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Aquarium Corals of Anchorage Poison Humans, Dogs, and Cat

50 points by noahlt 11y ago

CamperBob2 11y ago
Palytoxin is actually pretty well known in the reefing hobby. There are plenty of stories about people developing strange and frightening symptoms after exposure to Palythoa, but fortunately none of them (to my knowledge) have been terminal. My SO is into this stuff, and I've learned that it's a fascinating and extremely technical hobby, and an expensive one too. Most of the danger is to your bank account.
- technologistcom 11y ago
  True. A related article: http://reefbuilders.com/2015/08/26/palytoxin-dangerous/ http://reefbuilders.com/2015/08/26/palytoxin-dangerous/
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- pmarsh 11y ago
  I've been in and out of this hobby over the last 20+ years. The latest generation of technology that started ~5 years ago is simply amazing when compared to what we used to have. Think home automation scaled down to a fish tank. Remote monitoring and control, email/text alerts based on parameters, evaporation auto-top-offs, and LED lighting at a fraction of the cost of old metal halide or VHO fluorescent. Plus the level of scientific knowledge and accurate affordable test kits now available to hobbyists really makes a huge difference.
- lgunsch 11y ago
  Haha, yeah. My bank account has been hit pretty hard with my saltwater tank, and I haven't even ventured into keeping corals yet.
- huuu 11y ago
  I had a low tech reef tank so I know it's possible to keep one at very low cost. But because everything is so fragile you have to know what you are doing. That's why most serious reef keepers know about this coral. Those corals can make you blind if you are not careful.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- matwood 11y ago
  I had a reef tank for awhile. It was definitely a mini one at only 20 gallons. The biggest cost of reef tanks is the lighting. I was able to do it on the cheap by building my own lighting setup and managed to save money, but there were still some corals I couldn't grow. The ones I could grow did quite well. I finally stopped doing it not because of the money, but the time required. A small tanks requires tons of daily checks and minor adjustments where a larger tank can more easily survive fluctuations because of the buffer of more water.
aaronbrethorst 11y ago
The line that stood out for me from the article: All through the night -- and let me emphasize that you just can't make this stuff up -- the coral seems to have exuded some sort of creeping death mist. O_O Please, someone, tell me that the author is exaggerating at least a little...
- CamperBob2 11y ago
  Here's Wikipedia's version (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin): According to an ancient Hawaiian legend, (Malo 1951) on the island of Maui near the harbour of Hana there was a village of fishermen haunted by a curse. Upon their return from the sea one of the fishermen went missing. One day, enraged by another loss, the fishermen assaulted a hunchbacked hermit deemed culprit of the town's misery. While ripping off the cloak from the hermit the villagers were shocked because they uncovered rows of sharp and triangular teeth within huge jaws. A shark god had been caught. It was clear that the missing villagers had been eaten by the god on their journeys to the sea. The men mercilessly tore the shark god into pieces, burned him and threw the ashes into a tide pool near the harbour of Hana. Shortly after, a thick brown moss started to grow on the walls of the tide pool causing instant death to victims hit by spears smeared with the moss. Thus was the evil of the demon. The moss growing in the cursed tide pool became known as "limu-make-o-Hana" which literally means "seaweed of death from Hana."[3] The Hawaiians believed that an ill curse came over them if they tried to collect the deadly seaweed.[9] So, there's that. In reality you usually have to go looking for trouble with this stuff in order to be affected by it. This article appears to be based on an unusually virulent sub-species that isn't commonly seen in the aquarium trade.
- pvaldes 11y ago
  Is not so strange. The 'mist' is created by the aquarium pumps and aerators in fact. If the water had poisonous substances and the aquatium does not have a cover, those could travel by the air as aerosol. Is rare, but not paranormal. The inverse works also easily. It is known that fishes can be poisoned and die by nicotine or burned oils smoke when aquariums are placed in smoking rooms or kitchens.
gcb0 11y ago
so both cases had a dog? Is it that far fetched to believe the dog licked pieces from the floor and then the owners, being dog owners that let the dog inside, played with the dog and let it lick their faces?

