cjeffers88

There has been similar cases to ours according to poison control but it only happens 1-2 times nationally every other year. At least that's what they told us. We ruled out mold very quickly. The AC unit has been working fine since returning. That's why I asked about the rocks when everyone was sick. At the shop we don't have a dehumidifier and the "furnace" doesn't really exist. We have heat but we don't have it on. Since being back to the shop, the only thing we've changed is the pump on the tank. So it wouldn't become airborne again and we've been there all week. None of the symptoms have come back and we are all slowly getting better.

On Monday Josh went back into the shop and looked at the rocks closely what he thought was pulsing Xenia at the time because that was all that was really visible was actually a rock that on the back side was palys galore. Here's the rock that did us in.

Hey you guys just saw this thread decided to check in. I'll let you know my side before Josh comes in with all his here's my science talk LOL. Basically what happened was we are in the process of Setting up our fish in the office. We had been looking for cheap live rich and we found some. The LRvcame in 3- 5gallon buckets, no heater no pumps etc. The buckets had lids and we didn't know that they had any palys on them there were some stony coral but that's it. They looked fine for about a day or two when Josh decided to start cycling them in the 75. We were working late at the shop and my sons nursery is right above the office so he and I went to bed around midnight. Josh stayed up working on the fish tanks. Next thing I know my son and I are fighting sleep and waking up chest supertight I'm coughing and having labored breathing. I wake Josh up and tell him something is wrong, that we keep coughing and I'm having trouble breathing. I'm looking around to see what caused the issues, and eyes notice the AC unit was turned on. It's an older unit so I thought maybe something was wrong with it so I turned it off. And googled coughing and old AC units. Searches came up that talked about mold, so I thought maybe it was mold getting into our lungs. Josh still had a little fan circulating air so I thought we would be fine, I got my son back to sleep and then I drifted off. Josh was already back asleep at this time. Then a couple hours later I woke up to coughing again and saw that my son was coughing. He was still asleep but he was coughing and asleep, then woke up and I tried to nurse him but it'll seem to hurt him to swallow. But once again he drifted off. I also drifted off and the next thing I know I'm being woken up by joshes alarm. I stand up and I feel super nauseous, I run downstairs to the bathroom and I end up getting sick. On my way back up I noticed the tanks, as we all know they aren't really small. I saw that the rocks were in the tanks. So I walked upstairs and told Josh I have just gotten really sick this is not good. He then responded saying really, Porsche (dog) got sick earlier. That's when I brought up the rocks, I asked him when he put the rocks in the tank. The lightbulb went off and Josh said oh *&#@. He ran downstairs turned off everything open the windows, and I was busy upstairs packing uo the diaper bag. We got downstairs and I told him to tell everyone not to come in. And we left. Everything seemed better once we got some fresh air in our lungs. But as we were driving home I kept getting more nervous because Nikola was breathing really heavy and having trouble and coughing. I decided I'm going to take him to the ER. Josh fight with me about going to the ER himself, so I said F it stay home with Porsche. I even gave him the option to take her to the vet or have someone we know take her to the vet. But he stubborn so he stayed home with her. I rushed my son and I to the Howard County General Hospital emergency room and I had him seen first. The number of times I had to explain Palytoxin poisoning was annoying, but I told them the best option was to get a hold of poison control. Nikola had blood drawn and it IV put into him he had a slight fever, so they gave him Tylenol. Throughout this whole check in my symptoms kept getting worse. I had talked to josh and the body chills were super excessive. I had similar chills and aches, To the point when they want to give him chest x-rays I could barely walk along with them. When they tried to put the chest protector on me I couldn't really stand and I told the nurses I can't do this I'm not strong enough, so the nurses had to do the x-rays with my son while I waited outside. Throughout this whole time I had been texting and talking with Josh but he had stopped responding. Which worried me because my symptoms were awful and I knew his had to be worse since he actually handled the rocks. I kept calling and texting him and since he wouldn't respond.. I decided to hit up anyone close to the house to check in on him, including justin. Since Justin knew the severity of the ordeal he got his sister and mom to stop by. My friend Anita was down the street and got there first. Right before she got to the door, josh picked up his phone. Sigh of relief I told him people were coming to check on him, to which he replied