Measuring incidences of tank poisoining/stings/bites

[Jan]

Do you know what to look for in your blood pressure? Diff breathing, shortness of breath, irregular, rapid or abnormally slow heart rates are important in environmental exposure incidents/emergencies. B/P results are a mere fraction of the whole that needs to be assessed.

 

Thanks Jan. Good news is my breathing is a lot better now after drinking some hot tea and plenty of water. I was sent home for being 'sick' so now I will test my blood pressure with a cuff monitor. If my shortness of breath comes back I'll head to the ER and get checked out.

[Origami]

Sounds exactly like the symptoms I experienced, Curtis. I'm convinced it was aerosol exposure to palytoxin. Wearing a face shield wouldn't have helped. In my experience, I was only able to mitigate the exposure when wearing an respirator with cartridges designed for filtering insecticides. BTW, I wear a face shield, respirator, gloves and a lab coat now when working with palythoas in this kind of situation. Now that you've been through it, you know why.

 

Will send PM.

[trockafella]

I get bit by my cowfish all the time.. Its gotten big enough to actually leave bite marks and or take a small chunk of skin.. No side effects..

 

Euphyllias in general usually leave a small rash on my arm if I brush against them, never anything bad though..

[CaptainRon]

May appear to be overkill but you'd want to protect two areas where entry through the mucous membrane lead right to the blood stream; eyes and mouth.

 

I was actually being serious that time. If someone is going to go through wearing gloves, I'd think you'd want a face sheild too. Glasses are ok, but that still leaves your mouth and usually some space around your glasses for the errant squirt to get through. A cheap little head-band-mounted face shield will kill several birds with one stone.

[treesprite]

Glad you are feeling better, but at least go to Dr in case there are long-term effects.

[Origami]

A cheap little head-band-mounted face shield will kill several birds with one stone.

This is the cheap little face shield that I got for working with these palythoas. Less than $5 at Harbor Freight. Works just fine for the job and has more airflow around the eyes (and is less prone to fogging up) than many safety glasses.

[CaptainRon]

That's what I was thinking about Tom. Thanks for the source - I think I'll try to pick one up this weekend.

[steveoutlaw]

Well, everyone knows my story of making Outlaw stew back in 2007, but if you don't:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1083843&highlight=steveoutlaw+toxin

 

The funniest part about it was the amount of people that didn't believe me.

[CaptainRon]

It's amazing what a couple years will do. I guess the world isn't flat afterall.

 

Did any of the clowns that gave you grief ever admit they were wrong?

[Origami]

That's what I was thinking about Tom. Thanks for the source - I think I'll try to pick one up this weekend.

Just realize that, when it comes to some of these palythoas, aerosol palytoxin is still a significant risk. I highly recommend using a respirator, too.

 

(Sent from my phone)

[zygote2k]

FWIW, I was stung by 3 different corals within seconds of each other on Thursday.

I reached between a huge frogspawn and a huge acropora to retrieve a Tunze cord. I forgot about the Pocillopora that was growing nearby, my wrist touched the pocillopora first and was lightly scratched, then I brushed the frogspawn which left numerous nematocysts and tentacle bundles embedded in my skin, then the slime from the agitated acropora covered the area.

I rinsed my hand and wrist in the tank to remove as much stuff as possible, and now I have 3) bee-sting like marks on the wrist that itch like crazy.

[steveoutlaw]

now I have 3) bee-sting like marks on the wrist that itch like crazy.

 

Try some scotch......eventually you won't notice the itch anymore. Oral application only.

 

It's amazing what a couple years will do. I guess the world isn't flat afterall.

 

Did any of the clowns that gave you grief ever admit they were wrong?

 

Of course not. The thing that really surprised me was how aggressive some folks were about it. After a while I had to end up changing my username on RC.