Palytoxin, my story...

And because im usually moving stuff around in the tank.
Ive not gotten any any palys or Zoas. They look great... but ive felt some of those symptoms before...i felt like dying.
I know the feeling of laying in bed and wondering what the hell is going on with you.....feeling like my face was melting off but swollen at the same time. And wanting to tell your significant other laying 2inhes next to you that you think your tank poisoned you

But you hold back from saying anything....hoping for the best.
 
Not even palytoxin could kill a good ole Indiana boy i guess if the 10' fall to the head didnt do it then nothing will

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Wow that must of been scary, glad you're feeling much better though. I've read all the articles and it just freaks me out that you think something so tiny could end up killing you.
 
Glad u feel better . Man i tell u if u ever have beef with any body all u gotta do is boil some palys in tgere house and run drs will never figure out what killed em im just saying lol
 
Man feel better, i had some water squirt in my eye while fragging up some purple deaths, my heart definitely skipped a beat. Thankfully nothing happened but hoooolly shit that was scary
 
madjoe said:
Glad u feel better . Man i tell u if u ever have beef with any body all u gotta do is boil some palys in tgere house and run drs will never figure out what killed em im just saying lol
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I joked around with a buddy on the same thing last night. That'd be a crappy way to go, couldn't imagine how bad it'd hurt if you got a dose large enought to kill you. The poison works by killing individual cells, killing enough cells to kill you would surely be up there with getting burned to death.
 
This is a good reminder . It took me a while to figure out why I had a headache after cleaning tanks .
Glad made it through another one of life's adventures.
 
Years ago I was cleaning my 29g and moved an encrusted zoa rock, squishing a few in the process. I had a cut on my hand and didn't realize it yet. A few hours later I developed intense flu-like symptoms that lasted 3 days and felt like I was going to die. From that day forward no zoas/palys in my tanks. It freaks me out that something could go haywire on the tank and send palytoxin airborne, poisoning my GF or dogs while I'm not home.
 
Every time I have to do something with Zoas I'm always super careful. That crap is serious. Plus I'm a nail biter and have cuts on my fingers all the time. Glad your ok. My wife would have a fit.
 
Happy to hear it wasn't worse than it was!

Proper disposal is a weird topic...putting them in the garbage could turn out to be an ugly surprise for someone else :(

All in all it is weird that hobbyist have no way to know which ZorP is "truly dangerous". Technically they all can be, in particular in quantity, but I've seen a few scientific studies indicating that only certain ones contain the high concentrations of palytoxin that would make them deadly. It would be good for everyone (hobbyist, dealers, etc) if there was a way to screen/filter the deadly ones out from distribution. Not sure how realistic that is, but it would seem (in our highly litigious society) the trade is risking a regulatory over correction to a collection of significant reactions to palytoxin...which could over reach into many other parts of the trade.

Difficult topic. In the end, it's good to hear your experience was not worse.
 
ultimatemj said:
Happy to hear it wasn't worse than it was!

Proper disposal is a weird topic...putting them in the garbage could turn out to be an ugly surprise for someone else :(
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Thank you.

Oh I thought about disposal, hell even how I was going to get them out of the tank without the chance of one spitting at me. Used long tank grabbers to put them both in a zip lock just at the water’s surface, then into the freezer. It'll be cold through trash day so they should get buried before anyone has a chance of them thawing. Good riddance to the little bastards.
 
Damn, glad to hear you are ok Josh. I'm always afraid to handle Palys in my tanks. My girlfriend loves them, and I'm always iffy about getting more.
 
icedearth15324 said:
Damn, glad to hear you are ok Josh. I'm always afraid to handle Palys in my tanks. My girlfriend loves them, and I'm always iffy about getting more.
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Even after all this my wife was quite torn, she still really wants zoas. Even still wants the ones that hurt me, but she does know they just aren't worth the risk and pain.
 
I really wasn't feeling too bad this morning in comparison. A special order water heater arrived at lowes, so I went out to get it. What a mistake. The cold sent my lungs into a fit, even after I've been back home for an hour they're still very sore and have labored breathing. It might be a while before I'm good.
 
jrpark22000 said:
Even after all this my wife was quite torn, she still really wants zoas. Even still wants the ones that hurt me, but she does know they just aren't worth the risk and pain.
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My philosophy is everything good in life has risks. Driving a car or motorcycle, a great time but you are more likely to die than sitting on the couch (at least in the short term lol). Zoas are gorgeous, just have to be a little more careful while handling them. That is something you are going to be much more aware of (probably than most reefers that push the envelope a little much) when you handle them in the future.

The community is better after you have shared this experience. Hopefully others will take owning and maintaining a reef more seriously :)

Hope you get back to 100% quickly.
 
IHaveCrabs said:
My philosophy is everything good in life has risks. Driving a car or motorcycle, a great time but you are more likely to die than sitting on the couch (at least in the short term lol). Zoas are gorgeous, just have to be a little more careful while handling them. That is something you are going to be much more aware of (probably than most reefers that push the envelope a little much) when you handle them in the future.
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I totally agree. It's why I often hurt myself, the reward is greater than the risk. After going through this once, my thoughts have changed on palys. They are never attractive enough to want to risk going through this again. Then again I've been this way even with women, once they bite hard once, I'm done. I don't fear the dog (not referring to women here, just the common dog expression) until it puts me down for a while. Then reevaluate and decide it’s not worth it.
 
So, do you think a guy running a reef tank in a studio apartment is in any danger of airborne coral toxins?

Btw, Muriatic acid 1:10 with water seems to do well for removing all organics. Obviously, the material produces all new sorts of dangers, but there are clear procedures.
 
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