Finger cuts and Zoa Juice do not mix.

[oceaninabox]

So Im doing some tank maintanance the other day and sliced my finger tip a little. Didnt think to much about it until the next day when I was doing more cleaning in the tanks and grabbed a rock full of DeepWater Zoas. Stuck my finger right in the middle of the cluster and almost instantly it began to sting. I was worried about it because I had heard and read a lot about the toxins in zoas. Both yesterday and today I woke up with the tip of my finger throbbing like crazy. Today, I noticed that it was swollen a bit and red and full of nasty puss stuff(sorry for the visual). I cleaned out the cut this morning with alcohol and treating it with antibiotics and Im sure it will be just fine. If it gets any worse I'll seek medical treatment, but point of this thread is..........Never handle zoas with open cuts or sores on your hands. There nasty little boogers full of all kinds of toxic goop. Use gloves whenever possible. I would have used golves if I would have had some to put on but didnt. I do now though....

 

[mfinn]

I did that last year myself. Really painful and it did get infected really fast.
Sometimes it's tough to wear the rubber gloves when your handling a small frag.

 

[ReefRunner]

Perry,

It's not just the zoas to watch out for but you are right to be concerned, particularly due to their toxicity. I cut my thumb scrubbing some live rock earlier this year. Within 48 hours I had an infection that ultimately required four different antibiotics, two sets of x-rays and an ultrasound to treat.

There are some nasty little organisms swimming around in our tanks. In theory we should always have gloves on when we put our hands in the tank but the reality is very different. I know of very few reefers who use gloves when they are doing anything in their tank.

Keep an eye on your cut. Hopefully you'll be able to treat it yourself.

Robin

 

[chk4tix]

Im glad I haven't had that kind of infection, but I do have a tendency when I move my rocks around to get those little barnacle things stuck in my fingers. they get a little infected but are sore for a few days.

 

[Reef Goddess]

Luckily for me zoo juice doesn't bother me too much, I think I'm resistant. But getting it in the eye isn't fun. What really stings for me is touching ricordia or frogspawn when I have a cut. Really lets you know you're alive. ;p I don't use gloves, I just apply super glue to my cuts. If it's good enough for my frags it's good enough for me. hehe

 

[Aloha Corals]

I will never frag any Zoas with a cut on my hand... I sliced my hand good once and did not frag for a week and a half. I had a few customers not happy with waiting, but selling a zoa frag very low on my priority list when comparing it to staying alive.

gloves or no gloves, cut = no frag for me.

 

[oceaninabox]

Luckily for me zoo juice doesn't bother me too much, I think I'm resistant. But getting it in the eye isn't fun. What really stings for me is touching ricordia or frogspawn when I have a cut. Really lets you know you're alive. ;p I don't use gloves, I just apply super glue to my cuts. If it's good enough for my frags it's good enough for me. hehe

Trust me, dont take this lightly. I thought the same thing. Many times over the years I have had similar instances happen without consequence. But this time was a real humdinger. I now know with certainty that I am not immune to the toxins. I have just never been bitten by a zoa like this before. OUCH!!!!!!

 

[Yellowtang]

You can slowly build up hypersensitivities to many things in our tanks so don't assume that because you aren't allergic to something today, you won't be allergic to it tommorrow. A nurse explained it in this way......."it takes a while for our bodies to build up histamines to the allergen (histamines cause allergic symptoms)".
And in a lot of cases when you do have a reaction its more traumatic, like releasing
a flood gate. Palytoxins found in Zoo's are extreemly deadly if gotten into the blood
stream. Although we usely don't get any in the blood stream from getting it on our
skin or scrapes. The potential is there and should be paid attention to ie gloves and
protective eye wear.

JR

 

[DaveA]

So Im doing some tank maintanance the other day and sliced my finger tip a little. Didnt think to much about it until the next day when I was doing more cleaning in the tanks and grabbed a rock full of DeepWater Zoas. Stuck my finger right in the middle of the cluster and almost instantly it began to sting. I was worried about it because I had heard and read a lot about the toxins in zoas. Both yesterday and today I woke up with the tip of my finger throbbing like crazy. Today, I noticed that it was swollen a bit and red and full of nasty puss stuff(sorry for the visual). I cleaned out the cut this morning with alcohol and treating it with antibiotics and Im sure it will be just fine. If it gets any worse I'll seek medical treatment, but point of this thread is..........Never handle zoas with open cuts or sores on your hands. There nasty little boogers full of all kinds of toxic goop. Use gloves whenever possible. I would have used golves if I would have had some to put on but didnt. I do now though....

Luckily this was not the Zoa toxin. From what I've read, zoa toxins work much quicker (hour timeframes) and is much more toxic. Also, toxins do not cause puss. This is a bacterial infection. Probably it was not the zoas at all, but the bacteria in the water.

What you need to watch for is a black or read line moveing up your finger/arm away from the site. That is a sign of blood poisoning and needs to be treated at a hospital ASAP without delay. Not even a minute delay.

 

[bushh23]

What kind of gloves do you guys use? Is there any problem with the white powder on the inside of regular medical gloves? I never wear gloves and haven't had any problems so far. But after hearing all of this i think i really need to now!

 

[flricordia]

protopaly slime is the worst of them all. Swelled my finger for almost a week and it throbbed the whole time.

 

[Yellowtang]

Don't qoute me on this but I think the powder inside of medical glove would be some type of sterilizing agent that would not be safe in your fish tank. What I have heard say from some people that they use the generic gloves from like the paint sections in hardware stores.

JR,

 

[mfinn]

Most rubber gloves have a talc powder on the inside.

also modified starch powder

 

[joemarchetti]

A couple months ago I was cutting some rock from my tank with a dremmel tool. There were a few zoas on it but I didn't really pay attention until some juice sprayed into my eye. I looked like I had pink eye for a couple weeks. I didn't have any vision loss or I would have gone to the hospital pronto. You can never be to careful with neurotoxins if you ask me. Gloves and eye protection all the time for me now.

 

[ahayes13]

i use powder free gloves and use them anytime i handle anything in my tank.

 

[oceaninabox]

Yes, I too get zoa squirters all the time. And I do use my safety glasses most of the time.

A couple months ago I was cutting some rock from my tank with a dremmel tool. There were a few zoas on it but I didn't really pay attention until some juice sprayed into my eye. I looked like I had pink eye for a couple weeks. I didn't have any vision loss or I would have gone to the hospital pronto. You can never be to careful with neurotoxins if you ask me. Gloves and eye protection all the time for me now.

 

[Unique]

Ouch, working with open wounds in your tank alone is painful enough but getting zoa slime in it? Double ouch! Watch out for protopaly excretions such as from PDs and NGs, they are extra painful.

 

[Railrider1920]

Don't know what happened. Cat jumped up and hit soemthing and brought me back. I thought I lost the other post. sorry, please ignore this or delete it.

 

[Railrider1920]

You can get powder free latex or vinyl gloves at most home improvement type places or paint shops.

I had some diluted zoa juice (?) on my hand then I wiped my mouth and got it on my lip. tingled a little for a couple of hours. It can be some nasty stuff.

 

[Sikryd]

I use the BIG coralife gloves when messing with bigger stuff and maintanance. And regular vinyl gloves from walmart when doing anything else.
I'm allergic to bees and almost died on the way back from Sturgis, so I figure I will probably be allergic to anything else that stings in the tank.......

Glad it didn't turn out worse......