Finger cuts and Zoa Juice do not mix.

gflat65 · May 26, 2009

Mine wasn't zoa juice, but I had several tiny chunks of skin pulled out of various fingers (threaded fitting plumbing accident

) and moved some florida rics Saturday and they lit me up. It burned like a mother kittie for several hours. The few times I've been hit by various things (anemone, frogspawn, black sponge), it's been on scar tissue or 'raw' skin...

DaveA · Jun 7, 2009

OK, I'm not an expert on the palytoxin (the neurotoxin that zoanthids and palyzoas emit), but I do not think "tingling lip" is a symptom. Wikipedis says:

Typical symptoms of palytoxin poisoning are angina-like chest pains, asthma-like breathing difficulties, tachycardia, unstable blood pressure, hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), and an electrocardiogram showing an exaggerated T wave. The onset of symptoms is rapid, and death usually follows just minutes afte

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin

Palytoxin is one of the most toxic substances in nature. Do NOT take this lightly. Always protect yourself.

Oldsalt · Jun 4, 2019

My doctor always loves to see my marine tank progress pics and vids. He sits there in awe, but he always tells me to be extra careful with hands in the water - anywhere in the water including the sump. Always says to use gloves that go up to armpit if necessary. Anything can get in the pores, under the nails, in tiny cuts or just scrapes. He did some work off the great barrier reef and saw some nasty stuff that took months of treatment with antibacterials and antivirals - stuff that's not the norm to prescribe. I've been lucky so far and had only a few painful finger tips from seemingly nothing I touched, only to find out later that the side of a frag plug had some coral slime might have brushed my finger. Those were the incidents that gave me the mindset to always use protection for hands, arms, eyes, mouth and face. At my LFS I watch the guys pulling out purchased corals and nems with zero protection all the time. They tell me that they have built up a tolerance to it all. Allergies are different - the allergen builds up until there's a reaction down the track. It's akin to filling a glass with water until it overflows. That's when you have the allergic reaction. It could be weeks, months or years away. Protect yourselves folks.