Marine aquarium cautions

[daniella3d]

In the Coral magasine, they mention that to this date there has not been any palytoxin found in zoanthids. So far there is no proof that zoanthids or even what we have in our aquarium that we call paly actualy have the toxine.

I frag my zoa and paly all the time without glove, even have scratches and wounds sometime and I never been sick from a bit of zoa mucus. Wearing eye glasses is important though because they can spit in the eyes and I read that this is not pleasant...although not deadly!

Originally Posted by fishytime

Working at a lfs I am amazed at how many people are surprised to learn about some of the things that could make you at the very least sick (and worse) that we keep in our little eco-systems. Im hoping perhaps this thread could become a sticky and be used as a guide for new (and possibly old) hobbyists. People need to be aware of some of the hazards the we commonly keep.

I thought maybe other canreefers could add to the thread if they had a picture of the fish,invert, etc and provide a link to the pertinent information. In thinking about the list of potential "baddies", I realized I have only one thing in my tank at the moment that could "get" me. Not really comforting considering the one thing I have is probably the only thing that could potentially prove to be fatal.

Zoanthids.

A coral touted as being a good choice for beginners and both easy to keep and frag. While all this is true zoanthids contain a deadly substance called palytoxin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin. Extreme caution should be used when handling your zoas.

-wear gloves
-if you cant wear gloves wash your hands thoroughly after
-do not handle your zoas without gloves if you have an open cut on your hands.
-while fragging your zoas, wear eye protection.

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

In the Coral magasine, they mention that to this date there has not been any palytoxin found in zoanthids. So far there is no proof that zoanthids or even what we have in our aquarium that we call paly actualy have the toxine.

I frag my zoa and paly all the time without glove, even have scratches and wounds sometime and I never been sick from a bit of zoa mucus. Wearing eye glasses is important though because they can spit in the eyes and I read that this is not pleasant...although not deadly!

About 2 years ago I read a report on RC where a guy's dog ate some zoanthus/palythora out of a bucket while he was doing some tank maintenance then died. Maybe later when I have a little more time I can do some searching and find it again. He obviously wasn't a scientist doing research so it wasn't properly documented. But that was proof enough for me.

[daniella3d]

I remember reading that and I think it was some sort of brownish palythoas and the dog drank the water the polyps were fragged in, so it was probably a variety of palythoas that contained the toxine and there was probably a large amount of it. Is that true? not sure as a lot of things we read are just made up.

But zoanthids have never been proven to actualy contain the palytoxine. Palythoas maybe yes, but not the 3 varieties of zoanthids (even what we call paly are still zoanthids) that we use in aquarium.

Of course if you start eating your coral, you might get very sick from most of them. I never ever read or heard anytyhing about people getting sick from toutching zoanthids with their bare hands and I never felt anything from toutching and fragging them with my bare hands, even with cuts and wounds and scratches on my hands. I even once scratched my finger badly while removing zoanthids from totoka liverock and only after one hour of fragging I realized that I was bleeding from that scratch yet no metallic taste in my mouth, no dizinnes, no nosea etc..

I am not saying it cannot happen but we should not be histerical either.

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

About 2 years ago I read a report on RC where a guy's dog ate some zoanthus/palythora out of a bucket while he was doing some tank maintenance then died. Maybe later when I have a little more time I can do some searching and find it again. He obviously wasn't a scientist doing research so it wasn't properly documented. But that was proof enough for me.

[JonT]

I can add to the Bristle worm photo's.

Found the worm in my bucket of rock while moving the tank to the new place.... Had to wait 20 minutes for a friend to bring me Duct tape (best way to remove the bristles)





And the cause of the problem, tank is 18" wide, and it hasn't stretched out yet in this picture.

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I remember reading that and I think it was some sort of brownish palythoas and the dog drank the water the polyps were fragged in, so it was probably a variety of palythoas that contained the toxine and there was probably a large amount of it. Is that true? not sure as a lot of things we read are just made up.

But zoanthids have never been proven to actualy contain the palytoxine. Palythoas maybe yes, but not the 3 varieties of zoanthids (even what we call paly are still zoanthids) that we use in aquarium.

Of course if you start eating your coral, you might get very sick from most of them. I never ever read or heard anytyhing about people getting sick from toutching zoanthids with their bare hands and I never felt anything from toutching and fragging them with my bare hands, even with cuts and wounds and scratches on my hands. I even once scratched my finger badly while removing zoanthids from totoka liverock and only after one hour of fragging I realized that I was bleeding from that scratch yet no metallic taste in my mouth, no dizinnes, no nosea etc..

I am not saying it cannot happen but we should not be histerical either.

Being cautious around what we do not fully understand is not what I would consider hysteria. How many people in this hobby do you figure can accurately identify what is a zoanthus and what is a palythora? The vast majority of people that I've encountered just call everything zoos. Anthony Calfo poisoned himself on more than one occasion after handling some kind of zoanthidea and then directly or indirectly touching his mouth.

[daniella3d]

Yes well, that's common sense to wash your hands before you put them in your mouth after handling any coral, not just zoanthids. This can still happen if one is not carefull and toutch the gloves he or she used and then put the hands in the mouth.

I am not saying it's not dangerous but it's not very dangerous and very low risk. You will not die from just plainly handling zoanthids or other coral but you might if you eat it or drink the water from fragging, so keep your children AWAY from this when you frag but I will not put gloves.

There are some much more dangerous things in our aquarium than zoanthids, like the vibrio bacteria, the fish tuberculose and many other bacterias that could be potentially harmfull, yet those occurences are extremely rare.

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Being cautious around what we do not fully understand is not what I would consider hysteria. How many people in this hobby do you figure can accurately identify what is a zoanthus and what is a palythora? The vast majority of people that I've encountered just call everything zoos. Anthony Calfo poisoned himself on more than one occasion after handling some kind of zoanthidea and then directly or indirectly touching his mouth.

[Coleus]

after got sting serveral times by my long spined urchin, now everytime i always watch where he is before putting my hand in.

Got sting by anemone, long spined urchin, bristles worms. Out of three, anemone was the worst, it last for days.

[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

Got nailed by a Foxface Rabbitfish recently, that was not fun I must say......................

[daniella3d]

Interesting. I toutched my rock flower anemones tentacles many times but never felt anything other than the tentacles are sticking to the skin but no sting and no pain. I guess that rock flower anemones do not sting?

Originally Posted by Coleus

after got sting serveral times by my long spined urchin, now everytime i always watch where he is before putting my hand in.

Got sting by anemone, long spined urchin, bristles worms. Out of three, anemone was the worst, it last for days.