Might be a dumb question

[jarock]

I was wondering having coral and live rock in a saltwater tank if you were to putc your hands in the tank and touch live rock with open cuts on hands would it infect them or perhaps the water or live rock have any type of toxins that could be perhaps be dangerous , sorry might be a dumb question but just was wondering.

 

[parrotchute]

you can definitely get something, but I don't think the risk is huge. My hands are always in the tank.

 

[jarock]

if you were to contract something you would notice a big difference in health fairly fast wouldn't you ?

 

[parrotchute]

oh yeah, there are a few types of infections that can be really bad. It'd swell up pretty quick.

I wash my hands right after they go in the tank - it's not that much more risky than putting your hands in the ocean.

 

[parrotchute]

What you really need to be careful of is if you have zoanthid/palythoa corals. They contain palytoxins, which can cause some serious problems if they get in you.

 

[jarock]

so a rubber glove would be a good idea then, i got a ton of live rock today it has various corals on it , no clue what kind they are since there my first ones and came with the live rock.

 

[jarock]

he told me the stuff he knows thats on the rock forsure is leather coral , toadstoools, and another but cant remeber what kind , britslke worms bristle stars and a few other things got the live rock for $4 a pound which i thought is a good deal once i get my placement of rock ill post pick of it and my first 2 fish i got :)

 

[SeaBee]

Yea, I was moving a rock the other day and got it pretty nasty from a bristle worm. I had like a million little white fuzzy things stuck in my thumb and pointer finger. Got most out, but some are all swollen and little painful. I'm a master at splinters so its no biggie, they come out....I smashed the :pooh: out of that worm though...

 

[dcantucson]

I have been using gloves lately. If I don't I usually get a splinted embedded into one of my fingers. No big deal but it takes 3-4 days for it to get worked out or go away. It especially happens if I'm moving the rock around.

 

[Ulta]

Just some of the stinging coral, I got a blister in the crease of my pointer finger from handling my frogspawn last weekend.

Definitely if you have open cuts/wounds I would suggest gloves.

 

[yote]

Read this
https://www.livingreefs.com/please-read-re-zoas-t14371.html