a better word (without getting to insulting) and gets sick from palythoas or some other thing in the tank.

My big issue has always been getting punctured by grabbing something in the tank, usually it simply leaves a red area for a few days and as long as I'm diligent with the antibiotic ointment I'm good to go. But there have been a few times where I've gotten it really bad, to the point of needing broadspectrum antibiotics that they use to treat MRSA. Of course like they say about most things, once you get spanked you wise up to what to do the next time. Only took me once of my hand swelling up with cellulitis for me to not second guess any cut or puncture I get in the tank.
 
Yeah I figured it's always good to have a reminder every now and then about the dangers.

I haven't had problems my myself with anything like this but have had the misfortune of being stuck by a long spine urchin on my hand twice! Once I was redoing my rock work and the other time the urchin was tucked in to a hole and I didn't see the tips sticking out of the rocks.

Both times my hand swelled up all the way up to just past my wrist. The swelling went down after a few hours but u hurt to move my hand/fingers for about a week or so.

I have since been much more careful in the hopes that that won't ever happen again!

Sent using tapatalk4 from my GS III
 
My big concerns:

1) Fragging, which is generally not a big issue, because you prepare well.

2) Cleaning and getting it on tools.
Lets say you are scaping your rockwork, perhaps getting rid of a pest, or preparing
a spot for a frag. You can rip open a Paly, and get it smeared on your tools.
It would be easy to get that transferred to skin, then eyes/etc.
Clean tools carefully after use! Good idea anyway.

3) Moving rocks
It is real easy to get small cuts when moving rock if you forget gloves.
Bacterial infection is actually far more likely, and just as dangerous.
But it would not be hard to crush a Paly and get it on you.
Also, you could end up with it on your gloves. See #2.

4) Nuking old rocks
It is not uncommon to give up and kill all life on a rock and start over.
Never boil them! That releases toxins in steam.
Rocks dried in the sun can still have toxin.
But even if done with a vinegar solution, you need to be a bit careful.
 
I'm not a doctor (nor an expert) but my understanding is that the toxin needs to get into your blood stream in some way. Ancient Hawaiian warriors would jam their spears into "Seaweed of death" (the zoanthids/palythoas in question) then when they'd cut foes it could cause issues.

In our hobby probably the most common way that people have been poisoned is by inhalation via aerosolization, as mentioned in the original posters link. Basically don't do anything to them that can cause the stuff to become a vapor or airborne in a closed area such as inside the house. Such as but not limited to, boiling in water, oxidizing via bleaching, or burning with a blow torch. Since you breath in this vapor it has a much quicker path to your bloodstream as a result you can feel some bad issues very quickly. Having cuts on your hand and working in the tank though isn't usually an issue though, bacterial infections are a much larger concern in that case.

I have read a few stories about a family dog that died after after drinking water out of a bucket where freshly cut zoas were sitting. Ingesting requires a much greater dosage, doesn't mean I'd advise eating them though, and it's questionable whether or not that was the case of the pooch death. If the dog is drinking saltwater in the first place there probably is something wrong. Anthony Calfo has a lovely story in his book though about sticking a scapal that he used to frag palythoas and then put it in his mouth while doing something else, at which point his mouth got a metallic taste, then it got numb or something... but I don't know if that was toxin in nature either

I have heard about eye squirts too (they tend to do that) although I've seen some very swollen eyes, I would suspect those were bacterial in nature not palytoxins.

Basic care that should be had though for anything is eye protection and hand protection (gloves), if you're trying to remove a LOT of zoanthids or palythoas from a rock, think about how you're going about doing it. If it seems like it's too easy then you might be in danger :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top