palytoxin Info

[Hannahmunt]

So, I’ve got a few Zoas in my tank and I wasn’t aware of the deadly toxin they can release… I’ve been using tongs to move and position the rock of zoas. Last night I had a panic attack thinking I may have given myself poisoning as I’ve been messing about with them.

when do the zoas release the toxin? I put my bare hands in the tank to clean the glass or adjust the power head.

am I highly likely to contract the toxin?

 

[Rmckoy]

So, I’ve got a few Zoas in my tank and I wasn’t aware of the deadly toxin they can release… I’ve been using tongs to move and position the rock of zoas. Last night I had a panic attack thinking I may have given myself poisoning as I’ve been messing about with them.

when do the zoas release the toxin? I put my bare hands in the tank to clean the glass or adjust the power head.

am I highly likely to contract the toxin?

I think for the most part it’s rare .
but there are many posts on here showing which palys are most likely to contain toxin .
The best practice is to assume they all have the potential to produce palitoxin always wear gloves when directly touching them and wear glasses to protect your eyes.

there is a current post I’ll try to find and tag you to regarding a man’s eye .

 

[Rmckoy]

So, I’ve got a few Zoas in my tank and I wasn’t aware of the deadly toxin they can release… I’ve been using tongs to move and position the rock of zoas. Last night I had a panic attack thinking I may have given myself poisoning as I’ve been messing about with them.

when do the zoas release the toxin? I put my bare hands in the tank to clean the glass or adjust the power head.

am I highly likely to contract the toxin?

Found it and tagged you

 

[JumboShrimp]

Stay calm, and enjoy. I have these Paly Grandis— I leave them alone and they leave me alone.

Unless you are are highly allergic (rare case?), most of the problems you will read about are people who boiled rocks with palys on them, chopped them to bits while trying to frag them and squirted them into their eye, all sorts of crazy stuff no one should be doing anyway.

 

[Joe462]

So, I’ve got a few Zoas in my tank and I wasn’t aware of the deadly toxin they can release… I’ve been using tongs to move and position the rock of zoas. Last night I had a panic attack thinking I may have given myself poisoning as I’ve been messing about with them.

when do the zoas release the toxin? I put my bare hands in the tank to clean the glass or adjust the power head.

am I highly likely to contract the toxin?

No, i don't think just putting your hands in the water is an issue. I have only had issues when i actually handle them and get the slime on my hands. Always be careful though because like any toxin some people are more reactive than others. Always wash your hands after working in the aquarium. I don't wear gloves unless im planning specifically to work with the palys i know are toxic. Most zoas i have been in contact with i have had no reaction at all, but i know i have a couple that i do. Got it in my eye once because i forgot to wash my hands and it was no joke, eye was swollen shut the next morning even though i flushed it with water immediately after i realized what had happened

 

[WVNed]

If you ate them. Boiled a rock with them on it. Put them in a blender and drank the juice. Smashed a large group of them with your hand for a while.
maybe
A simple question
Do you think they would be so popular if they could easily kill people? Or even even if they only made people very sick somewhat infrequently.
No one would sell them because of the liability.
Reported cases are very rare, half or more of those are unverified and in the serious ones something extremely unusual happened. In every case I have seen people claiming to be made sick by them on a forum don't have the symptoms it causes. They would not be okay a few days later either because there is no treatment for it.

 

[Dburr1014]

Don't ever boil rocks in water. Ever!
If cutting to make frags, use PPE (personal protective equipment)
If you need to mess with them in tank and have a cut on your arms/hands, use gloves.

 

[Joe462]

No, i don't think just putting your hands in the water is an issue. I have only had issues when i actually handle them and get the slime on my hands. Always be careful though because like any toxin some people are more reactive than others. Always wash your hands after working in the aquarium. I don't wear gloves unless im planning specifically to work with the palys i know are toxic. Most zoas i have been in contact with i have had no reaction at all, but i know i have a couple that i do. Got it in my eye once because i forgot to wash my hands and it was no joke, eye was swollen shut the next morning even though i flushed it with water immediately after i realized what had happened

and as a follow up. i will know personally that i touched them or rubbed up against them because my sense of taste will be weird, everything tastes salty and can't taste very well. This is only the case with a a couple palys i have, most palys and zoas i have, have never bothered me at all. and the only extream reaction i have had was when i got it in my eye. I had a aquaculture guy tell me he gets cold like symptoms, runy nose, feels ill when he gets into them.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I agree with @WVNed that lawyers would have Paly-sellers sued out of existence if the dangers were widespread. For the record, however, I don’t doubt some of the more credible reports of, ‘Payltoxins sent me to the E.R.,’ so I personally handle mine with sensibleness and some degree of caution. Best wishes to all!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, treat all palys/zoas as though they have larges amounts of palytoxin, but as long as you don’t have a sensitivity to it or open wounds on your hands, you should be fine just reaching in and washing your hands after. (In case you do have a sensitivity to it or to something else in your tank, though, I recommend wearing personal protective equipment when dealing with the tank, and especially when dealing with things that may be highly toxic).

