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She said she was cleaning the powerhead, so if the paly got chopped and then in the water it mixed with air as happens when drawing / sucking air this could easily aerosol it.This doesnt sound like paly toxin syndrome to me. There would be difficulty breathing, elevated heart rate and you would experience hot flashes from the toxins breaking down in your system. Also you didnt do anything that would spread the toxins to others in your home like boiling one or a colony. The toxin has to be a direct exposure like getting into a cut, your eyes, nose or mouth. When boiled it becomes airborne and can be breathed in effecting multiple people. The only way i see you poisoning the rest of your family is if you didnt wash your hands after handling said paly and then touched food or something along that line. I think this was something else like food poisoning or a stomach virus.
She said she was cleaning the powerhead, so if the paly got chopped and then in the water it mixed with air as happens when drawing / sucking air this could easily aerosol it.
so now I'm worrying about palys that I have in my tank. Are these bad?![]()
So... I was cleaning powerheads last night in bucket, with some water and a bit of vinegar. Powerheads were turned on, which included quite a lot of splashing, then rinsed under running water. That was around 9 p.m.
Went to sleep soon after, only to wake up a few hours later with feeling freezing cold and coughing... The cold got so bad i was shaking so hard that couldnt walk straight or hold up the glass when went to get something to drink, and chills were so bad i thought might break my teeth. Thats how i imagine being out in arctics with wearing only swimsuite would feel, lol. Was ready to call the ambulance, but in hour or two the symptoms got less, and managed to sleep, so didnt. Been weak all day after but by night am finally feeling almost ok again.
Other family members got same symptoms, but less strong, around same time and are better now, too.
Why i think its palys- we all got same symptoms around same time, me about an hour before others (and i was dealing with pumps directly). And for some autumn virus, the timing, everyone getting ill at the same hour, just doesnt make sense.
And- later i remembered seeing a paly polyp attached on one of the powerheads some time ago. Didnt notice it when removing it to clean, but since i removed it with holding frame, no wonder i didnt notice, when not knowingly paying attention.
Why im writing so long, two reasons:
PLEASE be very careful if you have the toxic type in your tank, this is one nasty poison!!!
And,
HOW do i get rid of them??? I mean, i can get them out of the tank fairly easily. But i will not sell them to anyone, too dangerous. Cant flush them coz attached to the rock (and poisonous), cant throw to trash coz not sure if it goes to sorting factory and someone can touch them, cant bury them coz living in city and some dog would probably dig them out. Any way to neutralize the poison before tossing the rock? Its about 50 heads colony...
Uhhh you might want to stop doing that.The Palytoxin works different if You breath it or if You have contact with your skin (hands).
The first Palytoxin poisoning I had was contact and resulted in high fewer. I went to bed early because I was feeling sick. After 2 hours I woke up feeling a little better and stretched out arms and legs a few minutes. (they were bent first from the fewer) and took the temperature with a mouth thermometer. It showed 104,5 degrees. I felt better so I went to bed. In the morning I only had 100,0 so I went to work. In the afternoon everything was OK but the temperatur was a little bit on the low side - I believe it was 97,5. (Old fashioned thermometer so it is true)
The second Palytoxin poisoning was just bad luck. Using long gloves and protective glasses i felt like a drop on my forehead when I was taking out Palythoa. Took of gloves and glasses and went to wash my face. First I cleaned the hands and then the face. But I used the same towel and i believe i got poison in my eye that way. So I have reduced eyesight on my good eye now.
Bit funny at the hospital. The first doctor said I am pretty shore but I let my boss look at it. He came, looked at my eye and said thats interesting and called in 2 doctors more. I felt like being by doctor House on TV. The big difference was that they all agreed at the end. After a few months the eye stabilized so I could get try out new glasses.
The third time I again thought I did everything the right way but after a few hours the legs started itching. Took down the jeans and saw a big swollen spot on both legs of about 4 x 8 inches.
The jeans looked totally normal and dry but I must have had a drop or two on each leg. Went to hospital for a check. The pulse was 125 after being calm 2 hours of waiting. The first person didnt believe me but when he saw the legs it was clear that it had to be checked. I told the specialist about Palytoxin and he went away to read about it. After 4 hours with pulse monitor the pulse was sinking and and I went home.
A friend I have scrubbed live rock and got it in the lungs. 4 days at hospital (the first with breathing support) and 3 for his vife that was in another room. Today after 4 years he is not totally Ok in the lungs.
And it is true that not all Palythoa has the poison but on another hand: Nobody can tell for sure which are safe and which not. So be careful.