working with zoanthids for more than 4 hours makes me sick

[Purplelobst92]

Everytime i work with zoas by just handling them for long periods of time, I get dizzy coupled with a headache, the next day my hands usually feel all sore and my fingertips are red and swollen and it honestly makes me highly dislike zoanthids, anybody else have this happen? im tired of feeling like i have the flu after i work with them lol I know about palytoxin but im lazy and usually dont wear ppe when handling them and it always comes back to bite me, anybody else have this experience ?

 

[wish]

What are you doing with zoas?

 

[Chewbacca]

He or She is probably a back room fragger

 

[Purplelobst92]

What are you doing with zoas?

I had to clean a bunch of frags off due to a cyano bloom and it took me hours to do so.

 

[Saltyreef]

Box of nitrile gloves would fix that real quick. Ventilation too.

 

[Chewbacca]

Health safety in any thing we do is priority ONE

 

[Chewbacca]

I just bit my toung

 

[Purplelobst92]

Box of nitrile gloves would fix that real quick. Ventilation too.

yeah thing is a friend of mine uses gloves and all that and he has the same stuff happen without the hand swelling but he comes down with flu like symptoms everytime he frags his colonies of designer zoos, makes me think just the contact with ambient water is enough to do it, i dont know id rather not have to put a tyvek suit on coupled with gloves and a particulate mask just to work with zoanthids lol they arent that cool, i mainly keep lps and sps so zoanthids are a side project to me i might just phase them out alltogether because they are no joke like if you get some goo on a shirt and wash that shirt in the laundry it can contaminate the other articles of clothing that is unless you use bleach which neutralizes the toxin its just a can of worms.

 

[Cory]

You sure your not getting poisoned by palytoxin?

 

[Saltyreef]

I dont have that issue and i frag a lot of zoas barehanded. Everyones different and theres a lot of variables. Its essentially up to your genetic makeup to what degree it affects you.
I recommended gloves because you said you dont use PPE. Who knows, maybe your friend is fragging them doesnt know proper PPE removal, cross contamination...
Palytoxin will cause flu like symptoms if inhaled or penetrates mucus membranes by rinsing fragging bucket in steaming water or getting drops into your mouth or eyes.

 

[Saltyreef]

You sure your not getting poisoned by palytoxin?

Im pretty sure thats whats irritating them from fragging the zoas. Not all zoas are known to have it though. And common misclassification of palys that are called zoas.
The ones you wanna stay away from are the wild nuclear green palys.

 

[Purplelobst92]

I dont have that issue and i frag a lot of zoas barehanded. Everyones different and theres a lot of variables. Its essentially up to your genetic makeup to what degree it affects you.
I recommended gloves because you said you dont use PPE. Who knows, maybe your friend is fragging them doesnt know proper PPE removal, cross contamination...
Palytoxin will cause flu like symptoms if inhaled or penetrates mucus membranes by rinsing fragging bucket in steaming water or getting drops into your mouth or eyes.

yeah i def need to be better about it, this is kind of the last straw though im probably going to get rid of my collection, not worth it in my opinion i never had problems for years until like 9 months ago im good with my lps and sps no need for extremely toxic animals my gf is super ticked off i still keep them lol its almost like keeping a rattlesnake in a terrarium just not worth it.

 

[Saltyreef]

Very unlikely to die from skin contact or inhilation. Unlike a likely always fatal rattlesnake bite. (Sometimes they dont inject venom)
Its not like you have a blue ring octo in your reef lol.

Some people died after eating infected seafood in other countries and hawaii i think. Never has a hobbiest died from fragging....now if youre over there eating one zoa for every 10 you frag....you might have an issue!

 

[Purplelobst92]

Very unlikely to die from skin contact or inhilation. Unlike a likely always fatal rattlesnake bite. (Sometimes they dont inject venom)
Its not like you have a blue ring octo in your reef lol.

Some people died after eating infected seafood in other countries and hawaii i think. Never has a hobbiest died from fragging....now if youre over there eating one zoa for every 10 you frag....you might have an issue!

well i know im not going to die but i work alot and i cant afford to feel awful from working with corals.

 

[Saltyreef]

PPE brother!
Its what kept me from getting HIV, HBV and HCV daily at work!

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening

Intended in a constructive tone. If it keeps happening why do you keep doing it? Paly toxin or not something isn’t right. Why chance it. Want you to be safe and enjoy reefing, not continue to gamble that it would just be a flu like symptom.

Reef safe, wear a glove

 

[Chewbacca]

Entire family hospitalized due to palytoxin
Search this on R2R you may think Twice

 

[wish]

You should blow off the cyno with turkey baser and use a suction tube to suck out the cyno. You are definitely irritating the zoas and over handling them. You should spend an hour at a time. Over handling any coral will kill it or will release toxins slime in the tank. Wear gloves like everyone else said.
Good luck and daily maintenance is the way to go.

 

[joshporksandwich]

Everytime i work with zoas by just handling them for long periods of time, I get dizzy coupled with a headache, the next day my hands usually feel all sore and my fingertips are red and swollen and it honestly makes me highly dislike zoanthids, anybody else have this happen? im tired of feeling like i have the flu after i work with them lol I know about palytoxin but im lazy and usually dont wear ppe when handling them and it always comes back to bite me, anybody else have this experience ?

I get cold symptoms after i frag. I've been using a respirator like the one painters use and the problem stopped.

 

[Opus]

I used to have that issue. Now I take a couple of benadryl before I start and don't have any issues.