Palytoxin testing

[Retro Reefer]

I have been thinking with all the discussion about Palytoxin these days it would be nice if someone offered affordable testing solution for the reef Keeping community either by mailing in a sample of suspected polyps or better yet some kind of test strip you could just rub against suspected polyps and get results instantly.. to be honest I haven’t been very sensitive to people experiencing health issues from Palytoxins thinking most are just rookies doing dumb things like boiling or scrubbing rock until I recently saw an article about Dietrich Stüber, if your not familiar with him he was the first person able to get an Acropora to grow in the aquarium and he is also an innovator of the Berlin method... He was severely poisoned by paly’s, arrived at the ER unconscious, spent 3 weeks in a induced coma followed by 2 months in the intensive care unit before spending several more weeks in rehab because of severe lung damage, he apparently tore down his reef and gave up the hobby after recovering.. So now I’m thinking if it can happen to someone with that level of experience it can happen to anyone! Be careful everyone.. I’ll be buying some shoulder high gloves very soon!

 

[paphater]

I think the biggest would be that by offering the test you are encouraging people to expose themselves to the toxin which could put the testing company at risk.

 

[Retro Reefer]

I think the biggest would be that by offering the test you are encouraging people to expose themselves to the toxin which could put the testing company at risk.

That’s a good point but I know that people are somehow having testing done to determine existence of Palytoxins.. I believe it was a article about Julian Sprung I was reading where after he was poisoned he sent the suspected palys away for testing and they came back showing abnormally high Palytoxin levels, there must be a no liability way to do it?