Our Zoo's and Paly's contain a lethal toxin!

[mikerobart]

I'm sure many/ most of you have read this stuff already... I think I first read this information months ago but just stumbled upon some new threads... some scary stuff. Does it warrant gloves when working in the tank ? Don't know but definitely food for thought.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158730
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158663

This guy ( http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=79056&st=0 ) ended up in ER after crushing a zoa eating nudi with his finger... symptoms started within seconds! I think I will have a little more respect for these things.... I'm not exactly careful when working in the tank...

If nothing else, I will tell my guests I have one of the most potent naturally occurring toxins in the world in my tank 

Guess we should all be pretty careful fragging zoo's and definitely don't put your hands in your mouth/on food after fragging without washing first and gloves might be a good idea if you have cuts!

[FocusFin]

I was stung on my forearm by my frogspawn the other day. Nothing happened at first but the next day I ended up with a bump half the size of a golfball. It went away within another day.

[mikerobart]

I think I have been lucky so far.. I have pretty roughly touched many of my corals... I try to not touch the polyps of the frogspawn / torch / hammer too much but more for them and for me. Come to think of it I had a pretty nice small colony of zoo's (bright orange centers with green surrounds .. don't know the name) get stuck deep in a piece of LR and I wanted to dig them out.. I dug at them with my hands and mashed them pretty good before finally getting them out! .. no ill effects.

When I first got a nice frogspawn my girlfriend wanted to touch it to see how "gooey" it felt and I thought nothing of it  ... she was only dissapointed it did not feel as cool as it looks but no problems.

The danger sounds more in the paly's other corals that control the palytoxin, and specifically anything that could result in concentration of palytoxin... like those nudi's that eat it.

[Sharbuckle]

i was ripping some palys/zoos off some live rock a few months back, cut my finger at work earlier that week so the wound wasnt all that healed yet and a few of the zoos got a little torn, it felt like i was drugged for a bit, i just lied down and it went away after an hour or two, but boy did i feel messed up

[Canoe]

...
The danger sounds more in the paly's other corals that control the palytoxin, and specifically anything that could result in concentration of palytoxin... like those nudi's that eat it.

It appears you may have hit the "nail on the button" (man, that must be an old saying).

http://www.cbwinfo.com/Biological/Toxins/Palytoxin.html

[mikerobart]

First time I read about this stuff it terrified me but I guess if you consider we don't hear a lot about death by zoa's the danger can't be too bad as long as we treat them properly.

If I started feeling messed up after working in the tank though I must say I would probably lose it and panic just thinking I am poisoned with palytoxin 

[mikerobart]

The most recent incident on RC... scary stuff. Maybe I should get those gloves already... It seems like this involved a bacterial infection as well.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1821465&page=3

Used my old university account to access a bunch of journal articles from emergency medicine, toxicology etc. and found lots of documented cases aside from the anecdotal stuff on the web. There have been many cases mostly through direct contact with skin or open wounds... ingestion less common. Amazing some cases of inhalation causing problems ! With my biochem background this stuff is fascinating to me.

The toxin (like other nerve toxins) affects the Na-K ATPase pump... basically the system by which the resting electrical potential is maintained in order for nerve signals to be transmitted.

[groan]

i recently sold a zoa rock specifically because I was afraid to frag it after reading thsi stuff.

[mikerobart]

i recently sold a zoa rock specifically because I was afraid to frag it after reading thsi stuff.

Yeah I am sure if the danger was as bad as my paranoia has made it seem there would be a lot more reefers experiencing this but definitely don't want to be fragging zoos especially with cuts gloves at the very least.

[omarshabaz]

Thats Crazy, makes me want to not frag zoos anymore..

[Severum]

I was fragging some palys last night. My fingers did get tingly for a little while... Wouldn't mind getting some morphine though.

[JetJumper]

Wouldn't mind getting some morphine though.

Here you go!

[mikerobart]

Ever read "Confessions of an ebay opium addict ?" ... quite an experience. JetJumper... 600W HPS lights and now you post pictures of a poppy plant ? Hmm this picture is starting to come together. Ok jk jk 

[JetJumper]

No I have not read that.  I will look it up later.

As for the picture, I guess you will never know  

[Hookup]

I get a buzz from time to time from fragg'n zoa's... i like it...  frag till you flop is what I say.