- Joined
- Nov 20, 2002
- Messages
- 3,750
Not sure if we have a thread for this, we probably do but thought it was important to put a reminder about being careful not to get cut or scratched by coral in your tank. Yesterday, I did a water change and was pulling globs of hair algae off the coral. Later that day, I noticed my finger was bothering me. That night on the way home it felt hot and tight so when I got home I looked at it under a magnifier and saw a couple tiny scratches. Still was not alarmed but covered it with Neosporin and a band-aid and went to bed. Now usually a cut is almost healed when I do this but when I took the bandaid off the next morning, where the scratches and some redness had been, was purpleness. Still was not too alarmed so went to work, and had the Director of Nursing look at it. She sent me to the Emergency room. Turns out a scratch or cut from coral can become infected with bacteria from the tank which can lead to a massive infection very quickly. I am on 2 types of antibiotics and if its not improved in 3 days need to go see a hand surgeon. Who would have thought. Needless to say, after 20 something years of keeping saltwater tanks, I will be much more careful handling things.