Putting my foot in my mouth - Zoanthid Sting

The salt in the water will irritate your skin if you do not rinse it off. Some more than others, some less. For those of you that visit the saltwater beaches, ever notice the fresh water showers at the saltwater beaches. If not rinsed off, the water will dry/evaporate and leave the salt behind, like the white stuff we see all over the outside of our tanks from evaporated water.

 

The salt still dont come off when you shower at the beaches. I would guess its not the water but the toxins from the corals. Anyone have a non coral tank and this still happens?

 

I have dermititis on a few fingers on my right hand. I got it the first time I set up a tank 15 years ago too. Never had it again until I set up my current tank 15 months ago. That first tank didn't have any corals. For me I know it is the salt water. I always wash my hands right away and I still have the problem.

 

Does it get all of it off, probably not, but the freshwater dilutes it enough to where it will not irritate my skin.

If I don't use that shower, 30 mins after I'm out of the water, it will start to irritate my skin, especially if I don't get the sand off.

I too, have to rinse off what ever part of my body was in the tank.

And yes I have a Non coral 29G SW, same thing happens.

A friend of mine has to do the same thing with his 75G SW at home and his 500G-1000G SW PetLand store setup. This ins't one 1000G tank, it is multiple 10G-65G plumed into 100G-xxxG setups with different things in different tanks.

He wears some type of athletic long sleeve shirt, similar to a wetsuit, that lets the water run off instead of absorbing it. Says it helps.

 

While I'm not arguing that saltwater itself has the potential to irritate your skin, this definitely wasn't the result of that. I've NEVER had this happen before and have been keeping salty tanks for coming up on 7 years now. My hands have been in the water for extended periods of time and to no ill effect.

No, this was definitely the coral sting. Especially since the affected areas were so localized and not just a general all-over kind of thing. Like I said my right pinky finger and ring finger were both entirely affected, and then there were just areas on the rest of my hands that were also affected. Like my left middle and pinky fingers but only at the top, not the whole finger, and several other areas kinda like that.

 

guess it depends on your skins senstiivity and any aleries you have, for me i spent the majority of my teens in the north sea swimming and climbing cliffs, i've never had reactions to saltwater, and haven't had any from my tank, never used to wash hands after aqua scaping fishing etc until i read about all the potential nasties in there a few weeks back!!

you gotta bear in mind that your salt container should have an irritant warning on it (we do in the uk) and its there for a reason, as mentioned though i've never had any trouble even after direct contact with the salt for a while

 

I'm sure you will help set an example for people. No doubt you have had a bad experience and its not just water related. I always wash before I put hands in tank but just dry them off after. I wonder if they give migrane headaches? Can't seem to get rid of them for over a year.

 

Ditto on that. I've spent my life going into the ocean multiple times per year, backpacking, and being around general nastiness. Maybe it's something you can build an immunity to and I've already got it built. I'm sure my being young and spry plays a part I never washed my hands after tank stuff until I read about the bleah you can come in contact with. Thanks 3Reef.