Any reef related injuries out there?

[scchase]

My hands are in constant state of various minor cuts and scrapes every now and then get something major from frags.
I have been stung by lionfish and a foxface.
I have a longspine urchin that gets me about once a month just sitting someone innocuous waiting for my hand to find him and the searing pain to follow. I have a small snowflake moray that bites me about once a month, he is a sneaky little ******* and likes to get me when I am moving rocks around.
I had an 8 inch Niger Trigger bite my nipple while snorkeling to clean the glass.
Dont even want to count all the times I have been shocked due to a variety of reasons.
Bristleworm pokes make wherever they got me swell up and itch for days.
I have been slashed by a few tangs over the years. Sliced my hand open with bone cutters real bad last year that got infected for a few weeks.
Have had palytoxin get me in low does countless times over the years (first sign is always a metal taste in my mouth and just feel ill for a few days after).
Had a torch coral sting me bad enough to cause a nasty rash.
Got a sunburn from working under metal halides for too long multiple times over the years.
Burnt my hand/back/arm on MH lamps to many times to count while scraping algae
Think that covers the majority and nothing ever really serious but after 30 years these things happen..... stupid moray......

 

[MillennialReefer]

This happened about 12 years ago, I was rearranging the rock structure and a larger rock slipped off my hand and caused a splash around the tank, didn't think much of it. However, about 5-10 mins later I was greeted with a shock as I was putting my hands back in the tank. Turns out the water splashed onto the wall as the rock dropped and slowly made its way into the socket. I immediately turned off the power at my house. Cleaned up the mess. Since then, I've covered all the outlets the system uses in my house with an outdoor socket cover.

 

[Mellotang]

I find with the bristles from bristle worms when they get stuck, don’t touch them
Don’t rub them don’t do anything

go to sink, run cold water on them and pull them straight out. Gotta pull straight, do not rub, pull at an angle or anything

I’ve cold water n straight pull

it definitely helps

 

[GlassMunky]

That's an interesting point (about a document about hazards). It would probably be huge given the saltwater environment seems to have hazards at every turn. There's fish, inverts, corals, even the saltwater can make people break out in a rash. I'm one of those people, every now and then a rash rips up the arm that's always in the water. Even fresh saltwater sometimes does it. The freshwater side of this hobby pales in comparison to the number of hazards.

Do you get a rash when in the actual ocean? I’m curious why the synthetic saltwater would cause a rash if it’s supposed to be the same chemical makeup as the oceans.

 

[MONTANTK]

I almost cut off my fingertip on a razor blade. I was changing the blade of a mag float and I couldn’t get the blade in. I was frustrated and wasn’t thinking so I decided it would be a good idea to try and press in the razor blade….it wasn’t a good idea

 

[GlassMunky]

I find with the bristles from bristle worms when they get stuck, don’t touch them
Don’t rub them don’t do anything

go to sink, run cold water on them and pull them straight out. Gotta pull straight, do not rub, pull at an angle or anything

I’ve cold water n straight pull

it definitely helps

Vinegar dissolves them
But yea, bristle worm bristles suck.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Do you get a rash when in the actual ocean? I’m curious why the synthetic saltwater would cause a rash if it’s supposed to be the same chemical makeup as the oceans.

You have to remember that the level of potential contaminants/irritants in a reef tank will be in much higher concentration than natural sea water. Even with regular water changes, heavy we skimming, carbon etc it's in there. there. I can mix up fresh salt water (Red Sea Pro)dunk my arms in and let them air dry and not be phased but if I am working in the tank and after a little while my forearms will start to itch when they dry out if I don't rinse them off right away. I can go to the beach and spend all day in the water and not have an issue either.

 

[Mellotang]

Never knew about vinegar

 

[Sean Clark]

Does pride count? My pride has definitely suffered a few blows over the years.

 

[JCOLE]

Wow! There are a lot of clownfish injuries on here.

That's because they are vicious little serial killers if you get near their area.

