# nd I thought salt creep was bad...



## Linus_Cello (Aug 2, 2017)

Homegrown coral reefs are beautiful — and potentially dangerous

...

In May, members of a family living in a suburb of Adelaide, Australia, scrubbed the coral tank in their home and went to bed. A few hours later they awoke, struggling for air. The family was “quite unwell with breathing difficulties,” said Daniel Hamilton, a spokesman for the South Australian Country Fire Service. All of seven members of the household were hospitalized, the youngest child in the intensive care unit.

Within an hour, Hamilton said, emergency responders traced the incident to the scrubbed coral. The animal reacted to the cleaner as though it were a predator, spewing a chemical that spread through the house as an aerosol.

Officials on the scene quarantined the building. “This isn’t the sort of thing we’ve dealt with before,” Hamilton said. It took three hazmat removal groups wearing breathing apparatuses and suits to clean up the mess, Australian newspaper ABC reported. They neutralized the toxin with bleach and vacuumed up the particles.

...



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...omepage/story&utm_term=.8a19870e6c80#comments


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## troy (Aug 2, 2017)

Jesus!!..... I hope your family is ok, did they dispose of your pet reef?


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## Linus_Cello (Aug 2, 2017)

troy said:


> Jesus!!..... I hope your family is ok, did they dispose of your pet reef?



Not me. I'm in D.C. This happened to a family in Australia.


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## tnyr5 (Aug 2, 2017)

Not nearly as dangerous as the sensationalized article would have one believe. You REALLY have to try to be poisoned by _Palythoa_ before it'll happen. Think like eating them or scalding them like the Australian idiot or grinding them up in a blender and spraying the soup in your own face. I've handled Zoas and Palys for more than 15 years, not so much as a tingle.


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## NYEric (Aug 2, 2017)

Interesting. I don't have money for marine invertebrates since I got into orchids.


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## Ozpaph (Aug 3, 2017)

stoopid Aussies............LOL


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## Linus_Cello (Aug 7, 2017)

How do you survive in Australia? You have some of the most venomous creatures in the world. Sea fleas ain't inviting me to visit any time soon (though I guess I better sea the Great Barrier Reef before it's dead soon...):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-winner:homepage/story&utm_term=.95488b8b8118


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## tnyr5 (Aug 7, 2017)

Ouch! Hate to disagree with an expert, but I doubt it was amphipods. My money's on Cirolanid isopods being the real culprit. They're nasty.


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## Ozpaph (Aug 8, 2017)

That's why we all like Crocodile Dundee..........................LOL


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