World's 2nd deadliest poison, in an aquarium store near you!

[808jaymakoa]

I've known of the dangers that result from palytoxin from my start in this hobby and have always been extremely careful. I luckily have not had first hand experience with it ( knock on wood) but know all the symptoms and signs of palytoxin poisoning and actually have printed out documentation on what it is so that if I ever get sick medical staff knows what it is they are dealing with. Most doctors have no idea what palytoxin is. But one thing comes to mind that amazes me. Although it is very difficult to determine which palys are more poisonous. WHY HAS THERE NOT MORE RESERCH ON THE POISONOUS StRAINS. Why have I never seen a pictured detailed info guide on which species of palys has hurt fellow reefers. Something that can at least give reefers a heads up on which ones to stay away from. So times have I read articles and forum posts of people suffering from it but no pictures to show which paly did it and how bad the side effects were. Just my 2 cents

 

[NanaReefer]

I had a stinging on my wrist after moving some of my rock around. What kind of gloves can you wear that don't fill up with water and make it hard to manover your hands and see what your doing? Most gloves are just too short.

I use these and love them! Pic from DF&S

 

[goodtimes]

Gloves are not needed at all:

What caused this?

 

[mark jackson]

i have a bunch eating up or moving out my blasto how do i get them to receed without killing the blasto i have a syreinge

 

[RKLion]

I use these and love them! Pic from DF&S

ya I got a pair coming in the mail also

 

[naso tang]

Here's my most recent experience. When my lights come on I'll post better pics of the ones I know are pretty potent. They are the common plague type ugly brown paly.

http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105640

 

[glb]

Why minimize the importance of being safe? It seems there's plenty of scientific evidence proving this, not just anecdotal data. I just don't get it.

 

[Velodog2]

I've become convinced that my partner and I suffered from palytoxin poisoning simply from my trying to kill palys within the tank. They released enough poison to kill half the corals in the process. While frantically doing water changes we both developed a sore throat and a cough. Neither of us slept that night due to fever and chills. He never touched the water, but was in the same room. My best guess is the skimmer was able to aerosolize enough toxin to poison us. I never connected the sick with the aquarium until my second attempt to kill some resulted in a milder case of the same thing, again for both of us. This stuff is bad joo-joo.

 

[naso tang]

here's the nasties that made me very sick. Below the blowpops, the brown ones

 

[WhoKnew]

After reading these posts. I'm rather scared to have my Zoa's in my tank. Over the past 3mths. I've had neuro symptoms. I do have multiple sclerosis. However they say it is not active. Could it be my SWT. Hurting me? I wear double latex gloves, glasses. And wash with soap and water right afterwards. This is pretty scary stuff. I would not have learned this, if not for this site..Yicks

 

[Velodog2]

Interesting question. I'm not usually paranoid or neurotic and expect the chances that the polyps are affectng you is not huge, but if I was particularly susceptible I would probably skip the palys. I could certainly live without them. That said, it seems all the stories I've heard of bad stuff happening have revolved around the brownish greenish palys sometimes known as Texas Trash similar to the ones pictured one or two posts above. The cute little buttons usually called zoanthids MAY be safer, but I have no hard evidence for this statement.

 

[naso tang]

Even though the nasty palys almost killed me when I tried to kill them, I have a tank full of zoas and palys that I collect, as do many reefers across the world. I handle them regularly, fragging, cleaning, and as long as you use precautions (gloves and eye protection), I'm not concerned about exposure. Just don't create an aerosol with them if you are trying to kill the nasty ones and you should be ok.

 

[SantaMonica]

World’s 2nd deadliest

Sounds convincing

Been fortunate so far, but read many other accounts of bad events.

 

[Gazog2]

The chances of you getting sick by a zoa are slim to none. I wouldn't and I wont worry about it.

Are you freaking kidding me!!! They are extremly dangerous!!! Here I will make it easy for you, you won't even have to look it up. Read these pages and then tell everyone that.....

Hawaiian Spear Poison

Palytoxin-containing zoanthids

Almost killed myself, wife and dogs

 

[Gazog2]

what do the poisonous zoas look like. if i have zoas going onto another rock can i just cut its mat free from the new rock? will it cause harm to any other corals in tank? ill wear gloves

I think the problem right now is that they do not know which ones are poisonous or not-- so all should be handled with caution

I hate to tell you this folks but they are "ALL POISONOUS" and can Blind you or cause even more problems. Some are just more poisonous than others but they are all dangerous if not handled correctly'

 

[naso tang]

I just wiped out my collection of pink and golds aka cherry charms. To me they were a nuisance. Despite my earlier experience poisoning myself with the Texas trash ones, I treated the rocks outside with muriatic acid thinking the hydrochloric might inactivate the toxin. I don't know, but I didn't get sick and the palys came off. Worked pretty well. Did my best not to breathe any of the bubbling fumes...

 

[Nate_Bro]

I've known of the dangers that result from palytoxin from my start in this hobby and have always been extremely careful. I luckily have not had first hand experience with it ( knock on wood) but know all the symptoms and signs of palytoxin poisoning and actually have printed out documentation on what it is so that if I ever get sick medical staff knows what it is they are dealing with. Most doctors have no idea what palytoxin is. But one thing comes to mind that amazes me. Although it is very difficult to determine which palys are more poisonous. WHY HAS THERE NOT MORE RESERCH ON THE POISONOUS StRAINS.

Why have I never seen a pictured detailed info guide on which species of palys has hurt fellow reefers.

Something that can at least give reefers a heads up on which ones to stay away from. So times have I read articles and forum posts of people suffering from it but no pictures to show which paly did it and how bad the side effects were. Just my 2 cents

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a huge zoa/paly garden, and I'm always adding new polyps, but I have no idea which ones to avoid!

If someone knows of three palys that are deadly, why don't we have pictures? We have pictures of all the snakes, frogs, insects that are deadly, and those are easy to find!

 

[kidtango]

HOt ****... This is scary stuff! haha... I glad I ran across this post! I have never though about the possibility of getting sick because of reef! I got some palys and zoas in my tank. I like them but certainly can live without.... Going to really isolate them and make sure they don't infest my main rock structures.

 

[LegitFish]

At the LFS I work at, we were trying to rid our frag tank's egg crate of what we now call "poison polyps". They look similar to the ones pictured on the clam. We decided the easiest way was to dry out the egg crate, then brush the dried polyps off. BAD IDEA...we ended up breathing in the polyp dust, andthat evening, come to find out, both my boss and I had flu like symptoms-sneezing, coughing, and feeling like we got hit with by a freight train. The next morning we came into work looking like we both had no sleep, and in a lot of pain. BEWARE of the "poison polyps"!!!

 

[naso tang]

Someone said it above, I would guess all palys have it and some produce it at higher quantities than others. Proto palythoa are probably more dangerous than other palys. And the ones that are aggressive in growth seem to have a stronger dose than your nuclear greens, purple deaths, captain Americas. Despite the risk, can't stop collecting these awesome creatures.

As far as research, ain't really gonna get funded unless it's a problem on the reef (not nearly as toxic if ingested) or if there were perhaps a clinical application or disease (only adverse when us reefers pull em out of the tank). Brings to mind might be an opportunity for clinical if there was a need for a really potent vasoconstrictor...