well im an idiot, learn from my mistakes(palytoxins)

[brunoboarder2444]

So the a few days ago i started breaking out with a rash on my arms, face, ears, neck, etc and could not figure out why. I am not sick, i'm not allergic to anything, i haven't touched poison ivy nothing yet i have all these rashes. They are reddish bump areas on my skin that don't really hurt but are fairly uncomfortable and itchy etc. So today i put 2 and 2 together and realized i've had my hands in the tank all week reorganizing, cleaning, other maintenance, etc so its more than likely that i got some paly toxins on my hand and must have scratched my face/neck/ears and caused rashes everywhere. so just a reminder for everyone to do your research on the stuff and make sure you clean yourself off well after you have your arms in a tank. i knew pretty well about palytoxins prior to this but i always shrugged them off like it was nothing and im sure im not the only member here who has done this and regretted it. so everyone just be careful and dont be an idiot like me lol.

 

[dherrera83]

Note to self: Dont be like Bruno... lol

 

[skene]

Probably not palytoxin... however if you ever put any of these guys in your tank... you may have introduced a parasite into your tank.

ilyanassa obseleta

 

[brunoboarder2444]

never put any of these guys in a tank

 

[KathyC]

Not to minimize what happened to you but I would think the reaction you are having is more to the salt mix. You may need to wear gloves when working in the tank. On line you can purchase thin plastic gloves (the Corallife rubber ones are too cumbersome to work in) that will reach up to your shoulder. They are commonly used by vets to examine livestock....

It is not uncommon for your reaction to the salt to get progressively worse, rather than better as time goes on. So you do want to look into protection while working around the tank.

Palytoxin has much more severe and life threatening symptoms.

See this thread:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/55074-reef-keeping-precautions.html

 

[e.muehlbauer]

You are describing exactly the rash I got on my finger a few years back. No Paly's in my tank...git it from the live rock. Went to the dermatologist, who took a scraping and prescribed an antibiotic cream, Bactroban. The cream worked like a charm, the rash was gone in 24 hours. It is definitely not from Ilynassa obsoleta. I have tons of them in my tank. Swimmer's itch is caused by cercariae (round worm larvae) who use mud snails as a host for part of the life cycle...the normal host is birds, they die when they get into humans. When they do, they leave an intensely itchy bump resembling a bug bite. (The picture is of my foot this summer.)The itching is horrendous, and can be non-stop 24hours. After 2-3 days the itching stops, but the marks can remain for weeks. But- you will not get it in a reef tank, because the salinity is too high for the cercariae to survive. They are primarily fresh water, and can survive in brackish water, but reef salinities will do them in. I regularly get swimmer's itch when I wade in the water while fishing on LI. But it occurs only when I wade in an outgoing tide (lower salinity in the salt marsh on outgoing) after a rain- when salinity is even lower. I can avoid most of it with a quick alcohol rubdown when I get out of the water.