Close call. Almost lost an eye.

[JD D05]

54. The young dumb punk rocker paid a visit.

Hahahaha nice. Glad you are doing good.

 

[rivermobster]

I wanna say you are So Damm lucky!

But on the other hand, sucks that had to happen.

Crazy story. Glad you will be ok. Phew.

Absolutely beautiful tank! Isn't it wierd how the most beautiful creatures are the most dangerous ones?

 

[BTR]

Day one of a long road. Vision improved and it itches which I can only assume is a good thing. Drops every hour is a pain in the ass but oh well. Good news is my sun glasses fit over the hard cover over my eye so I can see now; yes I wear glasses. Now I just need to worry about the transplant holding up. Apparently once healed I will be fitted with a hard contact to reshape my eyeball. So crazy. One moment of neglect lead to all of this and it was totally preventable. I feel so stupid for doing what I did.

 

[mobldj]

Dr Hwang at Loma Linda University.

yep hers to,he does the front of the eye,she has big time damage from a bungee cord.good luck with your eye.loma lindas the best around !

 

[BTR]

yep hers to,he does the front of the eye,she has big time damage from a bungee cord.good luck with your eye.loma lindas the best around !

Best of luck to you guys too!

 

[Taboma]

That's why me and my friends call ther boats and cars junk. Cuz everything's just a heartbeat from going sideways.
was doing some cuttings from a Mexican fire finger plant for a friend of mine to transplant. I know they can be toxic and I wash my hands. best I can guess is there was some on the outside of the bag and I got it back on my hands again and rub my eye. Started to itch got in my truck to drive home, and on the freeway my I was on fire. Polder the shoulder and look for old dead water bottles and was squeezing those in my eye.got home said this is BS went to the ER spent 3 hours with a douchebag cup in my eye flooding it.

Yup those fire sticks got my neighbor the same way --- so he dropped a bunch of cuttings at my house, now I've got em growing too Be awhile before I need to cut any, but I was uber careful planting them after the neighbor warned me.

 

[Taboma]

Best of luck to you guys too!

Won't you be able to sell most of your coral rocks ? Beautiful tank, I had a similar one for 20 years, made all kinds of custom filters and crap. Sweated bullets during power outages, gen back up, became a fuckin obsession not just a hobby. Then one afternoon I gave it a good cleaning just like I'd done a hundred or more times. Walked by the tank two hours later and the water was cloudy and everything, including the fish and huge anemones, was dead and oozing slime. One clown fish was still swimming but barely visible, so I bagged his ass and ran him to the local reef store. By that evening the tank and all the components were disassembled, I was done.
I realize today the knowledge base is huge compared to the 30 years ago. I was buying these living reef rocks, didn't have a clue the alien creatures growing on them could inflict such damage.
As much as I missed the beauty , it was sure nice getting my life back
Reading what you're going through is damn near terrifying, certainly serious shit, best of luck with the recovery !!!

 

[Deja_Vu]

Wow, that is crazy. Glad you got the help you needed and hope you can continue to improve.

 

[BTR]

Won't you be able to sell most of your coral rocks ? Beautiful tank, I had a similar one for 20 years, made all kinds of custom filters and crap. Sweated bullets during power outages, gen back up, became a fuckin obsession not just a hobby. Then one afternoon I gave it a good cleaning just like I'd done a hundred or more times. Walked by the tank two hours later and the water was cloudy and everything, including the fish and huge anemones, was dead and oozing slime. One clown fish was still swimming but barely visible, so I bagged his ass and ran him to the local reef store. By that evening the tank and all the components were disassembled, I was done.
I realize today the knowledge base is huge compared to the 30 years ago. I was buying these living reef rocks, didn't have a clue the alien creatures growing on them could inflict such damage.
As much as I missed the beauty , it was sure nice getting my life back
Reading what you're going through is damn near terrifying, certainly serious shit, best of luck with the recovery !!!

I hear you. It does turn into an obsession. Technology has taken a ton of the maintenance away so I really don’t spend much time fussing with it. The down side is the technology allows damn near anything to grow. Then it gets overgrown and you do shit like I did. Yes, I will trade all the rock for new and start over with safer corals.
Your cloudy water was probably an anemone dying releasing all its toxins. Could have been a bacteria bloom but it seems like it killed too fast for that.

 

[Taboma]

I hear you. It does turn into an obsession. Technology has taken a ton of the maintenance away so I really don’t spend much time fussing with it. The down side is the technology allows damn near anything to grow. Then it gets overgrown and you do shit like I did. Yes, I will trade all the rock for new and start over with safer corals.
Your cloudy water was probably an anemone dying releasing all its toxins. Could have been a bacteria bloom but it seems like it killed too fast for that.

Seems back then we were winging it. Keeping this amazing eco-system alive and well, although challenging and damn right expensive, made me feel like a GOD, lol
All I know is, GOD fucked up and wiped out years of hard work and a suitcase full of $$ in minutes
Last evening I shared your story with my wife, of course she inquired if I'd known my zoanthids were so toxic, "uhhhhh NO " was my honest answer.
I can't ever recall removing a rock unless it was bagged underwater, guess I got lucky. Those rocks, they're all currently serving life sentences in my yard
A few years prior I'd felt truly God-like when we'd successfully moved the entire setup using several ice chests, to a new home and didn't kill anything.

Every time you guys on here share your tank pics I'm reminded of the beauty and get the urge, for that reason, I haven't ventured anywhere near a saltwater/reef store since that fatal day.