50 points by noahlt 11y ago

Palytoxin is actually pretty well known in the reefing hobby. There are plenty of stories about people developing strange and frightening symptoms after exposure to Palythoa, but fortunately none of them (to my knowledge) have been terminal. My SO is into this stuff, and I've learned that it's a fascinating and extremely technical hobby, and an expensive one too. Most of the danger is to your bank account.

technologistcom 11y ago
True. A related article: http://reefbuilders.com/2015/08/26/palytoxin-dangerous/ http://reefbuilders.com/2015/08/26/palytoxin-dangerous/
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
pmarsh 11y ago
I've been in and out of this hobby over the last 20+ years. The latest generation of technology that started ~5 years ago is simply amazing when compared to what we used to have. Think home automation scaled down to a fish tank. Remote monitoring and control, email/text alerts based on parameters, evaporation auto-top-offs, and LED lighting at a fraction of the cost of old metal halide or VHO fluorescent. Plus the level of scientific knowledge and accurate affordable test kits now available to hobbyists really makes a huge difference.
lgunsch 11y ago
Haha, yeah. My bank account has been hit pretty hard with my saltwater tank, and I haven't even ventured into keeping corals yet.
huuu 11y ago
I had a low tech reef tank so I know it's possible to keep one at very low cost. But because everything is so fragile you have to know what you are doing. That's why most serious reef keepers know about this coral. Those corals can make you blind if you are not careful.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
matwood 11y ago
I had a reef tank for awhile. It was definitely a mini one at only 20 gallons. The biggest cost of reef tanks is the lighting. I was able to do it on the cheap by building my own lighting setup and managed to save money, but there were still some corals I couldn't grow. The ones I could grow did quite well. I finally stopped doing it not because of the money, but the time required. A small tanks requires tons of daily checks and minor adjustments where a larger tank can more easily survive fluctuations because of the buffer of more water.

aaronbrethorst 11y ago

The line that stood out for me from the article: All through the night -- and let me emphasize that you just can't make this stuff up -- the coral seems to have exuded some sort of creeping death mist. O_O Please, someone, tell me that the author is exaggerating at least a little...

CamperBob2 11y ago
Here's Wikipedia's version (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin): According to an ancient Hawaiian legend, (Malo 1951) on the island of Maui near the harbour of Hana there was a village of fishermen haunted by a curse. Upon their return from the sea one of the fishermen went missing. One day, enraged by another loss, the fishermen assaulted a hunchbacked hermit deemed culprit of the town's misery. While ripping off the cloak from the hermit the villagers were shocked because they uncovered rows of sharp and triangular teeth within huge jaws. A shark god had been caught. It was clear that the missing villagers had been eaten by the god on their journeys to the sea. The men mercilessly tore the shark god into pieces, burned him and threw the ashes into a tide pool near the harbour of Hana. Shortly after, a thick brown moss started to grow on the walls of the tide pool causing instant death to victims hit by spears smeared with the moss. Thus was the evil of the demon. The moss growing in the cursed tide pool became known as "limu-make-o-Hana" which literally means "seaweed of death from Hana."[3] The Hawaiians believed that an ill curse came over them if they tried to collect the deadly seaweed.[9] So, there's that. In reality you usually have to go looking for trouble with this stuff in order to be affected by it. This article appears to be based on an unusually virulent sub-species that isn't commonly seen in the aquarium trade.
pvaldes 11y ago
Is not so strange. The 'mist' is created by the aquarium pumps and aerators in fact. If the water had poisonous substances and the aquatium does not have a cover, those could travel by the air as aerosol. Is rare, but not paranormal. The inverse works also easily. It is known that fishes can be poisoned and die by nicotine or burned oils smoke when aquariums are placed in smoking rooms or kitchens.

gcb0 11y ago

so both cases had a dog? Is it that far fetched to believe the dog licked pieces from the floor and then the owners, being dog owners that let the dog inside, played with the dog and let it lick their faces?