not paly but have been sick before after breaking down a tank and getting couple cuts on hands and coral slime got to it. I felt like i had a horrible case of flu for about a day and half!! it SUCKED!! so i try to be cautious when messing with corals...if i dont have gloves i just try to gently grab acros and such or if possible go for the plug.....ive almost been squirted in the eye by zoa before so if i mess with them i will put on safety glasses!
Well, just this a.m. I did the second stage of cleaning on my tank breakdown, still had water in it from Tues evening scraping that released amonia/toxin, got too much exporsure to it that evening, and like you say, like having the flu, took 2 days to get over it...I even missed work. THEN this A.M., commercial respirator fitted and on, windows open, fans on, sump pump to get water out fast, clean hose water available to flush...IT RELEASED THE SAME TOXIC AMONIA FUMES, had to evacuate the house (wife, kids, dog, bird, guinea...)...with mask on I went in and opened every window, turned on every fan, shut down AC...it took over an hour to dissipate...it was about 10 times worse than Tues ordeal. Luckily I took my mask off on the front porch, and I smelled it, otherwise I might not have known it was present, and everybody was still in the bedrooms...
I think it mainly came from something stewing in the overflow area, all I used on the tank was vinegar, about 2 gallons nearly 90 gallons of water...
Moral of the story, toxins not only related to corals directly... I've probably broke down 10-20 tanks in my time, and have NEVER experienced something like this.
