Blue ringed octopus

[fishmaster]

Originally Posted by midgetwaiter

You know I think the biggest issue with Blue Rings is that everyone knows how dangerous they are and you'll never hear the end of it.

I say this because as Fencer pointed out there are several Paylotha species out that that have the potential to be just as deadly. Having recently experienced palytoxin exposure let me assure you it is not something to be taken lightly. I'm not sure I was in danger of death but I really thought I was at one point. How many people would have given the same response to the OP if he was showing off his new fancy disco light paly rather than asking about an octopus?

Same frag that almost got me is still in my tank btw.

Fishfanactic I have a couple of sources for small octos, several different species. PM me if you like.

I would be very interested in you starting another thread on your palytoxin experience. I've read that some palytoxin's are up there with the most toxic substances known to man! Not common, but who knows which ones are the most toxic? Does anyone know where to find that kind of info? I usually wear gloves & eye protection when fragging zoa's/pally's. I'm sure I could take more precautions as well. Your experience could be valuable to the rest of us to learn from. Sorry for changing the topic a little...
Shaun.

[midgetwaiter]

Originally Posted by fishmaster

I would be very interested in you starting another thread on your palytoxin experience. I've read that some palytoxin's are up there with the most toxic substances known to man! Not common, but who knows which ones are the most toxic? Does anyone know where to find that kind of info? I usually wear gloves & eye protection when fragging zoa's/pally's. I'm sure I could take more precautions as well. Your experience could be valuable to the rest of us to learn from. Sorry for changing the topic a little...
Shaun.

I thought about this but decided against it. The possibility exists that it was something else that triggered my reaction, I handled a lot of different things that day. I'm pretty certain it was the palys that did it given my reaction and the fact that I handle the other things involved regularly but I can't say 100%. I don't want to spread false info and get someone else in trouble.

I won't go into the details of the symptoms but it was unique in my experience and kept me in bed for 3 days.

As for finding out which are the dangerous ones it's tough. Palyotha Grandis is easy to id and has a bad rep in this regard but given that colour and shape of most plays seems to vary by environment I doubt you could ever identify what is dangerous and what isn't easily.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I thought you had to more or less eat the paly's or ingest the slime after touching them for the neurotoxin to be bad???? Glad you're OK dude, BTW...

Small cut on my finger. Yes I'm an idiot.

[NateL]

Originally Posted by atcguy

When I lived in aussi for 6 months I say a couple diving, and 2 in shallow tide pools. Beautiful animals that are eye candy for little kids as they see the blue rings appear, Which means they are intimidated!!!! I wouldnt go as far as saying your dead in 20 minutes . Without medical help you could be in trouble though.... Not meant for a home tank, if you want something thats dangerous but accepted in this hobby try a Lion fish. prick yourself on a spine and if you love the feeling then try a cone snail, love that move to Australia and run around in your bare feet picking up blue rings... Better yet Wear a Box Jelly as a hat... lol no in all seriousness Stick to nemo!!!

Haha that made me think of the Scared Weird Little Guys song-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WlW_tYEW7o