itchy arms

[fishysmellinholly]

For the last couple of weeks every time I clean my salt water tank my arms break out in a visible rash bad enough to send me to the doctor. The same thing has happened to a friend because of my tank. The salinity is right, the temp is correct, & the fish food is alternated. I came home 2 days ago to find all my fish dead. Help, does anyone know what might have caused this?

 

[melosu58]

Never had that problem before but maybe you just have sensitive skin. SW is slightly caustic.

 

[Innovator]

As Mike stated, some are more sensitive to saltwater, inhabitants, or chemicals released by specific animals within. As for your fish dieing and if all parameters are normal (check your heater/temp.) then I would consider a chemical agent (ammonia based) or perhaps a lotion of some kind that you used before submerging your arms?

 

[roka64]

I agree, you will need to troubleshoot what you did before cleaning the tank...maybe washed your hands with an anti bacterial soap or some sort of detergent...? Dang, I had something else to say but it was lost in my typing...

 

[Sadielynn]

There are alot of things in a salt water tank ..I now must pose the question are you allergic to anything .. There are so many things in a tank that could pose an issue espically if you have allergies .. I have allergies to alot so when I clean my tank my respiratory equipment ,1st line oral meds and epi pen stand at the ready .. I also wear gloves to minimize any issues that could happen ...
also if you do not have a volt meter get one and process of elemination ..
also did you spray anything near or around your tank . How old is your tank ?
What size tank is it , what fish did you have ?
Do you scrub before going into your tank , it only takes a trace to wipe out an entire tank ..

 

[roka64]

I remember what it was...Do you have any corals in the tank.
I agree with the above advice as well.

 

[robott]

my brackish tank makes my arm rash up. it took me awhile to figure it out.i have to wash immediately, and then put lotion on.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

.... I have allergies to alot so when I clean my tank my respiratory equipment ,1st line oral meds and epi pen stand at the ready .. ...

Wow! Now there's devotion to the hobby!

Agree with the other posters... regarding the fish deaths, need a little more info to help out. Along with the other questions, how long had the fish been in the tank, and how long has it been up and running.

Regarding the rash... when you say it happens every time you clean the tank, what exactly does "cleaning the tank" involve. Kinda sounds like a dumb question, but I just didn't want to assume I knew what that meant! My arms get a little itchy from time to time if they're in the tank too long, but never a rash.

 

[fishysmellinholly]

I was vacuuming the gravel and also doing my weekly water change.

I have an anenome, frogspawn, zoos, etc as far as corals go. Do you think one of these could have stung me?

After I did the water changed I added the following chemicals:

Reef Carbonate
Reef Iodine
Reef Calcium

Do you think this could have killed the fish? I only added what it told me to on the back of the bottles (one capful).

 

[austinsdad]

No inverts died?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...

After I did the water changed I added the following chemicals:

Reef Carbonate
Reef Iodine
Reef Calcium

Do you think this could have killed the fish? I only added what it told me to on the back of the bottles (one capful).

Do you normally add those things after a water change? And to tag onto that question, do you test your levels for calcium, alkalinity, and iodine? Unless you have a huge load of corals, I'd take a guess that there's no need to dose the iodine. Not sure if an overdose of iodine is enough to kill a fish, but I know it can take out corals if the levels get too high. Along with that, some folks can be pretty allergic to iodine too.

 

[Sadielynn]

I was vacuuming the gravel and also doing my weekly water change.

I have an anenome, frogspawn, zoos, etc as far as corals go. Do you think one of these could have stung me?

After I did the water changed I added the following chemicals:

Reef Carbonate
Reef Iodine
Reef Calcium

Do you think this could have killed the fish? I only added what it told me to on the back of the bottles (one capful).

You may have gotten stung but it is not likely .. If you got stung you would know it ..
I am willing to bet it was the Iodine , that caused it ..
You are adding Iodine which many folks are allergic to . I can not add any Iodine to my tank with out wearing gloves , inother words since I use it as a dip I take out the water and then CAREFULLYadd the iodine .. I am also allergic to sea food so , that is how I knew to watch the iodine ..
What did your tests say for the Iodine before you added ?
Calcium what did you add (brand, type ) Iodine has a weird 1/2 life where it will peak after adding then dip down , then stabilize out .. some caliciums such as purple up and some 2 parters add iodine , or iodide where you can overdose a tank ..
Iodide is a more stable forum to add but , you still need to test for all the additives you are adding .
Rule of thumb here is do a water change wait 2-4 hours before testing and 24 hours before adding if low do another h20 change and retest as above , if still low add less than what is called for wait and test ,,in the mean time (we had this happen we got a new test kit it read weird , took samples to the LFS , they got one we ended up returning the kit and getting a new one as the old one was appearantly breached at some point causing faulty tests . We found that we did NOT need to add anything ..)
The other thing is that in salt water you dont want gravel (not sure if that is really what you have) and stirring up the bed can release high levels of Ammonia ,NitrAtes, NitrItes and mess with the anarobic bacteria .. The clean up crews will stirr the sand for you , as will certian fish if you go that route ... Yes too much of anyone of those or in combonation can be toxic to fish .

 

[Innovator]

I just want to add that many are especially allergic to Zoanthus and Palythoa due to their toxicities.