 

[JCOLE]

when i started my tank, i tried collecting stuff from florida (legally) & a mantis shrimp stabbed me then while i was staggering to shore which was like a few hundred feet away, saltwater burning me, fish were nibbling at the skin & i cut myself many times on the reef i was walking back through. i was screaming in agony but the only people that could hear were some drunk partiers. left a massive blood trail and my mom had to clean it up she said dissapointedly, "man, I would not be good at crime scene clean up" as she is into true crime haha

I am sure at the time it was pretty traumatic but hearing it now its pretty funny dude! sorry don't mean to laugh

 

[WheatToast]

I find with the bristles from bristle worms when they get stuck, don’t touch them
Don’t rub them don’t do anything

go to sink, run cold water on them and pull them straight out. Gotta pull straight, do not rub, pull at an angle or anything

I’ve cold water n straight pull

it definitely helps

Agreed! Tape does wonders as well!

 

[JCOLE]

Anyone else here hurt their back during water changes? I've been doing water changes by the old fashioned way: old water removed by siphoning into 4x 5 gallon buckets; then, pouring salt into 5 gallon buckets, mixing by hand, then dumping back into sump. I've been doing it this way since 2005. I have 3 large tanks! Age finally caught up to me. Hurt my back during the holidays in December. I automate everything now. Should've done so awhile ago. Too late now. Sucks that it took an injury to make me change my ways

Yep! This is a reason why I automate everything myself as well. I have everything automated through my Apex where my fresh water reservoir fills up and goes into my saltwater Reservoir and makes salt water. I just turn a valve to pump out old tank water and another to fill up new saltwater. Works great!

However, it was a valve that tore my tendon so maybe I need to rethink this setup!

 

[JCOLE]

Hope you heal well and quickly

For me- about 5-6 years ago, I bought a 360g that was 35" deep. I went to place rock and coral in it and beny over the top trim, and heard what sounded like a person twisting bubble Wrap. My right side hurt bending over the trim to reach the bottom of tank. I switched to the left side and same thing happened. This time I realized, I cracked 5 ribs. Was a long 10 weeks to healing.

Thank you!!

Good Lord! That does not sound fun at all!! That's one to add to my list of why I wont go with a deep tank again. Beautiful when grown out and such a pain to work in.

 

[JCOLE]

Legally blind in left eye as a result of getting squirted with some mushroom juice and developing a nasty infection that ate 60% of cornea

was scraping a mushroom off rock with razor n a stream of juice shot right into My eye

Wow! Sorry to hear that. My vision is slowly going and I always wonder if it's something that got in my eye from the tank. Probably not though. Probably just another sign that I'm getting old.

 

[JCOLE]

Wow! I hope you heal quickly! Makes me realize this is a dangerous hobby inside and outside of the tank!

Too be fair, when I was cranking on the valve to try to get it to open I was telling myself at the moment that "this was really stupid of me." Then snap!

 

[JCOLE]

Oh man, did you ever heal 100%? and if so, how long did it take? We need to make a thread about how people do water changes around here haha

Well go ahead and put me on the injured list then! Will need to create a support group also.

 

[JCOLE]

My water changes are awful, I really need to add an ATO or a pump to siphon. I just grab the Jerry can, lift and pour. It’s a nightmare for my back and I’m only 26

That's no good! I would definitely look at creating something to make it easier on you. Back issues or nothing to play around with.

 

[JCOLE]

Dude I hope you get well soon.

Thank you! Appreciate it. I have been here before 3 years ago so I am better prepared now. Just going to be hard to do simple tasks for the next six to eight weeks.

 

[JCOLE]

Let's see in the tenure of my reef keeping hobby I have been..

Accidentally cut finger with razorblade scraper when replacing it, required 4 stiches.
Snipped that loose skin between my thumb and index finger with a bone cutter attempting to cut off dead polyp skeletons.
Tripped over the water drain hose and put a hole in the wall and fractured two fingers in the process.
Had my hand sliced open by a yellow tang tail spike.
Sliced the back of my hand open on a coral skeleton when I slipped on the step stool working in the tank.
Hurt my back lugging water change jugs onto the house, twice.
Electrocuted myself when plugging in the pump for my mix station.
Oh and got stung by a fuzzy dwarf lionfish when transferring it from one tank to an acclimation box.

OMG! Your love and dedication for this hobby is definitely a lot greater than mine! Glad you're still here with us after all of that!