Possible Emergency?

[Nautilus]

Hey all long time no see,
About the gloves you can get these cheaper from a feed store for the local farm/ranchers.

About the trap. Buy one of those throw away ziplock bowls with the lid.
With a knife make several small X cuts and push them inwards slightly.
Now put some brine shrimp or what ever food you would like and submerge the bowl to the bottom of the tank. You may have to put a rock on top of it.

I do this before bed and in the morning I have a bowl full of worms.
I think I posted this here a couple of years ago but could be wrong.

 

[Curtswearing]

Curtswearing has scars on his arms from LPS stings. It is nothing to play with.

Well, the first thing I want to mention is that the Reefkeeping Dangers thread is stickied for a reason. I truly believe that EVERYONE should read it. Stepping down off soapbox.....

Well, my experience is exactly as Nikki mentioned. I had my softy tank for quite a while. After several months I started getting irritation on my forearms (Redness, swelling, itchiness later) primarily when I was working close to any Euphyllia spp. (Frogspawn, hammer, etc.) With each repeated exposure, the irritation increased to the point where I actually have scars which are darn-near invisible in regular light. However, all I have to do is dip my unprotected arm in any softy tank for 2 or 3 seconds and you'll see them well.

(I don't learn too quick....I should have started wearing gloves LONG before it got to this point )

I highly agree that people should have Benadryl around. However, I think you should speak with your doctor and tell him/her of this allergy. After I got stung by a bee, I went into anaphylactic shock and let me tell you, IT'S DOWNRIGHT SCARY!!! I couldn't have called 911 near the end as my tongue, face, and windpipe were all so swollen I could barely breathe. The doctor gave me a prescription for an Epi-pen for my tank, for my medicine cabinet, and to carry with me whenever I'm out in nature.

The key thing to remember is that I've been stung by bees my whole life. I had no idea until it happened that this time I was going to go into shock instead of just having an allergic reaction. Same thing goes for my coral allergy, I don't know which time I might go into shock and Benadryl will not be sufficient when/if it does happen. (Obviously, I now wear gloves to minimize possible contact).

 

[redrooster]

Wow this opened my eyes. I didn't realize there was so much risk. I once had my leg start shaking and my thumb go numb for about an hour from handling zoo's for too long. No I do whatever I need to with them quickly and have never had another problem.

To discuss a slightly different injury have any of you ever been stabbed by little red growths on your LR? They are usually small 1 or 2 MM and very hard. I have a few on my biggest piece of LR and one broke off in my finger and they are hollow inside so I basically was like a straw into my vein and blood was shooting everywhere all crazy. That plus the saltwater in the wound made it pretty painful. Once I pulled it out though it was actually a small cut.

 

[Curtswearing]

Wow this opened my eyes. I didn't realize there was so much risk. I once had my leg start shaking and my thumb go numb for about an hour from handling zoo's for too long. No I do whatever I need to with them quickly and have never had another problem.

To discuss a slightly different injury have any of you ever been stabbed by little red growths on your LR? They are usually small 1 or 2 MM and very hard. I have a few on my biggest piece of LR and one broke off in my finger and they are hollow inside so I basically was like a straw into my vein and blood was shooting everywhere all crazy. That plus the saltwater in the wound made it pretty painful. Once I pulled it out though it was actually a small cut.

That sounds like a foraminferen. If so, they don't have any nematocysts to sting you. The hard part that they wrap their body in is made of Calcium and very few people in the world are allergic to Calcium. However, any puncture wound while in saltwater still carries risk if not washed well. A particular species of Vibrio is dangerous to humans as is Mycobacterium marinum. (Both of those are discussed on the reefkeeping dangers thread).

Foraminferens are quite interesting critters. However, I'm just going for the ID now. Do they look like this?

 

[redrooster]

Yes those are the perpetrators. I wasn't trying to say that they stung. I just thought it was interesting how it broke off in my finger and created a "blood cannon". Also I have very high blood pressure so that is part of the problem.

 

[Curtswearing]

LOL....we need to add Blood Cannon to the reefkeeping dangers thread now.

Here's more info on forams if you are interested. (Note that there is more than one spelling for this critter which isn't quite an animal but acts somewhat like an animal).

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/rs/index.php

 

[lavenderfish]

Ouch Curt sorry to hear about that. Just last month I woke up to the right side of my tongue swollen to about 3 times its normal size because of an allergic reaction to medication. My breathing wasn't compromised yet but it was scary. I had no idea I could drool that much. I had just enough room left to swallow antihistamine. It got the situation under control. Thanks for mentioning the Epi-Pen. I had one years ago for allergy shots and next time at the doc I think I'll ask for another.

redrooster - What's the range on a blood canon? Sorry, I just had to ask.:shock:

 

[NaH2O]

Great input Curt!

Hey all long time no see,
About the gloves you can get these cheaper from a feed store for the local farm/ranchers.

About the trap. Buy one of those throw away ziplock bowls with the lid.
With a knife make several small X cuts and push them inwards slightly.
Now put some brine shrimp or what ever food you would like and submerge the bowl to the bottom of the tank. You may have to put a rock on top of it.

I do this before bed and in the morning I have a bowl full of worms.
I think I posted this here a couple of years ago but could be wrong.

Nautilus! Great to see you! Email coming your way...