tharsis Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I am just starting out my first tank and i have some mushrooms attached to live rocks that I purchased. I will be adding zoas and leathers in a couple weeks... My question is what are safe handling procedures (wearing gloves etc) for corals (mushrooms, leathers, zoas, sps etc...). If I wanted to remove a mushroom, should i wear gloves while I try to pop him off? Thanks! Link to comment
danted Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 With the Zooanthids you want to make sure and wear gloves and goggles due to the possible presence of Palytoxin. In the right circumstances; knicks and cuts on your hands, the entry of this toxin can lead to a quick death. Link to comment
WelshMarine Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I dont where gloves whilst fragging my leathers out of the water, just leaves a smell for an hour or 2 on your hands. as for popping mushrooms off ive done it in the past and killed the mushroom , best way is to pick around the base with a pin Link to comment
tharsis Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 With the Zooanthids you want to make sure and wear gloves and goggles due to the possible presence of Palytoxin. In the right circumstances; knicks and cuts on your hands, the entry of this toxin can lead to a quick death. Well I am glad I asked, I am about to order a whole bunch of zooanthids. Goggles too? Do they just release the toxin when they are messed with? Will a pair of dishwashing gloves do? What about things like aiptasia and majano? Link to comment
WelshMarine Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 "What about things like aiptasia and majano?" With aiptasia dont pull it off it wont sting you or anything but it can make things worst it can spread more. Aiptasia X or Aiptasia eating fish/shrimp to kill it / them Link to comment
tharsis Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 "What about things like aiptasia and majano?" With aiptasia dont pull it off it wont sting you or anything but it can make things worst it can spread more. Aiptasia X or Aiptasia eating fish/shrimp to kill it / them For the most part i have been removing the rock and running a bit of cold water over the area and then coaxed it off with a knife. i was planning on getting a peppermint shrimp to help with the ones attached to rocks that can't be taken out. I want to keep the mojano though, it is fairly attractive. Link to comment
danted Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Well I am glad I asked, I am about to order a whole bunch of zooanthids. Goggles too? Do they just release the toxin when they are messed with? Will a pair of dishwashing gloves do? What about things like aiptasia and majano? Yea. its a defense mechanism. As for the goggles, its just a good idea because when you go to cut em or whatever its easy for secretions to go airborne and you don't want them getting into any membranes or eyeballs Link to comment
Backwerds Man Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 These threads always make me lol. Here's all I'll say. Try and find any information on actual cases of people being hospitalized or killed from fragging corals. Keep in mind that there are plenty of enthusiasts like me that do it with no protection at all. That will give you a good idea on how dangerous zoanthids really are. As long as your not popping zoas in your mouth like Mentos, or fragging them whilst bleeding everywhere... You'll be fine. Link to comment
noobwithatank Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 These threads always make me lol. Here's all I'll say. Try and find any information on actual cases of people being hospitalized or killed from fragging corals. Keep in mind that there are plenty of enthusiasts like me that do it with no protection at all. That will give you a good idea on how dangerous zoanthids really are. As long as your not popping zoas in your mouth like Mentos, or fragging them whilst bleeding everywhere... You'll be fine. haha i know what you mean about the thread.. but just remember at one point were we in this persons shoes.. ahha to be honest, ive never worn a damn thing while in my tank.. i do try to avoid putting my hands in there when i have a cut etc.. also. ive started to frag in water. like i take the coral out.. let it air dry for a few mins then place in into a container full of tank water.. frag in the container under the water quickly.. and then rinse off in some RO water with iodine. best of luck. Link to comment
GokesReef Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I've never worn anything while handing zoas, pallys, acans, SPS, frogspawn, favia, plate or candycane... Just be careful to rinse your hands and dry them with a paper towel - no chemicals - before you go in. I've killed SPS by having contaminates on my hands. Link to comment
crombastic Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Sightly off topic, but still relevant to the conversation. Remember to wash your hands off. I gave myself horribly painful pink eye after rubbing my eyes right after messing with my tank. Link to comment
gabe_j Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 yeah hot water rise before i go in. and a good washing with hot water after i've never had a problem. but i will put on goggles only because i've gotten zoas juice land on my check while fragging and i thought that was close enough to getting shot in the eye. lol i feel this is going to get sig quoted... Link to comment
