Paly/zoa toxins? Wash those hands

[nuke 208]

I still don’t think you should be scared of zoas! They can be amazing colors!
That being said, I wear contact lenses soooo.....[emoji51]

Yea there's people that cut them up all the time and never have any problems. We are the one In a million. Nd from what I read most zoanthids dont carry it just mostly palythoa and usually the browns and greens

 

[Seadoc]

In 2011 researchers collected 15 Zoanthids from 3 aquarium stores in the Washington DC area, finding that 7 of them where either highly or weakly toxic. Highly toxic zoas where found in all three stores sampled ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070722/ ). Given the variability presented even in similar species, preventive measures should be followed at all times when handling these specimens.
@Mark_C , glad you are doing well. There are several reported cases of corneal damage produced by contact with palytoxin. Thank you for reminding us about the need for prevention.

 

[sleizure]

Reviving a semi stale thread here. I guess I'm next in line with my story. I have been aquascaping rocks after my tank has gone fallow and decided to clean things up a bit. After 2 hours of rearranging I managed to rub the bottom of my forearm on a bubble tip anemone. The feeling of 1000 hot needles instantly startled me, and i splashed water everywhere pulling my hand out of the tank. Some landed on my face. I've been down this path before so went and grabbed a towel, wiped off my face and decided that was enough aquascaping.

I washed my hands and arms thoroughly, looking at the ever growing welt on my arm, showed my wife who chuckled. While I was laying there just letting the pain subside I rubbed my eye (approx 30 minutes later). Hello! Within a second I realized my mistake and my eye started throbbing, burning, and felt like there was half a dozen slices in the bottom of it. We went upstairs and flushed my eye with water, which didn't help with the burning, then tried an eye wash (industrial style) - That didn't do anything but put me on the floor - oh boy did that ever sting. I then decided to stop being active, went on the couch to lie down.. fast forward 2 hours later, I must have dozed off, and my entire eye is swollen shut. I headed to bed - semi enjoying some very wild dreams with some crunchy nightmarish scenarios waking up and typing this now. My eye is like a golf ball, squishy and throbbing to my heartbeat. I believe I will have to get my face soaked to attempt to unseal the protection that my body has built overnight and see what happens next.. If things get any worse, off to the hospital but will wait a bit based on OP's story. Could have been zoas, palys, mushrooms, _who knows_.

I think I'm going to need better fitting gloves which is why I have avoided using them (no dexterity, inability to move my arms properly in the water. Happy Holidays!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

This is Intriguing. I doubt it was palytoxin though. They don’t release that into the water until they are disturbed (cut, smashed etc..) I am always bare hands in the tank with no issues. I do think it is the TYPE of palys though. I believe the Palythoa grandis and the palys similar to nuclear greens are the bad ones. I just have normal zoas and palys. Hawaiians used to dip their arrows in Palythoa grandis for poison. Any chance the op and the other people may have had grandis and nuclear greens in their tanks? Just curious because it seems like nobody has problems with the normal zoas. I’ve heard they still have it but it is MUCH less potent. I do frag with latex gloves and glasses just to be safe though.

 

[NanoDJS]

Im sorry you had to experience that. Reef tank water in general is not good for open cuts , or any mucus exchange points. Palythoa toxin poisoning on the other hand, has fatal and quick consequences. With that being said most people do not have the species that have very elevated levels in them let alone any at all. Also people confuse zoa for paly even the vendors , if you post pics of your zoas "pallys" then we can set your mind a bit more at ease im sure. Alot of old salts will tell you that infections and crazy ish can happen from our tanks if you get cut ect ... just like if you got cut on a reef or anything like fire coral , thats like death perpetual. you might loose limbs.