While cleaning her fish tank Thursday, she noticed coral growing on a rock and used a toothbrush to scrape off some algae on the coral, called palythoa.
Ahman said in about an hour she and her family were feeling “different.” with symptoms that were worse than the flu.
"We couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't answer the door. I couldn't force myself out of bed," she told a media outlet in Austin about the next morning. Once they made it to the hospital, even the doctors were at a loss.
When Ahman brushed the pretty palythoa, a coral in the zoanthid species commonly bought anywhere saltwater fish are sold, the coral released a toxin called palytoxin, which experts consider one of the deadliest poisons in the natural world. According to Discover Magazine, one gram of the poison can kill a hundred million mice.
Experts said the toxin can affect the central nervous system
This isn't the first time the dangers of airborne poison from zoanthids has made headlines. Earlier this week, a Canadian man handling Australian zoanthid coral from tank to tank said the poison was released into the air and left him and his entire family of seven hospitalized, the CBC reported.
Another family of seven in Australia was hospitalized when a nearby coral formation released the palytoxin.
If you're in contact with palythoa, remember to handle them with extra care or just leave them alone if you can.
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