Dangers of home reefs

Hey, I was searching through reef sanctuary and I saw craig posting on some threads about the dangers of reefkeeping. I had no idea there were so many such as palytoxins from what seem to be harmless zooanthids. I was thinking maybe there should be a place with info on this to inform newcomers to the hobby.

 

More people get killed by cows, then even get hurt from their zoanthids. Polythoa toxin has a tendacy to be quite a bit less potent as time goes, when their in our tanks. Some people are allergic to them, others can eat them without any problems. I've had some minor problems with them in the past, but I was handling hundreads of wild colonies and fragging (not being careful and getting it in my open wounds). My arm go numb for a day and I felt wrong, but it went away. It's like lionfish, most people aren't allergic to them and can take pokes with minor pain. I've been blasted 6 times now by lionfish, the first few really hurt, now it's a mild irretant. The biggst concern with reef aquariums, is electricity, not inhabitants (yah, the blue ring octopus is a real danger).

 

vibrio and a few other bacterial infections can be had from marine aquaria as well as fish TB being able to be passed to humans.

 

well, while i do agree with you Gresham, for the most part, it is better safe than sorry, one of the things with most allergies is you dont know about them until it is to late

i like your sig also

td

 

I definitly agree, and since most doctors wouldn't even be able to correctly diagnose polythoa toxin poisenning with out your direct involvement (kinda hard when paralized, huh? ) I'd stay of the safe side when handling them.   Who know's, I may just be running on luck :-[.


You like my sig (legal disclaimer and website reference) or my avatar (blue spot jawfish)? Thanks for either at any rate ;D

 

What about marinum microbacterium (i think), pretty nasty stuff I heard, and not in many hospital databases.

 

I think it rates up there with Vibrio, but I'm not sure.

 

The thread in questuion was one where an aquariast was fragging his zoanthids and was squirted in the eye and mouth wih palytoxins. He experienced numbness in his limbs and had to go to the hospital. Just in case you are allergic, it is in an abundance of caution and prudence that I recommend the use of gloves. Better safe than sorry, I agree.

 

Another story, a guy squished a zo with his finger, and experienced the same numbness and went to the ER. The doctor couldn't tell if it was the toxin or an anxiety attack (the very symptoms that you get from the toxin, you can get from an anxiety attack brought on by simply the fear of the toxin). That'st the only reason I down played to severity of it. Edoctors can do more harm then good, to a hypocondreact

 

Here are some other hidden dangers
1. Insanity spending hours in lfs watching a fish and asking about diet etc spending $50 getting it home only to watch it disappear behind rock work and only come out about 10 min a week usually while you are at work or sleeping.
2. Financial ruin (see Omar) getting bit by a reef bug so bad it causes you to spend even more $$ and time to upgrade and grow.
3. Insomnia I think it was Jakets tank that sprung the leak and lead to butt naked reef keeping in the middle of the night If not Jakets i am sorry to both Jakets and butt naked reef keepers name who slips my memory after 48 hours no sleep.
4.unmitigated violence- The new skimmer/filter/lights...etc that you just bought only to find better deal on Ebay, online, at lfs or magazine.
5. despair- The two compatible species you just mixed only to find that one is a huge crabass and ate the other one.
6 Schizophrenia- Getting so many different pieces of advice or instructions on how to handle any problem in your tank you start talking to yourself as tank dies a slow miserable death, after using melafix/copper/tetracycline/formaldehyde/bleach/freshwater dip method. ( an example not true story!)
7. The need for hooked on Phonics or Wheel of fortuneitis...... DSB PVC LR LS PC MH AGA RR.
8. Deadened taste buds- Being able to tell your friends and family that saltwater doesn't taste " That Bad" after suck starting your siphon or filter.