Dr.eclipse Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 yeah hot water rise before i go in. and a good washing with hot water after i've never had a problem. but i will put on goggles only because i've gotten zoas juice land on my check while fragging and i thought that was close enough to getting shot in the eye. lol i feel this is going to get sig quoted... dibs! money shot! Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I would recommend using gloves when you put your hands in your tank only to prevent oils and other contaminants from your hands getting into the tank. Otherwise, feel free to touch the corals as much as you'd like. Link to comment
jnelson Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I would glove up either way just because my skin dries out pretty quickly in saltwater. However, ever since something happened to one of my friends while he was in his tank, I definitely glove up every single time my hands go into water. Here's a thread he started up on Manhattan Reefs (NYC metro area reef forum): http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/genera...recautions.html Link to comment
tharsis Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Thanks for the replies guys. I have been washing my hands before and after I go into the tank, but i have been using soap, which i am assuming may not be the best thing? I will start with a hot rinse before going in and then soap when coming out. I am obsessively aquascaping and moving stuff around in my planted tank so I am assuming that i will have the same tendencies with this tank...so I will probably get a pair of gloves. For the potential risk as well as the hygiene. Link to comment
CollegeNano Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 These threads always make me lol. Here's all I'll say. Try and find any information on actual cases of people being hospitalized or killed from fragging corals. Keep in mind that there are plenty of enthusiasts like me that do it with no protection at all. That will give you a good idea on how dangerous zoanthids really are. As long as your not popping zoas in your mouth like Mentos, or fragging them whilst bleeding everywhere... You'll be fine. +1. Although I eat my corals all the time. Sometimes I mix them into a protein shake Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Off topic but IMO. The less you put your hands in the tank the better. Play with it if you must before too many corals are in there. Your tank aquascape will improve after some corals grow out. Every now and then usually when I go on vacation I am amazed at how wonderful the tank looks when I get back. Salinity may be a bit high and a water change may have been skipped but every coral looks better. Also on the advise of another reefer on here every couple of days use a turkey baster to blow of the live rock and all kinds of stuff will be put in the water and then can be filtered out of the tank. Good luck with your tank. Link to comment
RussianBoy Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 This topic has been a long going debate here, in my own personal experience, I have never worn gloves, or eye protection. I wash my hands before and after handling corals. The only one I ever touched that concerned me were my LARGE green button paly's but I am still breathing. Having an exacto knife is handy too, the more ripping and pulling on the corals the better the chance to kill it, I have cut mushrooms from the rock as close to the base as possible and fragged them that way, however the stem left on the rock did grow into another mushroom as well. The only time I have been hurt by my tank was being stung by a firebristle worm... Link to comment
Bishop Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 zoas has a nasty rep and maxi mini anemones are super sticky so I use gloves. all else I handle bare. Link to comment
GokesReef Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 This wasn't addressed since you asked but yes - stop using soap. Soap is anti-bacterial, kills 99.99% or whatever.. that bacteria makes reefs work. Warm water rinse -> Dry with paper towel (not dish towel or anything else that has laundry detergent/bleach/other cleaning materials residue on it) before. Whatever you want after.. just make sure you're done. How do you people who never put your hands in your tank spot feed? I'm elbow deep pretty much every day dropping shrimp into my LPS. Link to comment
javisaman Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 ^ syringe and rigid air tubing. Learned it from another (former member here) and her mandarin feeding technique. Link to comment
TheUnfocusedOne Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 i was planning on getting a peppermint shrimp to help with the ones attached to rocks that can't be taken out. I know its a bit off topic, but depending on the size of your tank, you might want to consider getting one or more berghia nudis instead of peppermint shrimp. The problem with peppermint shrimps is that there are actually a bunch of different species of shrimps which are lumped under this common name (heard this from a talk by an FIT grad student on aquaculture of peppermint shrimp). Some of the species do eat aiptasia, but a lot of them don't. Its hit or miss really. Those nudis only eat aiptasia, and there are actually some really cool predator/prey interactions that have evolved for both species (including the aiptasia jumping ship when it "smells" the nudi). Though them having such a specific diet is a plus for us, its a minus for them. Once they eat all the aiptasia, they'll starve unless they're moved around. But then you can also sell them to your LFS, or trade them on here or with your friends. From what I've read, the work fantastically. There's a website that sells just them, but I can't share it here since they aren't a sponser and it'll be blocked anyway. Just a thought! Link to comment
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