Marine aquarium cautions

[Patrice]

Originally Posted by Hairytank

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..

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

[Boomboy]

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.

[MMAX]

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.

[Cujo#31]

Originally Posted by Hairytank

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..

OOOOHHHHH MAN! U SAID IT BROTHER! My wife has gone "wifezilla" on me a time or two.My only defense is there are far worse things I could be doing with my spare time and (lack of LMAO) spare cash

[cbrine]

In my EMS education and Dive training (rescue diver and Divemaster cert) both talk about treating jellyfish stings with warm salt water or distilled white vinegar to neutralize the sting. Then using salt water and baking soda mixed into a paste and smeared all over the site then scraped off to help remove stingers.
Calamine lotion, Benadryl (the liquid oral stuff can be smeared topically as well) and ibuprofen can help decrease the after effects of stings/pain.
(http://www.aabana.de/Health/Health-2...jellyfish.html)

Of course always seek medical assistance as a CYA...

and have to be careful with nitrile gloves, due to their permeability can only be worn for so many minutes before they start to break down and decrease effectiveness as a barrier device (will have to ask the clinical educator I spoke with for the AHS documents on this). I believe for medical purposes, we are told to change our gloves after 8 mins as they are not effective at protection (especially when dealing with contagious bodily fluids). Double gloving does not prevent/decrease this process either.
(interesting right?!)

[HaZRaTTy]

Depending on the type of gloves you use they are said to be good for approx 20 minutes. If you double glove that cuts your time in half due to the heat, moisture and increased tension.

Remember all our gloves have micro tears and through moving stretching and heat these slowly fracture and become bigger. Always good Practise to wash hands after.

[Puff]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

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

well what in the heck!

earlier in the week i was at my gf's and kept spitting up this nasty metallic/salty taste that would not get out of my mouth. it even got me feeling very thirsty. after taking the dogs out i came home and ran to the bathroom and gargled water. nope, didnt work. then i literally got a bar of soap, jammed it in my mouth and swished it around. DIDNT WORK!!! it took all day to get out of my mouth, it drove me crazy.

the only thing i can think of is that i might have wiped my face with the towel that i had placed a piece of liverock on.

learned my lesson.lol

i now have the sudden urge to go and buy a pair of gloves.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by debbaDEEra

I knew that some corals are toxic but I had NO idea that zoos were this toxic. I have never worn gloves and was not told I should by any other the LFS. I do and have had swollen glands on one side of my neck that the doctors are watching and the next step is more tests. Could this be from me handling EVERYTHING in my tank wo gloves? I did months of research before we got the tank but I guess I missed this tutorial!!

"zoo's" are only bad for you if you jump in the lions cage...."zoa's" on the other hand...

[BCOrchidGuy]

For stings etc like jelly fish or frogspawn... anything with nematocysts simply wash the afflicted area in water you made contact in, IE tank water if you got stung in your tank. A sudden change in water chemistry can trigger the nematocysts to sting again and again, so if you are going to pee on yourself you'll have to find another excuse.

Douglas

ps this is what we taught when I was a diving instructor and as far as peeing, we'd tell people it was a nice way to stay warm in our cold water just pee in your wet suit.... which is why I used a dry suit.

[justinl]

not all zoos have palytoxin. I believe they only get them when they are exposed to a diet of a certain diatom. Stings from nematocysts are best dealt with by soaking in vinegar as it deactivates the nematocysts; urine only makes them fire more. If you don't have vinegar, just rinse in saltwater.

To me, the least regarded yet likely most serious of all aquarium dangers is the microscopic kind. people tend to ignore the viral and bacterial nasties like vibrio and mycobacterium (yes, a derivative of tuberculosis). in fact, marine biologists have recently found that viruses and bacteria make up a much larger portion of the ocean's biomasss than what was originally thuoght; possibly greater than half the biomass in the entire ocean! infections from the likes of these have led to aquarists having to get their fingers amputated. NEVER immerse an open cut in your tank unless you're wearing gloves and always rinse in warm soap and water afterwards.