Zooanthids, A WARNING

[kkyyllee]

if regular zoanthids had these highly toxic stuff in them alot of people would be dead

 

[SkiFletch]

if regular zoanthids had these highly toxic stuff in them alot of people would be dead

Go take your zoanthids out of the water, and lick them a few times... Call me when your lips/tounge goes numb and we'll talk . Seriously, don't try that.

You're missing the key points of this issue. The original poster killed a zoanthid eating nudibranch. These nudibranchs concentrate the palyotoxin in their flesh for their own defense. So in effect the person afflicted here released the toxin of hundreds of zoanthids all at once, much more dangerous than just touching one. If he cut himself on the nudibranch or had a previous cut in his skin where he squished it, the toxin goes straight into his blood stream where it can do the most damage. Any mucous membranes (eyes, lips, mouth, tounge, nose, opem cuts, unmentionables, etc) are capable of absorbing the toxin.

The toxin is real and all Zooanthids and Zoanthids have it to varying extent on various portions of their bodies. The ones referred to as being the "most toxic" are Palythoa grandis, yet even the smallest zoos have palyotoxin.

 

[Danno]

I can voutch for the cut on my hands. My job involves me working with raw metal that hasn't been de-burred yet. I get cuts on my hands a lot. Stupidly I still put my hands in my hand to reaquascape that day. Maybe it was the salt that made my hand numb, but I dont think that salt can do it THAT much. I poked my hand with a needle and felt nothing...but I woke up the next morning. Here is a picture of my grandis that I think did it but I have other zoos in my tank that can be the culprit. The large poylp in this video is about 7/8ths (and growing fast) of an inch in diameter.

 

[FLcracker94]

DUDE!! Those are the same zoanthids I have! lol...just mine havn't exactly "taken off" in the tank, They just stick around on one little rock, then theres a lone one in the corner of the tank...lol

What is the Clown swimming over and....

Is that,
A Percula
A Green Chromis
and a Peppermint shrimp?

 

[Danno]

The information is in my signature, just click on it.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Just for information before I get my tank started

Are surgical gloves sufficant? What about the parts of your arms that are exposed, is there any risk of anything bad stinging you on your arms?

 

[SkiFletch]

Most of the time yes Barney. I prefer the slightly thicker ones, not the cheapies to keep bristleworms at bay. Remember Barney, never touch your face, eyes, or other mucuous membranes with the gloves you just used, or the towels you just washed your coral-handling gloves with . And don't make it a habit of squishing zooanthid eating nudibranchs

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Most of the time yes Barney. I prefer the slightly thicker ones, not the cheapies to keep bristleworms at bay. Remember Barney, never touch your face, eyes, or other mucuous membranes with the gloves you just used, or the towels you just washed your coral-handling gloves with . And don't make it a habit of squishing zooanthid eating nudibranchs

Makes note: Dont squish things full of potentially lethal toxins - Check.

I have a friend that works in drug packaging (the legal kind) and they have liberated a ton of thick surgical gloves for me

 

[kkyyllee]

youll be fine with gloves, just dont squish the nudis..

 

[Matt_northants]

Always use gloves in your reef tank. SH

the question is... what gloves...

medical / sergical gloves contain talc... not something that i would want to introduce to the tank... what do you use guys and girls ?

If your worried about introducing contaminates to your tank use TNT or a similar brand of thin nitrile glove. We use them at work when doing environmental analysis, as they're completely inert and dont contain talc.