Gloves,

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Evo8

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 9, 2013
Messages
421
Location
Fort Myers, FL
ok so im picking up radioactive dragon zoas tomorro for my tank..these will be my first corals. ive been reading and thankfully came across that zoas contain palytoxins..i would of never known..anyways does putting these in my tank make my water toxic? or just touching them? full length gloves while in my tank or just latex to cover any physical areas i might come in contact? let
 
Like just the hand gloves? Sorry of this is a dumb question..but. won't the water fill the glove up while your hands in the tank?..also what about if you always have cuts on your hands (I'm an HVAC tech and they make everything sharp nowadays)
 
Like just the hand gloves? Sorry of this is a dumb question..but. won't the water fill the glove up while your hands in the tank?..also what about if you always have cuts on your hands (I'm an HVAC tech and they make everything sharp nowadays)

Personally I only use gloves if I'm fragging zoas, they won't release the toxin unless you chop them up, or eat them. I've never had an issue with it. If you want to use gloves though be my guest.
 
My skin isn't sensitive so I should be OK..I was just concerned because I always have cuts on them..is the "palytoxin" waterborn? I've been sticking my hand in my freshwater tanks no problem for years..Lol..and my saltwater ta k for a month its been up so if the corals don't change the water itself I'll be fine
 
But doesn't water just fill the glove when you put your hand in?

My nitrile gloves do not fill up as much. They are also about a size smaller than usual. I use gloves 98% of the time because it has become a habit since week 2 or 3 of setting up my saltwater tank. Likewise, those who do not wear gloves are likely just a product of their own habit. It's very personal and really up to each individual whether or not to adopt it.
 
I only use gloves when cleaning out my filter floss in my fuge. I see bristle worms in it occasionally and figure it is worth it. Other than that I am just careful to not reach where I can't see. I may wear them when I move rock from one tank to the other just to be safe.
 
I just got into corals, but I have a small frag of zoas and ive touched them repeatedly with my barehand and haven't seen any ill effects.
 
Problem with zoas and palys is it is nearly impossible to distinguish which ones have paly toxin and which ones don't. That's why it's best to play it safe with all.

I can certainly say it's a good idea to use gloves when bristle worms are involved. Not for toxins but dang it hurts when you get all those bristles in your fingers. Like fiberglass.
 
If bristle worms are like fiberglass it would be. A walk in the park for me. I'm a AIT conditioning tech..that's all I do is play with fiberglass all day! Lol sometimes after a big job I'll feel fiberglass for days..up to a week..but OK so the gloves are to protect you from physically touching things..not from the water...once adding zoas they don't turn the water toxic too?
 
If bristle worms are like fiberglass it would be. A walk in the park for me. I'm a AIT conditioning tech..that's all I do is play with fiberglass all day! Lol sometimes after a big job I'll feel fiberglass for days..up to a week..but OK so the gloves are to protect you from physically touching things..not from the water...once adding zoas they don't turn the water toxic too?
Gloves for both purposes. as I don't handle fiberglass on a regulate bases I find that 50-100 bristles per square inch to be quite irritating. Tape is useful for getting out those that are still sticking out of the skin.

As for corals. In most cases they won't release toxins unless they are attacking or being attacked by another coral or anything else.
 
Like just the hand gloves? Sorry of this is a dumb question..but. won't the water fill the glove up while your hands in the tank?..also what about if you always have cuts on your hands (I'm an HVAC tech and they make everything sharp nowadays)

The palytoxin is only dangerous when it gets into your blood stream / eyes / mouth. It shouldn't have any effect on your skin unless you are sensitive to it. If you are fragging zoas then you absolutely need to wear eye protection, I got sprayed in the face by some when I was fragging them and thankfully I was wearing my glasses. I did however absentmindedly pick a piece of hair off my tongue after I was gluing some zoa frags and it made my tongue go numb for about 10 minutes :eek:

Just be sure to wash your arms / hands when done to rinse anything off. When I first got zoas in my tank I was sensitive to them and if I didn't wash my arm thoroughly enough it would cause a tightness in my chest and an itchy arm plus it made my breathing feel... weird. It's stopped bothering me after the first 2 months of having my tank or so.

As for bristle worms, they aren't that bad. I got a finger full a few weeks ago and barely felt it.
 
I have thought about using gloves for a while but have never done it. More for keeping contaminants on my hands out of the tank than protection from toxins or stings from inhabitants. I have handled Zoas and plays a lot w bare hands and never had an issue. I probably wouldn't go sticking my hand in there with a big open sore though.
 
I use to dive and handle coral frags all the time without gloves, but as mentioned, there are a lot of variables including how sensitive your skin is. One thing to note is the slime that corals exude is loaded with bacteria. None of this is any good in your blood stream, so if you have cuts and abrasions, I would wear gloves.
 
Back
Top Bottom