Right. As the subtitle points out I am not what you would call very bright.

This will be the third time I have managed to pull this stunt. Each time it has been the same results. You would have thought I would have learned after the first and second time this happened. Nope! Took a third time to really drive the lesson home... And by the way I know better. Not just from doing this twice before but also from other work related experiences where not following safety protocols means you get to be a statistic and a "case study".

LPS/SPS coral is made up predominantly of Calcium (Ca) and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). This is what their skeletons are made up of. These minerals in powder form can be very irritating to the bronchiole (the airway's in your lungs). If inhaled they can cause a bronchospasm which, in the extreme case, can be fatal. Bronchospasm occurs when the smooth muscular tissue of the bronchioles constrict which severely narrows their diameter causing inhibition of airflow into the lungs.

Three weeks ago I noticed a bit of buildup of some algae on a piece of coral that had been stung to death by another coral. I decided that I needed to remove the dead skeleton from the coral to stop further issue and allow for re-growth of healthy coral tissue. So I whipped out my handy dremmel and diamond cutting wheel and promptly shaved off the bit of algae as well as the non algae covered dead skeleton on the coral. This generated a fine powder of coral skeleton that I managed to inhale. I was not wearing safety glasses or a mask. Both of which I should have been and knew it but decided that it was "only a quick cut" that I didn't need.

This sent me within the hour to the hospital with severe bronchial spasm and a PulseOx (amount of oxygen in the blood) reading of 72% (95%+ is normal) necessitating treatment with 6 l/m O2 via nasal cannula and two rounds of high dose albuterol via nebulizer. It also had me on oral Prednisone for seven days and a 14 day prophylactic course of Bactrim and doxycycline to guard against lung infection as well as to cover possible side effects (immunosuppression) from the Prednisone. I am now on week three and am still not fully recovered from this. I get to take a "hit" from a rescue inhaler a couple of times a day and I get out of breath walking more than 50 yards or up two flights of stairs.

So the bottom line is wear safety goggles (something breaks off and hits you in the eye) and mask when working with your corals least you inhale this stuff and end up where I did!

OMG , I hope you get back on your feet soon!

Cheers mate. Sadly it looks to be a longer haul than expected. Not sure why but I am following up this Wed. with the pulmonologist. Biggest fear is going back on the Pred. Nasty stuff.

This is no joke, proper hand and arm protection is a must when dealing with stuff sometimes as well.

Yesterday I decided to start removing the patch of like 600 palythoa in one of the propagation systems. Being a gearhead/machinist my hands are always littered with bangs, cuts and scrapes. The toxins released from the removed palythoa while I was siphoning, even though in a large system of water, was able top puff and burn my hands out. It feels like a broke my hand today.

Wow, point taken.

i was gonna put a smart asz pic of a dude in a hazmat suit.......but eh.... live and learn right?

to all you DIY folks hackin and drilling glass and aluminum...be warned!

hope you get better dude

Cheers Blockclimber!

And its not quite to the level of a Level A SCBA suit but good goggles and a painters mask do help.

And in the case that Kraylen mentions good hand/arm protection is also a must. I have also had hands go numb from paly juice getting into a cut on my hand. No where near the over exaggerated instantly fatal level but its for sure there and for sure can hurt you.

What hurts worse is my wife reminding everyone that she had to take me to a quack in a box after working on a tank with dinoflagelletes. I ended up on Prednisone and an antibiotic as well, with my eyes swollen shut.

Heheheh. Yeah. I am going to catch $hite for this for a long time from She Who Must Be Obeyed. She hates the tank to begin with and this is just one more thing she can nag me about!

is she here?

i had a good testicle slam from her when she found out i bought some tank stuff online.....

i dont even wanna know what she would say if my tank hurt me......

if i got an infections from it, she'd make me get rid of them...

Hope everyone heals quickly.........WOW!!!

I'm sorry to hear this UH, hope things improve soon. (< "Get Well Soon" bouquet)

And her profession doesn't make it any better either.

I always wear goggles though the few fraggings I've done, I had a brain squirt a buttload of water at my before. But as for the dust, does cutting it outside aleviate the need for a mask??

Wow thats some serious stuff, hope you get better, thanks for the heads up.

Ah, thank you love.

Spanko- You Sir! Are a VERY bad man!

Phixion- Actually no. Good ventilation is important but a mask is still key because if the dust blows your way and it goes in you are hosed.

