EMERGENCY with ZOANTHIDS

Playa

Active Member
About 1 and a half hour ago I was removing some Zoanthids from a rock and a couple of them exploded and the juice went to my right eye and a little in my mouth.

Immediately I washed my eyes with water and later with eyewash.

Right now I have numbness in my left hand all the way up to my elbow. Almost pain like since there is pressure and puffines.

Should I go to a hospital? They will probably do nothing and make me wait in the emergency room for hours.

Has anyone experienced this before?

Luis
 

Craig Manoukian

Well-Known Member
There is a thread on this regarding the toxicity of these guys. I wouldr definitely go to the emergency room as you may go into shock if the reaction gets any wose.

Hurry Luis, and if you can take a Zo frag with you they can do a toxicology test and give you the right antidote if there is one available.

:) :D :cool: ;) :p :smirk:
 

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
Plus, since I saw that you posted on the RC Zoanthid forum too, I presume that you read this:
Zoanthid Toxicity
Palytoxin
The crude ethanol extracts of the Palythoa toxica proved to be so toxic that an accurate LD50 was difficult to determine. More recently, the toxicity has been determined to be 50-100 ng/kg i.p. in mice. The compound is an intense vasoconstrictor; in dogs, it causes death within 5 min at 60 ng/kg. By extrapolation, a toxic dose in a human would be about 4 micrograms. It is the most toxic organic substance known!
Shimizu [27] and Moore [28] published the chemical structure of palytoxin and it was prepared synthetically in 1989 [29,30]. Palytoxin is a fabulously interesting compound, with a bizarre structure and many extraordinary signs (Fig. 6). Palytoxin is a large, very complex molecule with lipophilic and hydrophilic areas. The palytoxin molecule has the longest continuous chain of carbon atoms known to exist in a natural product. In the molecule of palytoxin, C129H223N3O54, 115 of the 129 carbons are in a continuous chain.. There are 54 atoms of oxygen, but only 3 atoms of nitrogen. Another unusual structure of palytoxin is that it contains 64 stereogenic centers, which means that palytoxin can have 264 stereoisomers! Added to this, the double bonds can exhibit cis/trans isomerism, which means that palytoxin can have more than 1021 (one sextilion) stereoisomers! This staggering molecular complexity should indicate the difficult nature of designing a stereocontrolled synthetic strategy that will produce just the one correct (natural) stereocenter out of >1021 possible stereoisomers.
Palytoxin induces powerful membrane depolarization and ionic channeling [31,32]. Palytoxin is a potent hemolysin, histamine releaser, inhibitor of Na/K ATPase, and a cation ionophore [33]. It is also a non-TPA-type tumor promoter [34,35].
(reference is here:)
toxins
Also, see this:
Palytoxin
The palyothoa toxins are nothing to mess with. Kind of methyl-ethyl-badstuff. Go see a doctor Luis.
 
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Playa

Active Member
Thanx Craig.

It is slowoly going away on the left hand, but it is moving to the entire right hand. A little painful but not to bad.

I will wait a little longer to see what happens.
 

Curtswearing

Active Member
Take an antihistamine (Benadryl or similar). If you start feeling your throat closing at all, call 911 immediately. Anaphylactic Shock happens fast.
 

Playa

Active Member
Thanx guys. I just called 911 and they are coming this way.

Let you know later what happens. I hope:)

Regards,

Luis
 

Curtswearing

Active Member
LUIS---

I'm praying right now.

It's going to to be fine. Do this for me right now. Big Breath in. Hold. Big breath out.
 

ReefLady

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Good move calling 911. No room to play around here. Hope everything turns out fine, please keep us posted.

T
 

Playa

Active Member
Just came home from the Hospital. Thanx everyone for the kind words.

The guys at the ambulance insisted that I went to the Hospital
since the Numbness was somewhat spreading. I was given a powerful dosis of Benadryl on the way to the Hospital. Once there several tests were conducted, mostly eye tests and constant blood pressure monitoring.(it was low for a while)
The Doctor called Poison control and was told everything about the Palitoxin. She said it would have been fatal if swallowed, but upon contact only skin irritation.

Since I know some of the substance from the Zoos squirted directly in the mouth, I believe this is what caused the numbness and puffiness and some pain. I ate some food an hour after this happened and this when I think all hell broke lose.

Anyways I am fine, I will be more careful with the handling of zoos fom now on. I am very sleepy right now due to the intravenous medication. I better go to bed now.

Have a great evening you all and thanx so much for worrying and the prayers.

High Regards,

Luis
 
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Maxx

Well-Known Member
Wow....Luis, I'm glad you are alright and that there are no permanent effects to be concerned about. This could've been much worse. I sorta feel like a mother who's seen her kids inadvertantly been exposed to something dangerous and not been able to do anything about it. I was very relieved to see that you were not hurt.
Be more careful!!!!! I wanna see more pics of your tank, and I can't do that w/ you in the hospital. So stop being so self centered and think of me for a bit!!!! JK
Hope your feeling better Luis,
Nick
 

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Let us know how you are today! I think zoanthids are a colorful addition to the tank but, for their toxicity alone I have chosen to not have them. Besides ourselves, we have pets and I wouldn't want one of them to come in contact with it,

Hope your doing well today.

Gina
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
:eek: Playa, I'm very glad you're ok!!!!!!! Wow! I had no idea zoos were that poisonous. :(

Maybe we could keep a sticky thread with the different poisonous corals and fish? The names of the toxins and how to administer first aid? I'm sure I'd keep it bookmarked!
 

SaltyQueen

Member
Wow, Luis- Sorry I wasn't on here earlier to see this thread when this started, although going to the hospital was your best bet. My guess is that the tingling was due to vasoconstriction (tightening of blood vessels), & probably felt a lot like it feels when your arm "falls asleep." I'm glad it passed quickly, as if it is severe & prolonged, tissues will start to die (necrosis). It sounds silly, but when fragging zoos it may be best to suit up like you're heading into surgery- gloves, face sheild, the whole nine yards...

Glad to hear you're doing OK- the benadryl should just make you pretty sleepy, and hopefully you'll be back to normal when you wake up! :)
 
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