Poisoned myself with paly toxin. Again...

[naso tang]

Despite using gloves, protective eye ware, I poisoned myself again last night. Had a rock of nasty palys, soaked the rock outside in kalkpaste, brought it inside to pick off the palys with tweezers and toothbrush. Aerosolized the toxin, got me super sick and my wife mildly sick. Happened pretty much just like this

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...-wife-and-dogs

Thought about going to er or calling 911, but ended up riding it out, thankfully woke up feeling better. I'm never touching those guys again!

[jasonp87]

Wow, glad to hear you're ok and everyone is recovering. We hear these stories a few times a year. I think the only safe way to get rid of oalys is to let the rock air dry for a while and then wash it with RO water. Boiling is bad as you aerosolize it as you mentioned you did. People remember to protect their eyes and hands but often forget about their lungs.

[KorL]

what type of palys?

hopefully you and your wife are feeling better

[AFUreef]

Yikes John you got some bad luck with paly toxin. What's that 3 times this year? I hope you and the wife are feeling better bro.

[naso tang]

It's the nuisance brown paly that tends to take over the rock work. I'm better, although I worried that my heart was going to explode during the night. Fevers gone, just body aches and bronchitis like symptoms persist. Wife just has the sniffles. I've had exposure before (fever and chills) but never these asthma type symptoms, difficulty breathing and the racing heart/high blood pressure. This rock was small, had maybe 30-50 palys on it. Thought they'd release the toxins outside in the kalk soak, but I guess they can still be deadly even when they are dead. At least when they are dead and juicy, drying seems much safer. But I'm probably gonna reaquascape and get these fxxkers out.

[calreef18]

Glad to hear you're okay John! I was taking some of these guys out this past weekend. I've always been a bit wary so I've been doing it under water in a bit, cutting them off the rocks with a razor. No incidents yet (knock on wood) but maybe keeping them under water is preventing the toxins from getting airborne?

[naso tang]

Yikes John you got some bad luck with paly toxin. What's that 3 times this year? I hope you and the wife are feeling better bro.

Yeah I know. It's like I don't learn. Eyes, cuts, just haven't inhaled it in awhile. The cuts are usually just bacterial infections but it's all reef sickness. I've got it and urgent care knows just what to do when I walk in the door!

[naso tang]

Glad to hear you're okay John! I was taking some of these guys out this past weekend. I've always been a bit wary so I've been doing it under water in a bit, cutting them off the rocks with a razor. No incidents yet (knock on wood) but maybe keeping them under water is preventing the toxins from getting airborne?

Yeah should be ok in the water, just don't cut yourself cause blood borne is definitely bad! I don't know about the dose though. Think I read microgram to nano gram quantities can kill mice. *****in LD50, one of the worst on the planet!

[naso tang]

Thank goodness for wiki, ld50 is in ng to ug per kg depending on route

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin

[Kris]

Thanks for this thread. I have never heard of this kind of acute exposure issue before. Glad I did not read about this one in the Newspaper! & truly thanks for the link, I am off to buy paint for the house, but will be checking out the wiki later..... Knowledge is power. Kris

[naso tang]

I live to serve, I'm like a human guinea pig! Jk, glad to help through my miserable experiences. Not all palys are this toxic. I just happen to have a plague of the good ones!

[jada1]

Good thing you and family is ok John...does it give off a smell when it happened. ?

[bbandu]

glad to hear all is ok John.....

[naso tang]

Good thing you and family is ok John...does it give off a smell when it happened. ?

Not anything obvious besides the general smell of coral tissue. I think of it like the Red Sea for some reason...you know, like the smell of Xenia?

The palys went into the garbage disposal which probably didn't help. Couldn't figure out how the wife got exposed, except she was near the sink at one point. Kids playing Xbox like 15 feet from the sink got no exposure thank goodness. Nor did the dogs. I would have gone to er if I was able to get out of bed, but from others experiences I've read about, they don't know what to do with this toxin. You'd think a vasodilator might help, but I'm no md.

[naso tang]

Interestingly my tank is freaked out to. All the plating montis show signs of stress, maybe from kalk paste left in the rock. I rinsed it good before putting it back into the tank, running carbon just in case it has something to do with the toxin.