he was fine. Anita called me and said he says he's fine etc.. But I. Reality he looked like death and was so weak. I told Anita he needed to go to the hospital, that he's just fighting it and putting on an act. Justin's sister and mom arrived and they saw how "pathetic" Porsche looked. They called more family etc. we tried avoiding this but since josh stopped responding I couldn't hide it. I called his brother and asked him to convince to take josh to the hospital and Porsche to the vet. I told him I haven't told Josh's mother yet.. Trying not to scare her, they were out of town in Ohio. Well Justin's mom texted her right before Josh's brother called her and we called it. She was worried, scared, frantic, and thinking the worst. One of the other people I had texted was Josh's good friend Dave. His father is a zoologist, so he asked his dad about palytoxin and his dad said hospital now. Dave drove over and showed up 5-10 mins after everyone got there. Dave pretty much had to physically carry josh to the hospital because josh was so weak. Justin's sister and mom took Porsche to the vet, and Anita, Dave and Josh went to HCGH ER. In the meanwhile, my phone is blowin up from texts giving me this play by play... I called my parents to help watch Nikola in PICU while I got admitted to the ER myself. I was dizzy, disoriented, killer headache, labored and painful breathing, extreme weakness, body chills and aches, and a fever of 100.3. My bp was extremely low but I have low bp to start. I came at a good time, they took me to a room and got blood samples and gave me and IV and saline bag for fluids. I was notified that they wanted to take my son to Johns Hopkins because the pediatrics unit at HCGH didn't feel that they had anyone truly qualified. His white blood cell count was extremely high! So I signed the papers and gave the ok for them to transfer my little baby boy with my dad. I felt better knowing my dad was going with him. Josh had finally gotten to the ER and they took his stats. 103.5 temp, super high then super low bp, crazy heart rate etc. so they laid him on a gurney .. For about an hour until a room was available. Family members from both sides show up worries. We knew word had spread and another hospital visit for Chelsea was being passed around only this time it included Nikola and Josh. In the background another woman was screaming help and sounded like a billy goat. Yelling that the doctors and nurses are kidnapping her, good entertainment while I just laid in my room. They pretty much forgot about me. My headache started becoming way too much. Finally a doctor came in. Parts of my body started tingling uncontrollably and I told the nurse that according to my blood work, my potassium levels were very low, she said that's why my body is tingling. So they ordered me a giant horse pill of potassium, and had to cut it in half for me to swallow the pieces. An hour went by and the tingling was still there. The headache would disappear and come back soften that hit harder. So I finally called the nurse and they put me on oxygen and called up for Tylenol. I had to continuously take the oxygen out of my nose because it kept burning, and I told nurses it burned, but they didn't do anything about it. I got the Tylenol and it helped my headache for a little bit but that was all. I was able to walk around and Josh finally got a room I was able to visit him. They had me give a urine sample just to make surefor extra tests and they said I came back with nothing wrong. They said they talked with poison control and I just have to wait out the symptoms, and that they were going to discharge me. My dad had called and said the nurses at Hopkins love him and Nikola is doing better, and says there's not much to do but alone not that much information on it, that he basically has the symptoms of a chest infection and that they were going to discharge him as well. That actually pissed me off quite a bit since they were supposed to call me to ask me questions about what happened but they never did. They discharge my sign and said it is likely Nikola wasn't even exposed which makes no sense, since we all were. we were both discharged Friday night and we visited Josh and his ER room before my son and I left to go get cleaned up wash stop and take a nap. I didn't want him to be in the ER for a lot of sick people were. Josh later that night was sent to a room for overnights an observation. Josh's parents finally got to the hospital around 9 PM that night. Josh was forced to stay until his white blood cell count finally came down to a normal range which it did Sunday morning. They kept giving him random medications throughout his day and would constantly ignore what he would tell them. Thankfully we are all home now doing a lot better. We all still suffer from the side effects Nikola is doing a lot better, you can only tell when he cries or scream, his throat is so sore. I still have a massive headaches a cough trouble breathing but my tingling is gone. Josh says he probably has 50% of his lung strength back, he still coughing and we all get exhausted very easily. We are all back at work though working hard. No time for rest LOL. There's tons more but that's a summary on my side.

