I have a boo-boo

[Amy]

So 2 days ago, I was trying to catch my goby and I got stung by something. I was so focused on getting the fish that I didn't really bother taking my arm out and look at it even though it hurt like a sonuva*&^%@!, so I just continued the hunt. When I went to bed, I looked at my arm and it was really red and swollen. It didn't hurt at that point, but I still decided to wash the area with cold water and soap.
The next morning, I woke up with a rash. Tiny itchy red dots all in one spot!
I remember seeing my urchin in the tank, and it wasn't near my arm at all when I was trying to catch my fish, it was grazing on algae really far away so it's no urchin sting for sure. The only thing that reached the spot where I have my rash was a frogspawn and an octospawn, that's it. Can corals sting you this bad?

My rash has gotten worse then yesterday. I saw a post on the forum on how to treat urchin stings, but unfortunately, I'm allergic to vinegar (it gives me rashes, so I don't need a bigger one). I've tried rubbing alchohol (dont have any peroxyde at home) I tried hot water, cold water to soothe the itching but now the rash is spreading to my wrist and shoulder.
The tiny dots are turning into big bumps(the size of a mosquito bite) and it's itching so bad I can't even sleep.
I can't scratch them cause it literally feels like I'm rubbing an open wound with lemon juice soaked sandpaper!


Is there a cream I can buy at the pharmacy that could help? Like aloe vera or something? Did this ever happened to you with corals? If I eat my octospawn, will I gain its strength, grow 6 more limbs and be immune to everything?

Thanks for the help! 

[Greatwhite]

YIKES!!!  I can imagine how bad that feels.  I had my legs swarmed by what I can only assume was sand fleas on a flight back from Dominican last winter (ya, shorts & sandals were a bad choice).  My legs from my knees down were chewed UP and that was the itchiest I had felt in my life.

My only relief was calamine lotion, and lots of it.  Every itchy dot had a 2" circle of pink calamine lotion.  It was amazing how much it helped.

You can also try a Claritin allergy cream with some kind of cortisone in it...  That's usually good for itches.

Failing that, if it is still bad tomorrow, you might want to see a Dr and get a prescription for something good.  He might even be able to give you a shot for nearly immediate relief.

[veron]

as mentioned, cortisone. You could be reacting to frogspawn stings. some people react more than others. but, you could have come in contact with a fire worm/brisstle worm. Did you overturn any rocks or coral?

[brotherluv]

I've heard.of this happening with no corals in the tank.  Could be a very small organism not visible to your eye...I wouldn't use cortizone cream as right now your body is trying.to get rid of something hence the rash, cortizone  will only drive it back into your body...

[Hookup]

If I eat my octospawn, will I gain its strength, grow 6 more limbs and be immune to everything?

ROTFLMAO...

[Amy]

Thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it!  
It's not bristleworms, I remember what those guys did to my hand 3 yrs ago and it's not that, I didn't even touch the live rock at all. I definitely had my arm in the octospawn's face though, I probably angered him  by doing that. It's weird cause I'm always touching my corals, moving them around, and nothing ever happens. Even the anemones, I always have my fingers inside them when I feed krills and stuff so I didn't know it was possible to react like that to a coral sting. The octospawn was probably mad at me cause I didn't give him any food. I'll make sure to grab taco bell next time. Maybe some beer too. Or maybe I was blocking all the light and he was like: " Hey yo, you ruining my tan ova here!"... but anyway..
Thanks for the help!


I'll wait another day to see how it goes. I don't know why but it only itches at night, during the day I'm totally fine.  
I just hope it stops spreading soon or I'll have to change my Ovas name for Toad_girl23!

[Greatwhite]

Might want to invest in some full-arm gloves..   I got mine from Big Al, many moons ago pretty cheap.  I got them because I was constantly moving rocks around and I had a bunch of bristle worms at the time.

[Nerine]

GO TO THE DOCTOR!! Even if it seems silly....there was an article in a fish magazine about someone who was taking care of a SW tank and got stung by something...and the bacteria in the water ended up causing a horrible infection and the guy ended up on all sorts of meds and eventually surgery...I know it is a slim chance of things like that happening, but you should get it checked out...

[Amy]

Yeah I have to go to the clinic for sure... Just started a second rash a couple of days ago on the same arm. I'm really gonna buy some gloves.

I never thought anything like this could happen. The rash hurts just as bad as poison ivy!

Thanks for the advice

[Nerine]

Make sure you tell the Dr it was in a fish tank...the person in the article DIDNT because the rash didn't show up right away...and they didn't think that a fish tank would do something like that! but there is all sorts of bacteria in there!!

Good luck and let us know what happens!!

[Lurch1]

Yeah clinic is the way to go.