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Comment by pcanella | Hacker News Reader

Saltwater aquarium owner here-- I own many palytoxin soft corals and have never felt any danger whatsoever; however that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful with these guys (zoanthids, palythoa, etc). I've never cut them open or anything, so I'm safe I think :)

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You may be interested in this guy's comment (http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/gj74k/man_cleans_fi...): "I was changing out my water and as being the usual idiot I am, I didn't condition or warm the water before dumping in 5 gallons of cold water into the tank. The zoos didn't like that and started squirting a long thin streamer of black tar stuff. I scooped it out with my hands to throw it away, a few minutes later I felt light headed and about 5 or so minutes later is when it kicked in full force."

WOW, I've never seen anything like that happen in my tank. I actually have moved them and got slimey stuff on my hands from them (as with all corals) and just washed my hands really well afterward. Irritating them is REALLY difficult to do though, they'll live through anything. Absolute beauties though, and well worth keeping :)

Not a saltwater aquarium owner myself, but given stories like this, I personally would not want to wear anything short of a spacesuit when the time comes to clean the tank.

No biggie. If you get a shot in your heart timely, you'd be fine.

"If delivered immediately, vasodilators injected into the ventricle of the heart can act as an antidote."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoantharia

With toxins this deadly you're safe until you're dead. Unless you're lucky like the guy in the story and inhale the toxin.

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