Are guests allowed for the oct meeting in Bethesda?

Does anyone know if the admission fee for non members is 5 or 10$? We have a bunch of friends that may end up joining but we want to introduce them to WAMAS. The upcoming meet up is a great. Any idea?

To respond to the MRS. question ... I'm alright I've had my share of bumps and bruises during the pregnancy and honestly I couldn't care less about myself... Since the birth Nikola has been my world. Mostly stressed with what's going on in his health as well as our tanks ... We may have has another victim thanks to the boppit, one of our wrasses was found to have jumped and time of death we guess was after feeding (around the time the boppit comes out at night) :/

We will have to move our invertebrates ASAP and maybe try this

I honestly wonder how that battle would go. We had a mantis shrimp before and he was great...

I'm so upset right now... So being distracted by the bobbit... And a new baby I haven't stared at the tank for hours and he's done feeding.... Earlier I said no fish have been a victim. MY LOVING MANDARIN WAS EATEN! I cried. Post pregnancy emotions are crazy. I want to smash his head in and throw him in boiling water... We're going to try using a decent size PVC pipe to catch him at night. Breaking the rock is decadences last resort. And well post more pictures, videos, and ongoing process! I hope no one else on wamas will ever have to run into this problem.

So, To reply to everyone 1. As much as we'd love to just throw the rock out, he's found home in one if our main structure rocks that's home to a number of beautiful corals. 2. If only a 2 liter could fit! 3. I will take tons and tons of pictures. 4. Not going to try to trap it just in case he decides to try to spilt in half etc .. One is enough 0.0 5. Sharkey18 thank you for the offer, is it weird that this challenge excites me? I want to get him ...and all of him, and I wouldn't want you to drive all the way out here. I have two great wamas members who are related/live with me that could help out... Aka since most of the corals on the rock belong to josh he wants to be super careful etc. 6. Sadly no auction. We have promised the lovely worm to a family member, I'm waiting for he lights to go off so I can go hunting again haha Thanks for all the help and support. We're going to try to get him with tongs and if it fails We plan on chiseling the rock to expose him but keep the corals safe. Thank you"

Wah! After more searching and research it looks like we do have a Bobbit worm 0.0 And josh estimates ..... That it's around 2 ft Anyone wanna .... Grab it ?! Lol

I would hope it's not a bobbit worm. It has. The dray brown gray color and the red lining of a fire worm. Our fish haven't disappeared...yet. It's more random tips of corals are gone or corals are so disturbed they start to STN. What type of food should I put in the bottle? Also what are the chances of instead of the fireworm I end up getting a fish stuck o.o?

Dear fireworm. You're pissing me off. One by one my crabs have disappeared. I was so confused and bummed. I loved my little buddies. Thanks to my new reefer (son) I'm up all hours. It was a pleasant surprise seeing a blurry photo of you from daddy and then looking at your cave and seeing ONE OF THE ARMS IF MY CRABS! Murderer. Seriously where the eff did you come from. (Readers he's huge and seems like he's over 1.5 feet. ) this is your eviction notice. Leave! Love Chelsea. ANY IDEAS HOW I CAN GET HIM OUT? Every time we think we're close and can grab him with rings..he's disappeared :/

Lately, visiting other reefers in and out of area they've asked about our systems and build. We've already started a long long build forum on thereeftank as well as reefcentral. So here are the links to both if interested. It was supposed to be a 120, 90 build but due to recent events..BABY we've had to change up and now have our 90 and 12 coming along..slow and steady. The 730 will wait until we purchase our own home. Thereeftank thread is more detailed and updated....as well as started from the beginning http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/josh-and-chelseas-120-and-90-builds-195192.html Reefcentral http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2332517 Ps 90 was mine but as a nice lady to her man.. I allowed josh to have it while I downsized majorly lol

If only I could afford college.