Don't Rub Your Eyes After Handling Zoanthids/Palythoa

OUCH, hope she powers through it ok, had to be a LONG wait for the vicodin fairy!

Good luck, this happened to an acquaintance of mine. Her second time, too.


Good luck

 

Thank you for spreading the word.

To those that choose to keep them be well informed, do not take the word from the local joe that proclaims "I fragged and handled them for years without gloves", this is serious business.

Get well soon, and you're a champ for letting Curt document it.

 

Just so everyone knows, zoas/palys are NOT the only source of this toxin. This toxin has now been observed in various marine organisms ranging from dinoflagellates to fish. Just a word to the wise.

When I handle zoas, I wear gloves, goggles, a surgical mask, and earmuffs. Overkill? I think not. Better safe then sorry. If you are familiar with the mechanism of action of palytoxin, then you know the essential cellular pathways that it interferes with, and the damage that it can cause. This is a potentially lethal toxin.

 

thanks everyone for the well wishes!!!!!!!

It is still very painful however i do think that it is starting to improve somewhat. Yes......VICODEN fairy is a god-send! It is what 2pm and I just woke back up! Yeah that second picture is a nice picture of me.........definately wasnt feeling or thinking anything at that point. Nice bed head!!

The er staff and doctors were awesome. THey had called people from Florida, California and numerous other places to find out information on this. The doctor did literally freak out when she did the research on it. She was telling me about how someone died when they breathed in the vapors of a dried paly. She even called me this morning to follow up on me! The concern iwth her is the visual disturbance that I am having. That eye is just completely blurry and cloudy when i look out of it, and it is more so today. I am seeing another specialist tomorrow for further follow up

I think we figured out what had happened. I was working at the store and they had a big blow out on all the big zoanthid and paly colonies. I sold this one guy 4 of them right before i left (these are large colonies) What is funny is i even told the guy that he had to place them (his 9 year old wanted to put them in the tank) and that he had to wash his hands very well and not touch anything. I told him of my previous exposure (which is NOTHING compared to the pain of this)

I then bought one colony for our tank. Yeah they were low end palys but I liked them. I dipped them in the bag at home and then placed it into the tank. I think when i was dipping them was when i was exposed. They were very ticked!

Cosmo how long did your friends eye stay like that? I am already very tired of this! I was supposed to be on vacation and so far not going great. First day my mom went into the unit (she has since been discharged and doing great) and then this!

 

definatly agree! I was thouroughly lectured yesterday by several doctors, residents and even 2 nurses about not wearing any type of protection! Then I got the real lecture when i got home..........not only from inwall but from my mom (which was the worst!)

 

WOW, good luck. She is more of an acquaintance, I call my friend cause she is very nice. She worked with my friend. I'll text him and see if I can find out how long it was for sure, but, I want to say she was feeling better in 2-3 days, less pain anyways, and back to normal in a week for the most part. But I'll shoot a text and have him track her down for and find out. Good luck, and use this time to lay down and get pampered. I'd be milking this for all its worth

Edit, ok, my friend texted me back already, he knows her well and remembered. That time wasn't bad, about 3 days and ok, the other time she did it, the pain was gone in 3 days, but she was very light sensitive in the eye for about a month. He said she said it felt like sandblaster hitting your eye, OUCH, sorry again;( lets hope you don't get the light sensitivity. BTW she wears gloves, goggles and a smock, she thinks she got it in her eye pulling the smock over her head, so she doesn't do that anymore. Just a little on your shirt and WHAP!

 

Holy cow Mel,get better soon.I've seen you have your fair share of pitfalls in this hobby.Now it is time for nothing but smooth sailing for you!Thanks for sharing the pics and I agree,these reminders need posted a little more often.

I have palythoa grandis in my tank and my wife freaks everytime I work around them even with gloves,lol.Had a friend want a frag a little while back and I had to tell him that i was even too scared to mess with them.They are the plain ugly green/brown ones and they will not be getting transfered to my new tank when the cycles done.The friend is getting my 55 once I switch over and i've already made him very aware of thier toxins.

I trulely hope all goes well in your recovery.

Don

 

I am a little bit more concerned tonight. Right now the only thing I can see out of the left eye is light and some shadows. The swelling is down, however the eye is still very red, very painful and draining. Yesterday they said i was 20/70 in that eye, and right now if i close my good eye, I cant even see the computer screen other than a big white light. i am hoping that this is normal, and that it will return as the inflamation goes down, but throughout the day it has gotten progressively worse. Of course my imagination has gotten the best of me. I am hoping that I can get in to see the opthamologist in the morning, if not I will be going back to the ED again. I can still use any good vibes at this point!

 

That kinda sounds like what happened to my friend. Should be better in a day or so if ya follow the same path as her. Good luck to ya, I'm sure its just healing, kinda like a scab, its just the damaged tissue clouding the good tissue underneath and needs to come off. It should soon, I hope for ya. But seems just like the healing process.

 

They sure take their time in the emergency room.....still no doctors.