be very careful when handling coral!!

[litenyaup]

OK so as some of you might know i work at space coast corals, a wholesale company, and yesterday we were dipping all our zoas in coral Rx, and then fresh water. well it was like a big rotation...1 vat to the next. the last vat needed to be clean so that group of zoas was left out of the water for about 3 min. i had gloves and eye protection on, but no mask.

the zoas got really PO'ed and started sliming....not out of the ordinary, but they started giving off an oder. not really thinking about it i continued what i was doing with them and started putting them away. toward the end of putting them away my nose started to run....really bad! i was literally dripping snot! then about a half hour later i started to cough....violently

i gave it about an hour and said "no way...not feeling good....going home". this all took place at about 2:PM. i got home and started coughing up the nastiest goop ever! at about 5-PM i started getting the cold sweats......checked my temp and it was normal, heart rate was normal....just thought it would pass.

well......i was wrong, about a half hour later i started to really shake and could not get warm i took my temp and it was 101.6.......uh o!! took some Tylenol, and got a cold wet cloth. another hour later was feeling even worse now having a headache, and dizziness, and i stated to not be able to breath, took my temp again 102.8....ER time!

got to the hospital at about 10:PM and they loaded me up with ibuprofen for my temp, and gave me a breathing treatment....albuterol, and atrovent. i was given a anti nausea med...fenagrin. they also took x rays of my chest and they would not let me leave till the fever was down a bit.

so at about 2:AM i was released and came home to my bed....this morning i feel like a truck ran me over

i am posting this to just let everyone know that coral is a living thing and like anything they have defense mechanisms, when the get made or feel threatened they will do what have to to survive. be very careful and use all the proper ppe (personal protective equipment)

 

[condor]

thats crazy, hope you feel better. i had a hammer sting a fresh halide burn on my thumb and paralized it for 2 days

 

[chappy]

wow hope you feel better soon and have no long term problems to deal with

 

[Chong]

Feel better

 

[Gills&Roots]

Things are hard to comprehend untill it happens to yourself. I have been shot in the face by there goo, and it is not a pleasent experience.
Hope you get better.

 

[fab1971]

First of all, hope you feel better. I don't believe the zoos gave you this. It sounds like it might have been a coincidence that you were working there. You were probably already infected with a virus and came down with it during work. I don't think you could get fever from the odor in such short order. I can see someone having breathing difficulties but not a fever. Maybe some of the experts can chime in.

 

[Troylee]

Sounds pretty scary... I normally where gloves but gave it up when I went sps only... A good friend of mine got stung by a plate coral one time and his arm doubled in size overnight from the swelling... He has been handling corals for years and never had a problem untill that day...

 

[CoralBandit]

**** im sorry to hear, but glad to hear your ok, you should get your money back for the breathing treatments lol f'in hospitals give everyone who walks in a breathing treatment

 

[foxhuntr]

i have a simalur story like that but it involved my eyes.......I was fraging a mushroom rock that also had a few paly's on it with a dremel for a buddy.....well as i was cutting i hit one of the paly's with the diamond blade and the paly kinda exploded......did'nt really feel much hit my face but that afternoon i started to feel alittle light headed and noticed that my eyes started to water and burn.......well by evening my eyes were watering uncontrolablly and i coukd not keep them open....it felt like some one had poked me in both eyes.....you how it feels when your eyes roll back in your head every time you try and open them?? it really got worse and worse as the night weht on ....i couldnt sleep but when i did sleep about 2 hours at a time i would wake up with my eyes matted shut and i had to get a warm wet wash clothe to un-weld my eyes...... and the pain that came along with it was almost unbearable......i have gone thru some painful things in my life like a hernia operationand a vasectomy which both were nothing compared to this pain in my eyes and headache.......i was screwed for 3 days with hardly any sleep.......so my advise to everyone is to wear safty glasses when you frag....cause you never know what might happen......

 

[OckMed]

careful

 

[Swooshjvm]

Most soft corals have a paly toxin, that is dangerous to humans. I had a buddy who almost lost an eye do to that slime squirting in his eye while trying to remove from a rock.

 

[hwntunda]

wow, definately a learning experience!, hope u feeling better!

 

[MitchReef]

Fever is a natural part of inflammation response (hence in-flamm-ation) so it could certainly be part of the effect. The smell was simply a part of the palys / zoas releasing toxins in such concentration that part of it went airborne. A lot of folks minimize palytoxin, but it is one of the most aggressive toxins known. It doesn't exist in signficant amounts in most varieties, but who is to say it was not in the ones you handled.

The effects should be temporary as long as you are in decent immune and physical shape. Good luck with everything.

Now, for the important part...any really cool new pieces?

 

[underwaterfirefighter]

Wow. That is crazy. Glad to hear you will be ok. And we thought fire fighting was dangerous!

Dave

 

[litenyaup]

First of all, hope you feel better. I don't believe the zoos gave you this. It sounds like it might have been a coincidence that you were working there. You were probably already infected with a virus and came down with it during work. I don't think you could get fever from the odor in such short order. I can see someone having breathing difficulties but not a fever. Maybe some of the experts can chime in.

im am in perfect health and rarely get sick. i was not feeling bad at all, so if the fever was from getting a cold.....it was way too much of a coincidence. to be honest with you, the fever was caused from my bodies amune system trying to fight off the "infection".

Fever is a natural part of inflammation response (hence in-flamm-ation) so it could certainly be part of the effect. The smell was simply a part of the palys / zoas releasing toxins in such concentration that part of it went airborne. A lot of folks minimize palytoxin, but it is one of the most aggressive toxins known. It doesn't exist in signficant amounts in most varieties, but who is to say it was not in the ones you handled.

The effects should be temporary as long as you are in decent immune and physical shape. Good luck with everything.

Now, for the important part...any really cool new pieces?

the zoas are from indo and philipines, they are of all colors and sizes.....there were about 300 frags i was handling when they started to "slime" and give off the toxins.



i am feeling better.....just my throat is very very tender! i had gloves and goggles on, but did not even think about a mask.

and yes i think fighting fires is safer....lol!

 

[TANKSALOT]

That's great information for everyone!

Glad you're feeling better..... now get some rest and have a safe and exciting 4th of July.

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[MikeB]

I highly doubt the zoas caused this.

 

[sprinklerdudes]

when you surf the net there are a lot of different freaky reactions to zoas, he could have had a more serious reaction, kind of like different people have different reactions to a bee sting, some are so allergic the have to keep a eppi pen close buy just in case, no telling how many frags he had handled that day, and a un-noticed wipe of the nose with the glove that had the toxin on it could have caused some serious reactions,

 

[TANKSALOT]

I personally know litenyaup and can tell you that he is a very healthy person and that this hit after the fumes were put off by the Zoas.
I spoke with him on the phone just after it happened and I asked if he had a cold because he sounded terrible.

After listening to a lecture by Steve Pro where he told us about how toxic Zoas are, I have no doubt that this is a reaction to the fumes and the slime of the Zoas.

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[litenyaup]

I highly doubt the zoas caused this.

i can tell you this was 100% caused by zoas. these zoas were very very angry after being dipped in coral Rx, then fresh water, then being out of the water for approx 3-5 min. while out of the water i was rearranging them and started smelling the odor, so i finished not thinking about it and when i was done, my nose was like a faucet, and was coughing bad!

you may think what you want, and have all the opinions you want, but this post was not intended for anyone "expert" opinion, but as a learning experience and to let people know they need to take the proper precautions when handling coral of any kind.