Generally you have to do something really unwise that aerosolizes the toxin for it be dangerous (like boiling the rock with the palys on it, or scrubbing the rock bare with a toothbrush in a small space with no to limited airflow).

The zoas and palys release the toxin as a defensive measure, so as long as they don’t feel threatened, they shouldn’t release enough toxin to cause any sort of issue.

Again, use PPE and don’t do anything unwise, and you should be fine.

 

[Ulee]

When moving around certain palythoas, u can stressed them out and will release palytoxin in water column from my experience. There is documented evidence that palytoxin is absorbed through skin, CORAL magazine had a special on palytoxin with several universities studies on the subject from US to Europe . Be very careful with rock as well , wear gloves to ur elbows , and if u don't like a zoa/paly rock in ur tanks easier to just donate it to ur nearest local fish store

 

[Snoopdog]

Well my entire family just got out of the hospital.

Another story of palytoxin poisoning, recent experience

I contemplated even posting this because hindsight it could had been avoided, be gentle because I am still very sick. Yesterday after mowing the lawn I was looking at my back porch thinking yeah those paly plugs have been out here a month now in the hot southern sun, they are done for and i need...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Ulee]

I hope you and your loved ones are recovering ok, I'm sorry to hear your incident of palytoxin poisoning..

 

[Elliott ll]

If you ate them. Boiled a rock with them on it. Put them in a blender and drank the juice. Smashed a large group of them with your hand for a while.
maybe
A simple question
Do you think they would be so popular if they could easily kill people? Or even even if they only made people very sick somewhat infrequently.
No one would sell them because of the liability.
Reported cases are very rare, half or more of those are unverified and in the serious ones something extremely unusual happened. In every case I have seen people claiming to be made sick by them on a forum don't have the symptoms it causes. They would not be okay a few days later either because there is no treatment for it.

Guy down the street from me died from it.

Heartland man tragically dies of apparent palytoxin poisoning hours after cleaning aquarium

HEARTLAND, Texas — A Heartland man tragically died of apparent palytoxin poisoning hours after cleaning his household saltwater aquatic tank.

www.inforney.com

 

[Snoopdog]

Guy down the street from me died from it.

Heartland man tragically dies of apparent palytoxin poisoning hours after cleaning aquarium

HEARTLAND, Texas — A Heartland man tragically died of apparent palytoxin poisoning hours after cleaning his household saltwater aquatic tank.

www.inforney.com

That is not an article that seemed to come up during my research, thanks!

 

[WVNed]

Guy down the street from me died from it.

Heartland man tragically dies of apparent palytoxin poisoning hours after cleaning aquarium

HEARTLAND, Texas — A Heartland man tragically died of apparent palytoxin poisoning hours after cleaning his household saltwater aquatic tank.

www.inforney.com

Yes
If you get it in you
you die.
It does happen

Do you have a bathtub?
Over 14000 people die in their bath tubs in Japan
these statistics estimates that around 19,000 people lose their lives every year in accidents while bathing

 

[Snoopdog]

T

Yes
If you get it in you
you die.
It does happen

Do you have a bathtub?
Over 14000 people die in their bath tubs in Japan
these statistics estimates that around 19,000 people lose their lives every year in accidents while bathing

This is why I am not overreacting which I am prone to do. I am going to learn from this and move on. Reefing is expensive and I have gotten out of the hobby for the wrong reasons before, many of us do. It takes time and money to restart from a hiatus. I have no plans to quit farming zoas either but I will not be keeping nuclear greens and not being of them being highly toxic, the dang things just grow faster than I want them too.

 

[Koh23]

Something, one day, will kill you, for sure. Resistance is futile...

Will it be zoas? Hardly but not impossible. Consider every attempt of putting hands in tank dangeours, act accordingly, gloves or common sense is good enough... Dont touch what u dont have to, if you have to, wear glowes or be sure that what u touching is harmless.... If doubt, wear protection

 

[Snoopdog]

Something, one day, will kill you, for sure. Resistance is futile...

Will it be zoas? Hardly but not impossible. Consider every attempt of putting hands in tank dangeours, act accordingly, gloves or common sense is good enough... Dont touch what u dont have to, if you have to, wear glowes or be sure that what u touching is harmless.... If doubt, wear protection

I think of it this way, from 18-25 I did some stupid butt ****. How I did not end up in jail or the latest greatest sexually transmitted disease is beyond me. I have survived a heck of a lot. Just learn from it and move it, go slow.

 

[jda]

It does not hurt to tell your health care person that you keep palythoa and that if you come in unresponsive to consider palytoxin. There is a note in my medical chart in the allergy section for quick viewing.