Cheers First-and-Last

That's why it's important to have your own stash of "man money"!


UH........ Sorry to hear about your condition, but thanks for sharing! This should be a wake up call for everyone.

Don't get the juice in your eyes either....lucky I didn't go blind.....

I was fragging out some trumpets a couple of weeks ago with the dremel and I inhaled the dust...I coughed for a while but was ok...I was wearing shooting glasses and gloves but never thought about inhaling the stuff...it was nasty

And people laugh at me for using protecting while reefing >_>

had a zoanthid shoot water at me. went right under my glasses and onto my eye. i absolutely flipped out thinking i was gonna die, but luckily after the burnign stopped and my eye was rinsed out, i realized it was most likely just saltwater that was burning! but still, something you never want to risk! hope you feel better man, that really sucks!
get better!

At worst cupped hand under sink with water in it while putting your eye into it and blinking allot is a good eye wash...

Had to happen to me eventually Carson. I have a small cut on my index finger and stupidly decided to add live sand from an existing setup to my BB Solana. LS comes from a 40g DSB setup. After lowering the water level in the Solana to about 3" to minimize the cloudy water I grabbed approximately 20 lbs of sand from the 40g using a plastic cup. I dug completely to the bottom of the DSB on one side.

That was 2 days ago. Yesterday afternoon I noticed my index finger was slightly swollen. Today I have red streaking on the right side of the finger and it runs halfway up my forearm. Tender to the touch. I'll be heading into the doctor's office at 0800. Lesson learned.

Aw that sucks Stan! Sounds bacterial... Most likely from the feces and stuff that eats feces in the sand.

Sounds like blood poisoning Stan. To the emergency room might be the best route here.

Carson - stop saying feces!! lol...

4 shots later and all is better ..... ouch

Ok Stan.... POO POO POO POO POO POO

I have gotten ric slime in my mouth once. Rics don't taste good, trust me. I was absolutely fine thankfully. Not to mention. I AGREE PREDNISONE SUCKS. I had an absolutely terrible case of poison ivy a little while ago where my eyes swollen shut. The stuff tastes so bad. No matter what you do you cannot swallow the pill without getting the taste in your mouth.

While I haven't "nearly died" I have gotten burning in the eyes and tingling in my fingers/hand from zoas. At least i can say i haven't ingested any of them!

I just play it safe & use latex gloves (change out if they get a hole) and a full-face shield I picked up for cheap from Harbor Freight. Then wash up properly afterwards.

Are there any Men left in this world ?????

Oh maybe that's why I'm divorced --- LOL

Lol

Hi, new to the forum.... sorry to hear about your experience. I've just recently gotten into the fraggin portion of reefing. Never even thought about stuff like that. Thanks for sharing this with us so that i may learn from your mistakes! so even zoas can be dangerous? I work at a fish store and have probably scraped 1 square mile of zoas off of our reef tank's glass to frag. Never once thought that something bad may resualt from that. I did once drill a hole through glass and accidently inhale a very minute amount of the dust. No damage but definately got a big scare from that. Anyways, glad to hear that you have learned your lesson

Sounds like Staph. Good thing you went to the doctor.
Had a cousin that had a staph infection that started at his big toe. He had a red line moving up his leg.
Doc said that if it would have reached his knee, amputation may have been in order to keep it from reaching vital organs.

New to the forums here, you guys will be hearing from me more often...

I haven't had anything bad happen during fragging (well... maybe I've superglued 2 fingers together once... or twice...), but I should start wearing gloves when arranging rockwork, or even rinsing out sponges. Last time I went to clean out the tank I didn't notice it for a few hours but I had tons of these little "fiberglass" splinters in my hands which took a long time to come out using duct tape.

Wasn't aware you could get sick just by inhaling. Thanks for the heads up UH. Wish you well on your recovery.

ahh I didn't know reefing was such a contact sport. safety goggles, masks, helmets, elbow pads, etc...
I have been fortunate enough to not get anything from fragging but I had a bout with joes juice in the eye awhile back. monoject got clogged in the end and instead of trying to fix it I just pushed harder and harder. After no results I took it out of the tank within a few inches and... you guessed it! pushed harder and bam. Joes juice all over my face, eyes, tank. After flushing my eyes and after like 18 hours passed the burning finally stopped. The importance of protective goggles/masks can't be understated.