I can attest to the hammer coral's sting..no long effects but wasn't pleasant.

Should also add all species of rabbitfishes to the caution list, I have never been stung (yet!) but I understand the sting from their spines can be quite painful. I'm always watchfull where my rabbitfish is in my tank when working inside.

all zoo's are toxic the more colourfull the more toxic. the Giant sun polyp ( Protopalythoa grandis ) was used by Hawaiian natives to tip spears in for mortal combat.

Make sure you don't wipe your face with a towel you used to clean up when fragging if you get it on your lips, they will go numb and you will taste nothing but copper for hours, if you actualy injext it... who knows.

Steve

There seem to be three seperate health hazards that corals can cause...
1) Toxins from the coral- eg:Zoas
2) Stings from the coral caused by nematocysts- Hammer, fire (similar to jellyfish stings)
3) Infection from a cut from a coral

I wonder if the cure for the sting is the same as for jellyfish? The cure for the sting of a jellyfish is vinigar or urine. They also recommend you wash with salt water and not fresh as fresh will make it hurt more.

Oh and I forgot the fourth hazard of keeping corals...
My wife finding out how much money I have sunk into this already and will in the future....THIS may be the most painful of all the hazards..

I have some links that I saved from when we were heavy into its discussion on RC or somewhere.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1105126-overview

http://www.cbwinfo.com/Biological/Toxins/Palytoxin.html

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/disea...iummarinum.htm

Pretty good reference links for what we are discussing here but I take them just as that.

In all my years in the hobby I have never encountered many of these things. I did get an infection from an urchin poke and the tank water getting into it.

Plus when I handle a lot of live rock, esp. well seasoned rock, my hands and fingers swell. Sometimes so bad I need some meds for it.

Thanks for posting that. I was about to respond that not all zoas have palytoxin, but it is in your second link.

I'll add bristle worm spines to the list. They are finer than hairs, and irritate like hell.

That can hit an aquarist really bad. I tried everything without succes. Maybe I should get a better job.

i must be very lucky ive handle all my corals by hand and even touch them on purpose sometimes, and nothing happened to me, but now i will definatly be more caution, anybody know of those white doctor gloves where to pick some up also what is the right kind to pick up.

Get Nitrile gloves. Similar to plain latex gloves but stronger and designed to keep chemicals off your skin. Any automotive or safety supply store should have them.

for bristle worm spines soak your hand in viniger for a while, it will desolve the spines.

Oh and the Urin for jelly fish stings, Mythbusters proved it false.

Steve