Any reef related injuries out there?

[aquaman3680]

When I was younger, I was working at a fish store and was scraping the glass, there was a rock positioned closer to the glass and jammed my knuckle into it on accident. I didn't realize it had cut me and didn't think much about it at the time. I went home and my finger started to swell up like crazy. I thought it would go away over night, but the next morning a red line started going up my hand and my finger was the size of a large bratwurst.

Turns out the rock was covered in palythoas, so I scraped my knuckle on a rock and got paly toxin into the cut immediately without really realizing it. Had to go to the hospital and spent the night there to make sure everything was going to be okay. Pretty crazy experience!

 

[ZoWhat]

Any reef related injuries out there?​

...you talking mental or physical injuries?

Over 15 years, two times lost $1000 worth of fish due to a mental mistake. Mentally emotionally injured from both events for a few weeks afterwards

Physically?

* Had a mild form of palytoxin, twice.

* Sun burned my face from UVC exposure

* I constantly get swollen fingertips from accidentally touching one of my many long spine urchins

 

[workhz]

Keep in mind I work In tanks 24/7, have worked in public aquariums and run tanks for a living

chances are im Exposed more than most

still be smart

Curious if there was anything that could have been done? Did treatment not work. Did treatment begin too late? Was it misdiagnosed?

 

[JCOLE]

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......

I can't even say anything now! That is one heck of a history!!! Even got the nipple!

 

[MnFish1]

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.

Broken ribs - especially on both sides - is dangerous!! Glad you made it

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry about your arm. I have posted 2x - both with severe cellulitis - from very small cuts - I mean like a pinpoint. - after working on the tank.

1. a veramatid snail brushed against my upper hand - within 2-4 hours. red swollen entire arm - ER - Infectious disease specialist - IV antibiotics
2. Woke up the day after doing a water change - with an extremely painful forearm - which was red swollen. Had rubbed against my tank edge while I put my arm into the tank to clean the glass (so the irritated area was exposed to water) - ER. IV antibiotics then 3 antibiotics for 2 weeks.

Moral of the story - wear gloves

 

[Just John]

Nuf said

 

[Karen00]

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!

That's craziness! I swear we all have the 6th sense and have premonitions of stuff just like this.

 

[JCOLE]

Any reef related injuries out there?​

...you talking mental or physical injuries?

Over 15 years, two times lost $1000 worth of fish due to a mental mistake. Mentally emotionally injured from both events for a few weeks afterwards

Physically?

* Had a mild form of palytoxin, twice.

* Sun burned my face from UVC exposure

* I constantly get swollen fingertips from accidentally touching one of my many long spine urchins

I guess both would work. I guess I did both at the same time.

Sorry to hear that. It seems in this hobby that mental injuries happen much more often than physical injuries.

 

[JCOLE]

That's craziness! I swear we all have the 6th sense and have premonitions of stuff just like this.

With me its 5 1/2 senses though!

 

[Karen00]

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.

That is a really good question. I never used to get rashes. I used to go in the ocean all the time whether it was Florida, Mexico or when I lived in British Columbia but I haven't been in the ocean for probably 25 yrs so I wonder if I might have a reaction now. It doesn't happen all the time so I think in some part it could be when my skin is drier like in winter. It's possible I might have micro cracks that are getting irritated by the salt mix. It begs the question though would the same thing happen if I jumped in the ocean. I might come out with a full body rash. Yikes. The rash is very itchy and kind of burns. I just hope it's not turning into an allergy. That would be bad.

 

[Karen00]

Any reef related injuries out there?​

...you talking mental or physical injuries?

Over 15 years, two times lost $1000 worth of fish due to a mental mistake. Mentally emotionally injured from both events for a few weeks afterwards

Physically?

* Had a mild form of palytoxin, twice.

* Sun burned my face from UVC exposure

* I constantly get swollen fingertips from accidentally touching one of my many long spine urchins

I don't even want to get into the mental trauma. Every inhabitant I lose stays with me. I still have a hard time looking at my freshwater tank when I lost almost every fish due to me letting nitrates get too high (although there might have been an ammonia spike as well). That haunts me to this day. Even a single fish here and there still makes me sad. I'm sorry for your losses!

 

[Karen00]

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.

I think we need to start a reality show with most of these comments. Yours deserves an award.

 

[reefiniteasy]

DI resin beads in my right eye. Ended up with a nice scratch.

 

[Karen00]

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......

You also deserve an award! Reading this made my jaw drop. A few of the comments have been jaw dropping. We definitely need to get a reality show going.

 

[Karen00]

When I was younger, I was working at a fish store and was scraping the glass, there was a rock positioned closer to the glass and jammed my knuckle into it on accident. I didn't realize it had cut me and didn't think much about it at the time. I went home and my finger started to swell up like crazy. I thought it would go away over night, but the next morning a red line started going up my hand and my finger was the size of a large bratwurst.

Turns out the rock was covered in palythoas, so I scraped my knuckle on a rock and got paly toxin into the cut immediately without really realizing it. Had to go to the hospital and spent the night there to make sure everything was going to be okay. Pretty crazy experience!

Holy cow! I never thought of this hobby being life and death but apparently it is.

 

[Karen00]

DI resin beads in my right eye. Ended up with a nice scratch.

How is your eye doing?

 

[Mellotang]

Curious if there was anything that could have been done? Did treatment not work. Did treatment begin too late? Was it misdiagnosed?

There was treatment

I got hit it the eye
later that night I went to a movie
Halfway through the movie I couldn’t even sit in theater I was in so much pain, I left went to the emergency room. If i could Have pulled my eye ball out I might have, the discomfort was like nothing I’ve ever felt. Like millions of shards of glass in my eye.

emergency room gave me numbing drops and told me I have pink eye

Followed up with ophthalmologist the next day, he scraped my cornea and put me on steroid treatment right away. 2 different types of drops, every half hour for 24 hrs a day. It was rough but it stopped the infection

in 24 hrs Infection ate through 60% of my cornea. Thankfully for the steroids stopped infection. The eye tested positive for MRSA but I suspect it was vibrio

Now the vision is 20/250 in that eye because there is scarring in front of my pupil

they talked about cornea transplant and gave me a glass lens which does help it’s just too uncomfortable to wear

like I said now I don’t really notice it

when it first happened I was depressed and it’s all I saw

 

[Mellotang]

Funny thing is now everyone I know has got jokes about me being blind in 1 eye

I hear It all the time

even my 3 yr old daughter tells me To
Look with my good eye when I can’t find something

 

[Frogspon]

​

* Sun burned my face from UVC exposure

How did that happen champ? Trying to get your tan on under the LEDS?