That bubbling death machine in my bedroom.

[Taxus812]

Sorry if this seems like a rant. I am still new to reefing and wanted to share what I am feeling while researching and learning about this hobby. This just really shook me up.

I was reading a post on Facebook with a new reefer trying to figure out what a hitchhiker coral they had on their rocks. They were a zoa or a paly of some sort and were hit numerous posts about how poisonous they are and that they can kill you and your family. Wait what !?

I'm a new reefer too and this stuff is seriously scaring the poop out of me. The tank can burn down my house, electrocute me, flood my house, cause molds, cause bacterial infections, contagious tuberculosis and now poison in the air I breath. I might be safer fishing in my septic tank. I really didn't have any concept of the danger in this hobby. The real fear fore me is that it could kill or injure my family.

Fueling the fire, I have been inodiated lately with article after article of how much this hobby is going to cost and how much time it is going to take away from my life with maintenance. All this only to have an inevitable crash in ten years as the rocks fill up with gunk and kill the bacteria or the fish die from disease. In the interest of informing new reefers this hobby has a way of scaring the hell out of us. If I was told all this before I started I honestly would have run away (like you would have felt a suction as I left the LFS). Being totally serious, I thought long and hard this weekend about taking down the tank and just walking away.

Once I was breathing normally and the panic subsided, I decide to do what I always do look up more information on the subject that set me off. I found an article on "The Dangers (and Myths) of Zoa Toxicity". Ok its a real risk and it is a poison called Palytoxin secreted by the coral BUT it is incorrectly attached to all Zoa's and paly's as posters seem to indicate. Per the article "The truly potent species appear to be limited entirely to the genus Palythoa, which is currently placed in a separate family, Sphenopidae." Now I thought about the poor poster, a new reefer like me, they are likely burning their tank as we speak. The zoa they pictured was probably harmless and lacking in palytoxin at any detectable level.

Why is this hitting me so hard. I take risks all the time. I was in the military for 20 years. I drive around in a jeep with no doors or top. I also fly model aircraft (large spinning propellers and rotors). I also put my kids on the school bus (perhaps the biggest risk). These are active risks that I choose to take at that time. The potential for injury goes away when you are not actively doing the activity. This is more of a passive risk. The potential for injury is always there quietly lurking. That is the bad kind.
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I am old enough to know with panic and fear you stop thinking clearly. Fight or flight takes hold and you use the primitive portion of you brain. (I often tell my kids if you panic you loose). I had to ask how more likely is it to get struck by lighting. I think if this truly was a HUGE death machine (outside of electrical) it would be talked about in many circles. The risks would be exaduarated and the lore would flow to every nook and cranny of our society. I don't see any of that so it must be extremely rare.

I wanted to be an informed reefer, I am now kinda wishing I was still ignorant so I could just enjoy the tank. Who would have thought that a fish tank was more dangerous an extreme sport. To the Zoa and a Paly sitting quietly at the bottom of my tank waiting to kill me. I can see you an now know your game you little turds.

Anyway feel free to start flaming me now.

 

[JoshH]

First of all, props to you. You did the one thing that the people featured in virtually every story I have read on poisonings fail to do. RESEARCH!!!! If you have no idea what is in your tank and you start messing around with it, bad things are bound to happen. Do you have a toxic time bomb in your house, I think not. Grab Some gloves, respirator and goggles and you will be fully equipped to wage war on them if you so choose to. Are Palys something to be concerned about, absolutely, they certainly do pose a health concern to you and your family if you start messing with them Ill prepared to do so. I believe one member even lost his beloved dog in a poisoning incident. So the danger is very real. BUT if one has properly educated themselves as to what's in there tank you would know that they are virtually harmless if left untouched and some simple safety procedures can prevent any issues if you do need to touch or move them.

Don't let these generally poorly written articles which contain little to no factual information scare you away from owning a reef in your home. I'd be more concerned about those beautiful clowns you just got that will take chunks out of your hand if you get even remotely close to there home.

 

[BestMomEver]

Everything in life carries some risk. It seams like the more enjoyable the thing is, the more dangerous it is. A few things to take comfort in...

1) Stray voltage is uncommon. I have only heard of two or three people having this problem in the years I’ve been keeping tanks.

2) Tank failures are uncommon albeit more common than stray voltage. It happens and when it does, it sucks. It’s a risk we take. But still, statistically, uncommon.

3) I have palys in my tank. I don’t mess with them much. If I have to take them out of the water, I wear gloves and safety glasses.

4) I don’t worry about detritus in rocks. Bacteria and clean up crew take care of that. I’ve never seen a pristine coral reef in the ocean. Doesn’t happen.

5) You can do this hobby as expensively or cheaply as you desire. You want to save money, look for well cared for used equipment and sales.

6) I’ve never heard of a tank burning a house down. That’s beyond rare.

7) You can get bacterial infections from gardening or petting your cat.

8) Don’t fish in your septic tank. That’s way more risky than any thing you mentioned.

You’ll be fine. Be diligent and don’t go to fast. Every hobby has risks as you know. Passion will protect you. It’s widely known, that the less you put your hands in the tank, the better your tank will be. It will also take care of stray voltage, palytoxin, bacteria, etc.

 

[Pellikan]

Everything in life has some level of risk. Be informed, look and learn before you leap into an activity. That way you significantly reduce the risk. I can tell by what you wrote that you do research so I know that, to some extent, I'm preaching to the choir. I'm trying to say that you have already reduced your risk with this activity. You won't mess with those corals unless you are properly gloved and etc. If you're really worried about it then remove those types of corals from your tank. You don't need them to have a beautiful display. I did.

Take a deep, calming breath and enjoy the beauty of the world and your tank.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

No risk, no reward. But as everyone said risks are really low. The payoff of seeing and caring for a living aquarium way outweighs any risk.

Besides, you left out rabbit fish, lion fish, puffers, sea apples, jelly fish, sharp coral and rocks. Just kidding. Almost any hobby researched enough has those stories. If it was really dangerous there would not be as many of us long time reefers around.