Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - Well it happened again.....and yet again*updated*

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- - Well it happened again.....and yet again*updated* (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=68234)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus (Post 556736)

Sounds like something has a serious neurotoxin in there?? No idea what to suggest ... I mean, once, it's a freak occurence but this is 3 times now? I hate to say it but I think if it was me that tank would be done - sell or at least rehome the fish, and haul all the rock and substrate to the landfill. :neutral:

No idea what to suggest - good luck!

I would sell off those zoas! Also let the buyer pull them from the tank and bag them as part of the sale. Honestly this hobby is for enjoyment and from the sounds of your expeniece its life threatening. Glad you and your dog are ok but you need to do something quick. :cry:

Murry,

About three years ago I came over to your place and got a rock full of those ugly zoos you are talking about(brown and pretty big heads right). I put it in my 10 gallon and they were letting off the slime. Next morning when I woke up same symptoms as you mentioned in your tank. Fish dead, bristle worms all hanging out of rocks and dead, large feather duster worm dead, inverts all dead, hairy hitchiker crab I was trying to catch for a few weeks dead, pretty much everything except for the slimy zoos.

It is definately the zoos that did it. In a larger system I am sure it wouldnt have happened but I didnt think and put 30 or so of those zoos in my 10 gallon.

Maybe they all reacted at once for some reason in your tank and released the slime.

I would scrap the idea of reselling them to someone. I hope things go well for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by andestang (Post 556863)

I would scrap the idea of reselling them to someone. I hope things go well for you.

Yeah after reading that they did the same in another tank I now agree that garbage might be the best solution :sad:

Wow, I hope you all are ok.

My very first coral was a large rock plastered in Zoanthids.

I had no idea at that time that they contained one of the deadliest natural toxins in the world. I moved them around and around in the tank, covering my bare hands in the slime.

I never developed any symptoms and am damm lucky I did not.

I now rarely touch them but when I do I first check for any cuts on my hands.

After reading this thread today I'm gonna go get those long gloves.

Got this off wiki ( I know its not always accurate) but still scary...

"His zoanthid was found to contain 2-3 milligram of palytoxin per gram.[9] For comparison, the intravenous LD50 dose of palytoxin for a grown man is less than 8 microgram. Thus each gram of the offending zoanthid contained enough venom to kill at least 125 grown men."

It's definitly not the zoanthids that killed all your fishes and CUC. It must have been something else. Probably one fish died and produced ammonia that killed the rest. It happens all the time without zoanthids and if you had fishes in a 10 gallons tank, that was calling for trouble from day one.

Dunno how many fish you had in there. My frag tank is 20 gallons and I had a mandarin in there for 4 months without any problem, then I had a damsel and no problem either. I put all sort of zoa and paly in there and they slime a lot after I frag them but never killed anything and never noticed the slightest thing wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcingo (Post 556834)

that was not luck. Zoanthids were never found to carry the palytoxin. Read coral magasine as they have a good article on zoanthids.

Only a few species of palythoas and propalythoas may carry the toxin, and especialy a rare one from Hawaii that was used to poison arrows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2pts (Post 556893)

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniella3d (Post 556928)

That's what I was under the impression of also, I have over 100 species of zoas and usually go glove-less when handling (Fragging is a different story, that being said you should always exercise caution when handling both for you and your zoas health). I have never experienced anything like that from the tank but we are harboring complete ecosystems so you never know what's growing.

I'm on board with Tony, might be time to purge the tank if it's causing harm to the whole house hold. Wish you the best!

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniella3d (Post 556928)

You're making my head hurt.

Order Zoanthidea
Suborder Brachycnemina
Family Zoanthidae
Genus Zoanthus, Palythoa, Protopalythoa...

"It has long been known that zoanthids such as Zoanthus and Palythoa contain toxic chemicals...." The Reef Aquarium Vol 2 by Delbeek and Sprung pg 70