live rock cacti

[sicklids]

last night i was moving around some live rock and scrubbing with a tooth brush to spread the coralline around a bit and when i was done i had what looked like tiny cactus quills all in my hands. this stuff was miserable, they were very little and felt kinda like fiberglass does when you get into it. anyone got any idea of what this could be? i know bristleworms can do something like this, but i have yet to see a bristle worm in my tank and with as many "quills" as i had in me i would have surely noticed one if it was. i feel fine, nothing "poisioned" me, but my hands were on fire for a bit last night. thanks in advance!

 

[yote]

Sounds like you may have picked up some hitch hiking fire corals.There fairly common on live rock.

 

[sicklids]

what do they look like? all my stuff looks like rock

 

[sicklids]

it sure is!!
animal-world.com/.../sm_stony/encrust_fire.php

 

[Bifferwine]

Most live rock will have that, it's a good idea to wear gloves when working in your tank. I get a rash whenever I touch my rocks.

 

[sicklids]

well, they aint lying when they say you learn something new everyday, however i seem to learn the hard way everytime!

 

[sicklids]

one more question, will this "fire coral" hurt my fish?

 

[yote]

one more question, will this "fire coral" hurt my fish?

Nope.Wont hurt the fish at all.
I've got a couple of rocks with some fire coral on them.There knida cool,untill I forget their there and get my hand against them.
There aslo some type of green colored sponge that you'll get sometimes.If you break that sponge then stick you arm in the tank,you'll swear your arms covered in fire ants.Burns and itches like hell.

 

[sicklids]

well this stuff looks like some kind of encrusted green and white bubbly type stuff. its hard like rock, like a calcium build up of some sort. it looks alot like whats in that pic in that link i posted, but its not really a close up enough shot to tell for sure. all i know is that the "quills" were visible that were stuck in my hands, it looked like i had gotten into some cactus! i dont know, kinda itchy today.

 

[yote]

Thats fire coral for ya:mrgreen: