What could have happened?

[SRT80]

Ok, at first I wasn't gonna even mention it. Just gonna shrug it off. But I can't stop thinkin' about it. I was workin' in my 80 gal. tank Saturday afternoon. Movin' stuff around to make room for the frag swap. I have this huge, probably 10"x5" polyp rock. I was havin' to handle it alot. I don't know if it released a bunch of toxins or what. But that evening, I became really sick. Cold chills, coughing,...just really sick. When I say really, I mean it. This happened before when I first set the tank up at my house. Only last for about 24 hours. So I assume it was somethin' with tha tank again. Guess I'm gonna have to start wearin' gloves. But Sunday mornin', I woke up to a dead yellow tang, all my SPS was dead (just a purple cap frag, green birdsnest frag, and pink birdsnest). So not a huge loss. The frogspawns and leather looked a little stressed, but they are back to normal today. What could have caused this? I figured if any fish would have died, might have been the pygmy angel, but it's fine as well as my 4 clowns. What hurts the most was losin' the yellow tang. Strange....

Steve

[gflat65]

If the polyp rock got moved and bumped around a lot, it is possible it released some toxins that might have taken out the sps (not thinking palytoxin, as I think it is a turns your organs to mush, type of fun, but it likely has some side effects that don't necessarily make perfect sense and it likely mixes with some other toxin in tanks)). It'd have to be a lot to take out the yellow tang (and then not to take anything else???). Did you cut anything in the tank? I've gotten a few spells of not-so-good-feeling after messing around with the tank for a long time in one sitting. Feelin okay now?

[gsusfreak]

be careful in there steve....i used to not wear gloves either...til one day i felt really light headed while aquamend'n some corals....i realize after everything was done,that i had a small cut on my finge(probably from work since i mess around with cardboard, and probably got a papercut or something)....so i always pop my gloves on now

[rsteagall]

Ya... be careful. I've got dizzy and nauseous a few times in my tank after touching those common green/brown palys we all have. I even got a rash that blistered up on my neck once after messing in the tank for about an hour solid.

Not to steal your thread or anything... but after doing a water change a few days ago, I must have stirred up something nasty that killed my perfectly healthy Kole Tang. He was eating good and doing perfect before I cleaned the tank. After that he hid and stopped eating for 2 days and today I found nothing but his skull. I'm pretty sad about that.

[SRT80]

I don't know, It's big rock with probably 150 polyps. Maybe palys, zoas, button polyps? They use to be a nice blue color when I got it from fishdoc a couple years ago. They was in his 29 under VHOs. They have kinda turned a more brownish blue in this tank. I have some in my 20 under T5s and they look good. But yea, I was messin with it alot. And I'd say it must have been alot because I was to the point where I was shiverin like havin a seizure. Never got the light headed feel though. But yea, I was feelin' better Sunday evening and all better Monday. It was like a 24 hour thing.

Sorry to hear about your Kole Tang Ryan. When I found my tang, it wasn't dead long because it look perfect, but the hermits was makin' there way to it. I was able to remove it.

Steve

[rsteagall]

Palys tend to be more "slimy" than zoanthids. The ones that I'm sure I got sick on will get sticky slimy stuff on you at the slightest touch. Yea, I saw the kole tang yesterday still alive... today... picked clean... all I found left was the skull. I guess the serpent star, hermits, and bristle worms made quick food of him Again, it had to be something that I stirred up when cleaning that got to him.

[crumbletop]

Man -- be careful. Sorry for the losses, but glad you are better.

[gflat65]

Ahhh. Those are palys, so that was likely your culprit. Daniel Knop and someone in Germany thought it was a good idea to use a wire brush on some paly's like those that were overgrowing the SPS in a large display system. The goo they released in the water wiped a lot of the system out. There is some nasty stuff in our tanks, especially when agitated. We all react to things in differing degrees, so the possibilities are endless...

[mamagoose45]

Glad you are feeling better. You're not alone on the reaction to touching things - I have issues pretty much every time I stick my arm in the tank. My skin burns/itches after about 3 or 4 minutes of being in the tank if I don't wash my hands and arms with soap and water. I really have issues if I'm in the big tanks scraping and have my upper arm in the tank - more sensitive skin I guess. We bought the "up to the shoulder" gloves because of it, but they are damn near impossible to function in. In general, I just try not to mess with the palys/zoos too much as a result of reading more than a few threads about people having reactions to their death slime.

[Mikeyjer]

Sorry to hear both of your losses.....I'll try to remember not to move my zoos or palys around too much.....I've had these fish too long to kill'em off like that..........

[gsusfreak]

steve did you go to the hospital at all?

[SRT80]

no John, I just fought it...lol Probably not the best thing though. Truth is, I can't even remember the last time I went to the doctor for bein' sick. I just take the dayquil/nyquil and be done.

I hear ya on them gloves mariah. Are you talkin' about the blue arm/orange glove ones? They make me think I'm Homer Simpson in the nuclear power plant. Can't do anything with them. Pretty good for cleaning handling live rock out of the tank though.

Steve

[mamagoose45]

Those are the ones. I hadn't thought about the Homer Simpson thing, but you're exactly right. They're good for fumbling around with big stuff, but that sure is it...