 

[CigAjerk]

And here I thought almost losing a finger to a mantis shrimp was bad.

A buddy of mine has had 2 cornea replacements. He's all good now but has zero depth of perception. So much fun throwing shit at him. lol

I have the same issue with anesthesia. I asked my last anesthesiologist about it and his theory was strong willed people were usually the ones who caused problems. All I know is I usually make the recovery folks work their money.

 

[BTR]

Seems back then we were winging it. Keeping this amazing eco-system alive and well, although challenging and damn right expensive, made me feel like a GOD, lol
All I know is, GOD fucked up and wiped out years of hard work and a suitcase full of $$ in minutes
Last evening I shared your story with my wife, of course she inquired if I'd known my zoanthids were so toxic, "uhhhhh NO " was my honest answer.
I can't ever recall removing a rock unless it was bagged underwater, guess I got lucky. Those rocks, they're all currently serving life sentences in my yard
A few years prior I'd felt truly God-like when we'd successfully moved the entire setup using several ice chests, to a new home and didn't kill anything.

Every time you guys on here share your tank pics I'm reminded of the beauty and get the urge, for that reason, I haven't ventured anywhere near a saltwater/reef store since that fatal day.

You nailed it. It is like playing god. You literally are creating life from a soup of nutrients in a miniature world. I think that is what makes it so obsessive.

 

[BTR]

And here I thought almost losing a finger to a mantis shrimp was bad.

A buddy of mine has had 2 cornea replacements. He's all good now but has zero depth of perception. So much fun throwing shit at him. lol

I have the same issue with anesthesia. I asked my last anesthesiologist about it and his theory was strong willed people were usually the ones who caused problems. All I know is I usually make the recovery folks work their money.

Glad I’m not alone. Right now with one eye depth perception is a joke. Hopefully it improves once I get 2 eyes again.

 

[locogringo]

I’m glad you are on the safe road of recovery. Wishing you the continual recovery to 100%.

 

[RiverDave]

You almost became a pirate from a damn fishtank? LOL. WTF?

RD

 

[BTR]

You almost became a pirate from a damn fishtank? LOL. WTF?

RD

Yep. Probably the most terrifying thing that has happened to me. Doctor told me if the toxin would have reached my optic nerve, it could have entered my brain killing me!!

 

[Dan Lorenze]

Any updates? Do you have your vision back?

 

[Taboma]

Yep. Probably the most terrifying thing that has happened to me. Doctor told me if the toxin would have reached my optic nerve, it could have entered my brain killing me!!

I have to ask, due to the popularity of these living rocks and reef tanks ---- has anybody died from exposure to these toxins ?
Can these toxins be harvested and stored ? Asking for a friend

 

[RaceTec]

Thanks for sharing this, most people including myself when I was early into the hobby have no clue how dangerous some of this stuff is! I miss my salt tank but don't miss all of the work... I had a buddy that bought live rock that unknown to him had a mantis shrimp in it, damn thing caused all kinds of damage! The scaring thing is that Paly's and Zoa's are the most common sold and traded corals because of the colors and how fast they can grow...

 

[Bigbore500r]

Am i the only one who is like "fuck that....tank in the trash" ???

 

[BTR]

I have to ask, due to the popularity of these living rocks and reef tanks ---- has anybody died from exposure to these toxins ?
Can these toxins be harvested and stored ? Asking for a friend

I have no idea if they can be harvested. I do know people have died from them. Inhalation by trying to dry them is usually the cause.

 

[BTR]

Am i the only one who is like "fuck that....tank in the trash" ???

Easier said than done. Exposed to the air, they are deadly. I will be having all of the live rock removed at some point and will start over with only stoney corals which are far, far safer.

 

[BTR]

Any updates? Do you have your vision back?

I can see out of it but blurry. Before surgery I could only see light and dark, nothing more. It will improve over time. Once healed, I get fitted with a hard contact that covers the entire eye to reshape it. After that, I should be ok.

 

[redone76]

Am i the only one who is like "fuck that....tank in the trash" ???

Nope...this thread makes me happy to pick up dog shit in the backyard


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bigbore500r]

Easier said than done. Exposed to the air, they are deadly. I will be having all of the live rock removed at some point and will start over with only stoney corals which are far, far safer.

Drop that salt tank into the ocean....never let it hit air

 

[Taboma]

Easier said than done. Exposed to the air, they are deadly. I will be having all of the live rock removed at some point and will start over with only stoney corals which are far, far safer.

Holy Shit, now ya tell me 20 years ago when I annihilated an entire civilization in one foul boo-boo, I drained the tank, tossed those cool but deadly rocks into a bucket and dumped in a pile down by my grove, where they've lived since. Glad I didn't mess around with them. They home to numerous spiders and lizards now.

 

[BTR]

Holy Shit, now ya tell me 20 years ago when I annihilated an entire civilization in one foul boo-boo, I drained the tank, tossed those cool but deadly rocks into a bucket and dumped in a pile down by my grove, where they've lived since. Glad I didn't mess around with them. They home to numerous spiders and lizards now.

Well it’s not instantaneous but if you would have kept that bucket inside overnight it could have been bad.

 

[Taboma]

Well it’s not instantaneous but if you would have kept that bucket inside overnight it could have been bad.

Well thanks to you, I've never going to be tempted to clear the spiders out of those rocks using an air hose Just in case !!