IMPORTANT: If you or someone you know owns a Saltwater Fish Tank, PLEASE READ!!

[stash searcher]

My sister-in-law and her boyfriend were almost extinguished this last week by breathing palythoa toxin from their brown zoanthids. They were cleaning the tank, and used hot water on the zoanthids. The toxin was vaporized into the steam and inhaled by them accidentally.
Luckily, she only got about 15 minutes of exposure, and their dog only got a few minutes of exposure, but her boyfriend was face in the steam for more than 15 minutes. The doctors are saying if they hadn't made it to the hospital when they did, about 5 more minutes and he would have permanent brain damage from lack of oxygen, if not be completely gone. They are extremely lucky to have survived this, and are thankfully doing better now, though still in hospital.
Both of their heartrates were over 200bpm for more than 2 days, with over 50 respirations per minute. They're both still on oxygen constantly, and only just yesterday did his blood oxygen go above 90%.
Palythoa toxin is one of the most toxic substances in the world. And is available in many aquarium stores world wide.

This thread is not them, but same thing happened to this person earlier this year.
http://reeftools.com/live/forum/showthread.php?t=1593
(Can't remember how to link urls to words since the last forum change)

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS A SALTWATER TANK, PLEASE LOOK INTO RESEARCHING THESE ZOANTHIDS!! Be sure you know how to take precautions when handling these creatures! Even if they're not the toxic kind, pretend they are! Wear full gloves and eye protection. And PLEASE never use hot water to clean off your tank rocks! Please read more about this if you even think you might have toxic zoanthids in your aquarium. Even a cut on your finger can be enough of a pathway for the toxin to get into your bloodstream. It was incredibly scary to be basically helpless and watching from afar one of your best friends and her partner almost not be here anymore, especially since it took the dr's three+ days to figure it all out. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THESE THINGS WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT!

[stash searcher]

I apologize about my horrible grammar in this post. I was typing a bit hastily.

[Viva]

breathing palythoa toxin from their brown zoanthids.

DAMN, NIGGA! Pass me some of that shit!

[jfost]

learn something new everyday...

or,

reason #10298 to NOT have a saltwater aquarium.

[PB]

Glad to hear that your friends and there dog are OK - palytoxin is no joking matter. I have to ask, though, why were they washing the zoanthins with hot water? Seems rather lethal to the zoanthins .......

[stash searcher]

I'm not completely sure why they were using hot water to clean the rocks. (I'm not in the same town, so receive much information second- or third-hand, though I've done a lot of internet research now). They had a ton of those zoanthids (They're often called Texas Trash Palythoas I think), i think they tend to take over easily, I'm sure they wouldn't miss a few. Granted, they aren't going to miss them at all anymore, their local aquarium guy came over and replaced all rock with those on them with different rocks. I'm guessing they'll be happy to never see any of those zoanthids ever again.
Sister-in-law is now out of the hospital (though hanging out there to be with her partner). He should be able to go home by early next week, they're hoping. The toxin inhibits the ability of the body to absorb oxygen, so he still needs it 100% of the time for now, but he's improving big time. After two-three days of his fingernails being greyblue, they did slowly return to pink again, as did his face. She's still getting winded very easily, which is to be expected, I think.

Please remember that these little creatures can affect you significantly even through a small skin abrasion!
Please be careful! They're not impossible to keep around, just avoid all direct contact and don't use hot water!
If you've handled some and feel like you might be getting the flu (common symptom progression includes metallic taste, sore throat, chills, spasms, shortness of breath...) within a few hours, start thinking about heading for the hospital!

[Downbound Train]

That's it! I'm never buying anything starting with "Z" again!

[frorider]

The next Bath Salts craze?

[jfost]

... They're not impossible to keep around, just avoid all direct contact...

why in the hell would you bring these into your house?

risk vs benefit seems a tad out of whack?!?

[beaterdit]

Vibes fro your peeps, also wonder whyTF would anyone have these things in their house???

Also wondering though, your "sister-in-law and her boyfriend"? How does that work?

[powdork]

^his wife has a sister who has a boyfriend would be my guess

[stash searcher]

^^ you're almost right.. my husband has a sister and she has a boyfriend. Probably soon to be husband, i think, especially after going through this crazy incident..

I don't think the level of toxicity is as well known by most saltwater tank enthusiasts. Many tank rocks are live rocks that come with whatever stuff on them that may or may not be known. There are many different types of these particular creatures that look similar. Not all of them are toxic. I guess it was known that these were toxic enough to make your finger numb, but that's as toxic as they were thought to be.
I don't think too many people have had this exact set of events occur (ie breathing in the toxin), at least not documented. I know there are a few other cases, the one linked to in my previous post was earlier this year.
I personally have no idea why anyone would want to even think about having these in their house, but since this hasn't happened very often, I'm not sure how widespread the knowledge is.

They're still improving slowly, but every day is better. he's still in the hospital for a few more days, they haven't decided how many more yet, they're still aiming for early to mid week.
Thanks for any positive thoughts you can send their way! And thanks for spreading the information to anyone you know with a saltwater tank!
The best thing we can do is help this not happen to anyone else!

[Tippster]

I heard dropping a penny in the tank clears up that problem.

[summit]

This thread prompted me to read. What a fascinating toxin. Hope everything turned out OK

[jfost]

^^ you're almost right.. my husband has a sister and she has a boyfriend. ...!

heh, this is like that "the doctor says 'I can't operate on him, he's my son'..." thingy.

[AdamJ]

Wow, I own one, thank you for the topic.

[t-the-east]

Solid thread bump 8 years later

[iceman]

I heard dropping a penny in the tank clears up that problem.

Yeah it's 8 years later but I'm wondering about this. Does a penny in the tank kill everything (including the fish)?

[smartyiak]

Luckily for me, 8yrs on, and I'm still too lazy to own a salt water tank...or a fresh water one for that matter. I have a dog; a lazy, lazy dog.

[Timberridge]

Yeah it's 8 years later but I'm wondering about this. Does a penny in the tank kill everything (including the fish)?

A penny is mostly zinc today ice. You have to differentiate between a pre 1982 and post 1982 penny. Copper will kill the corals and inverts like shrimps, but the fish should do just fine. They use a copper based solution to get rid of ich in fish.

#usedtohaveareeftank

[irul&ublo]

I heard dropping a penny in the tank clears up that problem.

I heard zoanthids taken with chloroquine will cure the covid!

[Timberridge]

^Nutmeg could have used that info.

[Core Shot]

Had many freshwater tanks.

Had one saltwater and I always felt guilty.
Most of those colorful fish are not bred in captivity.
They get stunned with cyanide and netted for us useless eaters to stare at.

Plus, salt sucks for water changes etc.

But most of all, saltwater fish rarely breed in captivity.

[PB]

Never had the gonads to go salt water - that shit's corrosive as hell, and will kill you if you drink it.

[iceman]

Well you have to drink a fair amount of it for it to kill you. You'd probably notice way before it got dangerous.