Palytoxin PSA

[SteveT]

So, yesterday I was fragging up some zoas, as I do from time to time. Of course I had my trusty safety glasses on, because I wouldn't want to get palytoxin in my eye now would I? Well after I had thought I was finished fragging everything and had taken off my eye protection I decided that a colony of green bay packers needed a trim. Not giving it a second thought I whipped it out and on the first cut one squirts and hits me in the eye. I panicked and rinsed my eye the best that I could. It stung for a little while but then subsided. I wake up this morning and it hurts pretty bad, and is constantly watering. I consider my self lucky considering some of the much worse stories I have heard. To try and get my mind off the pain I took a picture of my eye and made this Public service announcement so everyone remembers to always wear eye protection while fragging zoas and palys!
View attachment 7608

 

[Zooid]

Yikes.....did you get flu like sypmtoms like I did?

 

[303travism]

That suck! But I love the pic lol

 

[SteveT]

Yikes.....did you get flu like sypmtoms like I did?

No flu like symptoms...yet anyway. Last night I thought I was in the clear, then I wake up to this. I just hope it gets better from here and not worse. Its been about the same all day.

 

[andrew]

happened to Chris too,

 

[SAZAMA]

gotta be careful when fragging those palys and zoas, if you start to taste metal that is a sure first sign of poly toxin. I started fraging zoas with gloves on.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

I am new to this zoa fragging thing...tell me more about palytoxin if you could.

 

[Punjab]

I am new to this zoa fragging thing...tell me more about palytoxin if you could.

Certain zoanthids and even more palythoas produce a toxic substance that has been used for thousands of years by coastal natives to poison tip their darts and arrows for killing prey. If enough of it gets into your blood stream it can cause some pretty debilitating side effects and possibly death.
I remember hearing about the owner of one of the Denver shops some years back that fragged a bunch of zoas and left them in a bucket. His dog was in the shop and tasted some of the water from the bucket and ended up dying from it.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Wow, I had no idea about this...
I googled and found some interesting stuff...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/04/05/world%E2%80%99s-2nd-deadliest-poison-in-an-aquarium-store-near-you/
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018235
Boiling your rocks with zoas is a bad idea as well.

 

[mortimersnerd]

I recently landed in the hospital overnight as a result of palytoxin exposure. I've been exposed several times but didn't know it until recently. I took several rocks out of my tank with hundreds of palys to kill them and somehow got exposed to the palytoxin. Everyone who was in my house that night got at least a little sick and I would up with blue lips, tachycardia, hot and cold sweats, etc. I was using standard precautions when working with them, not sure how I got exposed, but the best guess is that the water evaporating off the rocks carried some of the toxin with it. This supported by my symptoms initially being respiratory, with heavy nasal mucous production, sneezing and coughing. Either way, be careful...

 

[reefkoi]

Yeah good luck with that eye, it took a few different prescription drops to get it done, was watery and itchy for 2 weeks or so

 

[MattL]

I told My brother (the eye doctor) about this and he said go see an optometrist to ensure no caring on your cornea.

 

[SteveT]

I got very lucky and it ended up being very mild considering what could have happened. The 2 days after I took the picture it actually got worse to the point where I could barley open my eye. The next couple days after that it got better fairly quickly. The pain subsided first, then the swelling, and just today my eye is starting to return to normal color. On the 3rd day when it was the worse I said to myself "If it gets any worse than this I am going to the eye doctor". Then it started getting better, so I didn't end up going to a doctor.

 

[SAZAMA]

glad to hear your alright brother... but thanks for the great poster

 

[spstimie]

Just a tip...Frag Zoas and Palys in a bowl of water. Prevents them from hitting you with a money shot.

 

[DyM]

Holy crap, ya know I've never heard of that. I have these two habits that in retrospect have saved me some grief from what I'm reading. First I have this large bowl that I fill when doing all my fragging. I cut or scape zoa's or pallys in the water. My reasoning is it's easier to see and handle as fragging gets messy and slimy. I've never had a zoa squirt me while doing this. I've experienced mushrooms having enough forse to squirt water outside the bowl, but not even close to hitting me in the face. Second, I throw the bowl water out in the sink and while I'm there, wash my hands off (not with soap). Holy toxins though, never knew zoas were so potent. Definitely keep this in mind when fragging, thanks for sharing.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Just a tip...Frag Zoas and Palys in a bowl of water. Prevents them from hitting you with a money shot.

Excellent!

But palytoxin is one more reason to keep sticks instead

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[hurrafreak]

Just a tip...Frag Zoas and Palys in a bowl of water. Prevents them from hitting you with a money shot.

BUT if you start having like a metal taste in the air, and your nose starts to run you need to stop fragging!! Those are the first symptoms that you've got it in the air as well! You'll have the worst next couple of hours if you keep going.