Rash Reaction

[tpallas]

Both my wife  and I recently started getting a rash after having our arms in our tank…..I’ve been Reefkeeping since I was 10 and never got this. Happen to anyone else? Only major change is adding several new torches. We’re getting small itchy bumps that last several days.

Edited March 2, 2023 by tpallas

[lynn.reef.nerd]

I normally don't get any reaction unless it's the nem tank. Our 40 gal only has nem (~20) and I would get a minor rash and sting everytime I put my arm inside. 

[YHSublime]

35 minutes ago, lynn.reef.nerd said:

I normally don't get any reaction unless it's the nem tank. Our 40 gal only has nem (~20) and I would get a minor rash and sting everytime I put my arm inside. 

 

I never had a reaction to anything, until one day I moved a carpet nem, and I got what looked like little burns all over my hands! It didn't hurt or itch or anything, but if definitely irritated my skin! 

 

I also have recently figured out that sometimes when I move rock or have my hands in the tank, I'll sometimes get suuuuuuper itchy fingers, and it's bristle worm stings. It doesn't hurt me, but it itches like crazy for days. I try and wear gloves now when I shuffle rock or am picking things up. 

 

I've heard of people being irritated by torches before. 

[DaJMasta]

Is it touching corals, or just reaching in the tank?  I've heard of nematocysts being sort of dumped into the water column, but that or some kind of aleopathy could put stuff in the water that could effect you, and you likely could run carbon for a bit to get it out (and stick your hand in to see if the reaction has stopped).

You can also just develop allergies to things - it works through repeated exposure with many other things, so it could be that touching something regularly has lead to an allergic reaction.

May also be worth checking if there are any pissed off palys or zoas in there, it's not likely but it's possible for palytoxin to be in the water column in some quantity (I don't know how it effects other livestock, but it could be that a very small amount would cause a rash).

[Origami]

Off hand, it sounds like you both have been stung. My guess, in that case, is the torch coral. Especially if the bumps are localized.

If each bump is at a hair follicle, though, it may be a bacterial infection.

Were often pretty cavalier about reaching into our tanks and simply drying off. However, bacteria can thrive in the water column - and some can be rather harmful. For example, look up mycobacterium marinarum infections for an example. I believe John from BRK had an issue with it many years back. I may be misremembering, though. But somebody here did suffer from it.

This is a good reminder. We all should consider washing with soap and water after reaching into our tanks.



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[ReefdUp]

When I had a Lyngbia outbreak, any disruption to my tank at all caused corals and fish to die within about five minutes. Before I realized what was going on, I kept trying to clean my tank (thinking it was GHA). My arms always felt like they were on fire while cleaning and afterward. 

 

When I had a monstrous population of aiptasia, it seemed like the water column was always full of nematocysts. My arms always came out looking like I had poison ivy rashes all over.

 

There for a while, I had a general sensitivity to saltwater or at least the salt mix I was using. Clean saltwater even made me break out in a rash, so I imagine I had some sort of overall skin sensitivity issue. It went away (although it lasted about two years and nearly made me quit reefkeeping it got so bad).

 

Then, yes, there are all the general day-to-day stings, but I usually can attribute them to a certain incident (brushing up against a particular coral.)

 

There's a ridiculous amount of bacteria, parasites, and other nasties that could cause an issue as well, as mentioned, but those are fairly uncommon (especially if you have uncompromised skin).

 

But on the less scary side, it's winter, and we're all dealing with dry skin. It could be just as simple as needing to let raw skin heal with moisturizers so that the salt doesn't irritate the condition further. (Although actual itchy bumps isn't really consistent with this one.)

[tpallas]

Thanks all. No anemones, but a lot of zoas, torches and other LPS, and SPS.  Running a bit more carbon to try to get the slime out.

[JMsAquarium]

I remember years ago one of our members was poisoned by palytoxins while handling zoas. He ended up having to go to the ER.

[AlanM]

8 hours ago, JMsAquarium said:

I remember years ago one of our members was poisoned by palytoxins while handling zoas. He ended up having to go to the ER.

 

Josh was the most recent severe case.  Here was the post where his wife jumped on to say what happened.  SteveOutlaw also jumped in to that thread.  There are references there too for the time Origami got hit by it.