You must read this. I'm talking to you!

I've talked with this guy. He posts on our local board wamas.org. The article does not tell you that he was on a lung machine for many days before he left the hospital.

BUT YES everyone needs to read this whole article!
 
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This is just crazy....so how the heck can fish sit there and munch em down?I tried some awhile ago ,but my koran made short work of em
 
I read the article and that prompted me to read the thread referenced on Reef Central. A couple things jumped out at me. The guy never posted a picture of the palys that he thinks caused the problem. That was the first thing I looked for as I scanned the thread.

He never posted the information from the FDA. He never responded to people's requests for updates, even though it appears he was still active on the site. Hmmm.....food for thought.
 
I read the article and that prompted me to read the thread referenced on Reef Central. A couple things jumped out at me. The guy never posted a picture of the palys that he thinks caused the problem. That was the first thing I looked for as I scanned the thread.

He never posted the information from the FDA. He never responded to people's requests for updates, even though it appears he was still active on the site. Hmmm.....food for thought.


I don't exactly know what you're getting at in your post. Are you insinuating that he may have faked it? I don't know the person in question, but if you're boiling zoas, there's not going to be anything left to take a picture of.

We know that some zoas are poisonous, that is not in question. I just wanted to post this because when i was a newb, I had no idea that they were poisonous until I saw the post that Erin linked to.
 
Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to offend anyone. I don't know if he faked it or not. I just thought is was odd that he sent some off to the FDA. I wondered why he didn't post a picture so that we could see which type caused such a medical nightmare. I don't know much about zoas and only have a few but they are so darn hard to identify (for me at least).
 
No offense taken.:D

Like I said in my earlier thread....It comes as a surprise to alot of new reefers that zoas are highly toxic.

I'd rather post something like this periodically so that it keeps it fresh in everyones' mind.
 
I think the chance of getting poisoned from your zoas is one in million...or even less. Look at how many hobbyists there are, how many tanks we have, and how many different types of zoas we have (I probably have at least 30 different types of zoas and palys in my 90). It's not a widespread problem by any means, but it is shocking when someone does get hurt. Most species of zoanthids contain no toxins, it's just so hard to tell which ones do!

Unfortunately, Deeds has no clear message for aquarium owners. Some of the zoanthid species that he tested weren’t toxic at all, and indeed, many people claim to have handled zoanthids for years without problems.
 
The story and the guy it happened to are well known here in the DC area. If you read the article you know he did much mire than just touch a zoa. I've touched them a million times and no worse for it BUT if you had a little cut on your finger your get sick.
 
Great I just bought my first corals and some are those. Orange and yellows.

I got a green and a blue mushroom but one had like 4 Zoas on the side i got free but then I bought a small piece with like 10 on it.

I was going to the Coral Corrale tomorrow because they have tons of coral so now I won't get anymore heehee.

My wife was like... that's it. I said the guy said don't waste your money on a big piece these will grow,

I was like thanks.
 
I think a story like this requires substantiation. Why post something so dramatic and not share details? (not referring to PRC here but to outlawsteve on reefcentral)

He posts that the FDA did research on samples but when another poster asks about this, there is no response.

It wasn't clear to me if the picture of palys growing next to the clam were the ones that caused the problem and I was curious so did a little more research. The very last post on his thread at RC gives a link to the FDA research. About half way through the article, you will find pictures of the zoas they tested. Now this is helpful information!
PLoS ONE: Palytoxin Found in Palythoa sp. Zoanthids (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) Sold in the Home Aquarium Trade
 
IMO, the article has enough info: zoas can be dangerous, but not all are. In general be careful around them. That is the message the article portrays, and I agree with it.

These are zoas chuysvt:
bluezoas.jpg
 
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