Please help Palytoxin Poisoning, Me, Wife and Dog.

[HolySmoke]

Yesterday I moved my tank 10 ft across the room and towards the end of the night my wife helped me put the last couple corals from the bottom of the brute into the tank.

Mind you first time in 10 years of being together her hands have touched saltwater.(I think) Fast forward 8 hours later and I'm waking both of us up with a nasty cough,stuffy nose, and post nasal drip. I woke up with the chills and felt sick. Couple hours later my dog throws up and I noticed he is taking short shallow breaths.

I hadn't connected the dots until I texted my wife that the dog threw up and she said her chest hurt. After hearing that 5he light bulb went off and I turned off the skimmer, opened all the windows and removed a couple Buckets with a couple inches of water in the bottom from the move.

Question is how long should I expect this to last? should we leave the house? my wife is the paranoid type so I told her what it could be but told her unlikely. From the symptoms we are having I am 100% confident it is palytoxin poisoning. My wife and I have both have Covid twice and the second time was only 45 days ago so that's out as a possibility.

Is it a safe assumption that the exposure has already happened and we have to just ride it out? I'm assuming this is the case but would love to hear from people with first hand experience. I want to note that my breathing is better and the dog is looking a little better but still breathing fast slight weezing. My wife is in bed with the dog and she is burning up(fever) and whining like a toddler. My oxygen tested at 100 wife 98.

Please help!!!!!

Thank you.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Contact your emergency room or urge care as soon as possible and give them the run down and follow their direction!

Don't mess around with this possible poisoning!

 

[reefs4life]

this is not a helpful post. If I was a mod I’d remove it and give you a warning.

A difference in opinion doesn't need to be censored or muted just because it doesn't meet your thinking. That seems to be something people in the country are seeming to forget...

To add to his comment though, I've been in reefing for over 15 years and it has happened to me about 3 times. The most recent was about 2 months ago, reaction occurred about 2 hours after scrubbing a rock of blue/grey palys outside of water with no PPE at all. Chills, fever, weakness but I woke up the following day and everything was gone. Realistically, aside from symptom management, I'm not sure what a hospital would do for you, there's no palytoxin antivenom to my knowledge and not one that would be on hand at your local ER, but I may be wrong.

 

[ZoWhat]

@HolySmoke

I've personally have had palytoxin in my system TWICE.

Both times were dealing with
pale green wild palyanthids (Not zoas!)

Both times I got symptoms within 6hrs.

Symptoms:

Deep painful headache
Pounding heart when lying down
Lack of appetite
Shortness of breath

Symptoms lasted about 3-4 days peaking at day 2

Never felt the need to seek the ER. Symptoms were manageable. But NEVER felt my life was in danger. It felt like a bad flu.

If you haven't felt symptoms within 12 hrs, then quit worrying.

HTH


.

 

[vetteguy53081]

As long as we are on the subject. . . . everyone keep this precaution in mind:

• Keep the coral submerged when moving between tanks. Containers with aquarium water work great. The greatest risk is when coral is exposed to air
• As long as we are wearing masks, use them when handling ANY coral
• Wear gloves when handing Paly’s & Zoa’s
• When scrubbing rocks always scrub with the rock completely submerged. ALWAYS wear gloves, goggles & mask
• Avoid working in your tank with cuts and hangnails on your arms and hands
• Wear eye protection when cleaning live rock, fragging etc
• NEVER BOIL or COOK LIVE ROCK – Sends the toxin airborne
• ALWAYS wash your hands after they have been in the tank
• Palytoxin awareness

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would go to the hospital. Here's a case report (https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/criem/2015/621815.pdf)

The couple were in the hospital for nearly a week and had to go on a respirator.

Make sure your go to a hospital within your health coverage network

For any emergency- network or no network- Its an emergency

 

[arking_mark]

Wishing you and your wife a speedy recovery!

When all is well, please post pictures of the Palys or Zoas that you suspect. I think the community would benefit from identifying potentially dangerous palys and zoas.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you because you described all my symptoms exactly and helped put my mind at ease a little. We both are above 130 BPM and have 101 fever. I feel like I have a terrible flu and it hurts when I take deep breaths. I just wanna be safer than sorry I should have went to the ER hours ago.

She WAS worse than me but when I went down near the tank I felt worse again. I think @CMMorhung hit the nail on the head. I hung one light yesterday and tonight I touched everything I touched yesterday, screw driver, square, 6 ft level, impact gun. DOH. I should have figured out what it was earlier but I did nothing to tick them off except I accidentally ripped a monster Sunkist bounce that was right next to them on the bottom glass. I think that set off the chemical warfare. I will keep you all posted thanks for the swift kick in the bu tt bc I wasn't being smart.

Not a great end to a weekend but a Great decision and you are here with us. Now you have a story to tell family, workers and reefers. This toxin is no joke. Wear gloves, mask and any other protection listed in the future.

 

[DucatiGtr]

Good luck and keep us updated, went through that as well for 7 days. Was very painful and scary

 

[HolySmoke]

Im surprised no ones asked this yet

Any chance you know all of the types of zoas/palys you have so that those with them can exercise more caution?

Too hard to say unfortunately, I have cinnamon Grandi, green death, purple death, and a couple other very large palyathoa. There are generic button polyps mixed in with the green deaths that I would bet big on because they were close to the Sunkist. My opinion is you can't say, with science you can't speculate. Treat all with caution is my advice. Who's to say my green paly is the same as yours although very likely. I will take a picture though anyway. All of my SPS were sliming up big time so it was all out war in my tank.

 

[Revnobody]

Julian Sprung did an informative speech on palytoxin. After watching it, I have a theory that some of the unexplainable RTN we see in the hobby could be caused by palytoxin.

 

[VolatileReeFer]

Is there a way to test , swab palys to see if it produces toxin ?
So they all produce the same toxin ?

I'm sure something exists, most likely not anything hobby grade. What's the old saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

 

[ReefRusty]

I would contact your doctor/GP could be a reaction to what you were doing but I would do that first if it were me and not wait for a answer on here

 

[Daniel92481]

Hey! Sorry about your possible exposure! The best advice I can give is if you or your wife are short of breath, have fever, or having chest pains, you need to go to the ER immediately. Palytoxin is no joke. Best of luck!

 

[nick_md]

If you are in the US you can call poison control. That is what the ER doctor will do.

 

[Flexin]

If you are still checking messages here you are not on the way to the Dr/Emergency room. Check back here after you go to the Dr...

 

[HolySmoke]

Thank you guys! I'm on it I didnt want to freak her out but I have to be safe. Time is of the essence thank you.

 

[HolySmoke]

I'm calling NYC poison control

 

[CMMorgan]

Ultimately, you are going to need to clean all exposed areas around the tank with a diluted bleach solution... WHILE WEARING APPROPRIATE PPE. (goggles, gloves, mask) Make sure the dog is hydrated and see if there is a place he or she can stay to avoid further exposure.
Do whatever poison control says. This is no joke.

 

[Sarcazian]

good luck and I hope it ends up as something less serious. Stay safe!

Do you have carbon monoxide monitors/detectors in the house?

Carbon monoxide poisoning - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org