Health Concern. What not to do.
 

So, I just got back from the hospital. Not a great day. After being stung in the finger by a wasp, I decided to do some minor aquascaping. My stung finger with a minor wound where I dug out the stinger just brushed a zoo rock and within 2 minutes, I couldn't feel a thing from the shoulder down. Pulse hit high into the 100's and every vein in my body stood out like a steroid freak pumping iron. Wait, there's more. Next stop was nausea central. Spent a bit in the washroom vomiting extensively. Got to hospital, and they did their tests. Had me drink this and that, drained off tons of blood for tests and had me wired for sound. Apparently the two toxins don't do well together. Duh! So after an observation period after the symptoms passed they finally let me come home. Strange thing was, the whole time, I was worried because I had knocked my plate coral into the shade during the fiasco and that was what I was most concerned about. Go figure eh?

WOW. :eek:

Holy crap man. I am glad you're OK.

Re: Health Concern. What not to do.
 

Geez :eek: Who would have guessed? Glad you're okay now.

wow, zoo's are crazy

I've got a new BB tank partly full of them. Haven't had any health problems.... yet. No cuts on my fingers so maybe I'll be safe working in that tank tomorrow.

the worst I have done is numbed my lip after moving my zoo's around.

I had washed my hands, but not thoroughly. now i use antibacterial soap and scrub

I had no idea zoos could be so dangerous. Where can I find the proper handling instructions?

Scavenger, do you have any kinds of allergies to bee stings that would have intensified the effects of the combo of toxins?

There really should be a WHMIS paper somewhere on those things....

Glad you're o.k.!

Lesson learned....never put wounded hand in reeftank...

Mitch

I'd be dead if that was true Carp. :lol:

But better safe than sorry.

Yes, but I thought that you come alive again after 2 in the afternoon.... :razz:

Mitch

:mrgreen: damn those toxins..... :razz:

Another Brian Robak! Be sure to post this on RC and RDO.

Yup. Read:


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=158663

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...ght=toxic+zoos

Is that the brobak thread you are talking about teevee?

Aye that it is. The first zoanthid victim I heard of.

Very useful info.

What kind of gloves should I use when working with zoos / corals and where can I get them?

You know, people come over to see my tank and see my "hazmat" equipment I use to frags zoo's and such and they laugh. They just don't realize how deadly these little polyps can be and are always surprised when I educate them a bit on it.

BTW: I wear a full face shield when fragging squishy and squirty type of corals. I've had a couple times here a zoo burst all over my face shield, was glad I wore it along with my latex gloves.

Anyways.. food for thought. Glad your ok :eek: :biggrin: :bday: . Lets hope we don't hear about these incidents very often.

Holy crap is right. Glad your feeling better.

Thanks for posting the link Sam. I was looking for it. As I mentioned in the other sting thread, seems we need to be more careful dealing with our tanks, than we think sometimes.

I have some links. Dont know if they are included in the RC thread or not. First one is regarding Mycobacterium Marinum Infection Second is on Palytoxin

http://www.emedicine.com/DERM/top

http://www.cbwinfo.com/Biological/To

Chad, you wear normal latex gloves? Do you use the non-powdered type (doubt if the powder would be good for corals)? Do you use these when simply working in shallow water? What about hand protection within the tank?

Dead links

Thanks all!! I'm glad I'm ok too. LOL!! I admit, I haven't taken the toxin danger seriously in the past. I will now. But please remember that I was affected by the effects of 2 poisons. The doctor said it looked like the bee (wasp) toxin was amplified by the coral poison. I quess I just want to say, be carefully, but don't be scared off of reefing. This was just one in a million in my opinion. Anyone else bit hit that bad in one day? Na, I didn't think so.
Just keep this in mind when you stick your hands into your tank.

Health concern What not to do
 

cptclever. check out J&L's PVC Aquagloves that cover the entire arm.
Good insurance if you have nicks or scrapes on your hands .


Gary

Hmm, sorry about that. I must have missed something. I check it out later.

I got the Aqua Gloves from coralife(?) and non-powdered latex gloves for working with the corals. I've also wrapped a elastic on my wrist (for short periods) and stick my hand with the latex gloves into the tank to do some delicate work.

BTW, I found the non-powdered gloves hard to find.. If anyone knows of a more common place to get em please let me know..

Those Aquagloves look pretty bulky, think I'll try the latex gloves with elastic for now. We use the nitrile, non-powdered gloves at the studio all the time, I'll find out where they get them from.
Thanks for the info yagimax and chad
You all play safe out there.

polyp toxin
 

was trying to chiesel a polyp rock in half and swearing loudly cause it was so hard. when it cracked felt something mushy flew into my mouth. sped into washroom spat it out and gargled away entire bottle of listerine. very fortunate my swallow reflex didn't kick in when that happened

Non Powdered Latex or Nitrile Gloves
 

I buy them all the time for work..... Try Ackland Grainger or any other safety supply store or laboratory supply store.

Ya know, we get a post like this every year or two. Maybe we need to make one of these a sticky.

i never use gloves and find the SW helps accelerate the healing process. i work around tin, and have numourus cuts at any given time. guess i should consider being more careful.

I've noticed the same thing. Good idea !

Maybe inclde the RC llinks and a link to info on palytoxin such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin
Lots more links on google

Hi Chad,

You and I sound like we're related LOL!!! I too wear the same sort of protective gear when I frag zoos....protective eye gear, mask, gloves etc... I always wear non-powdered gloves in our tanks when feeding and moving things around because I've noticed that my hands tingle and some of my fingers lose the feeling in them when I don't. I only have this happen when I'm in the tank that contains our zoos. Since wearing gloves, I don't have any problems with what I have described above.

With regards to the non-powdered gloves, I have good success finding them through medical supply stores that sell to the public. We have a number of them here in Abbotsford, hopefully you have some of the same stores where you're located. If by chance you don't, another way you can have access to them is if you go to your local pharmacy and ask them to specially order the non-powdered gloves in for you.

Hope this helps,
Sarina

You can also get non-powdered nitril gloves at most autoparts stores. Mechanics use them a lot, we sell them at my store, and I imagine home depot and such will have them as well...

I use the Kimberly Clark Nitril gloves and they work great, tough too...

This is kind of funny.How on earth did someone dig up this thread from 4 years ago.:lol: