I have a 75g mixed African cichlid tank and yesterday got a green spotted puffer. doing well in the tank. the cichlids where curious about it at first but no on attacking it. it didn't eat when I feed the other fish. doing some research on it today as I wasn't able to when I bought it. no signal someplaces and varying what they carry so im not always able to do some research on the spot when I see something I want at a store that's quite a distance from where I live. here's the concern I have. after checking multiple sources online, they all say it can eat bloodworms and 1 said it may eat flake food but all say needs to be feed live snails or crustaceans. I have severe shellfish allergies. I cant even be around it cooked when someone has it in the same building let alone the same room. I would like to know if anyone else out there has similar issues and are able to handle snails with a shellfish allergy. im wondering if I can add snails to the tank for it to hunt. I have owned a synodontis multipunctatus catfish for a while also that I read loves snails. I don't want to kill myself by adding snails if it triggers an allergy i so looking for input from other allergen sufferers. if not then I may need to find it a new home.
having snails in tank while having shellfish allergies
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Hello, I first want to make clear that I am NOT a physician; so please don't take my words of suggestions as such.
Allergies are essentially your body's reaction to some "thing", chemical, substance, or anything that enters your body with your body thinking that it is harmful. Say dander, a byproduct of most dogs, cats, birds, and fluffy animals we love. Some people are allergic to food such as peach. But at the end of all things, they are allergic to the protein, the pollen, or the specific chemical found within that substances. I am not sure if you meant specifically a "Crustacean" allergy, since Snails are under the mollusk category and not the crustacean category (crabs, lobster, shrimp). If it is crustacean allergy then you *should* be good. However if you mean shell fish allergy, mollusks and crustaceans are a no go. Given that, most likely your allergic reaction comes from a certain protein found within the tissue of said shelled organism, so a snail in your aquarium should do you no harm unless it *gets on your skin* (depending on severity) and the water is not polluted with snail eggs or microscopic. Because of this and you saying you have shellfish allergies I would steer clear of really handling snails unless you're prepared with a dose of an epipen and are willing to use sanitary gloves and pincers everytime you feed (or let the snail grow in your tank). Hope this helped!
Allergies are essentially your body's reaction to some "thing", chemical, substance, or anything that enters your body with your body thinking that it is harmful. Say dander, a byproduct of most dogs, cats, birds, and fluffy animals we love. Some people are allergic to food such as peach. But at the end of all things, they are allergic to the protein, the pollen, or the specific chemical found within that substances. I am not sure if you meant specifically a "Crustacean" allergy, since Snails are under the mollusk category and not the crustacean category (crabs, lobster, shrimp). If it is crustacean allergy then you *should* be good. However if you mean shell fish allergy, mollusks and crustaceans are a no go. Given that, most likely your allergic reaction comes from a certain protein found within the tissue of said shelled organism, so a snail in your aquarium should do you no harm unless it *gets on your skin* (depending on severity) and the water is not polluted with snail eggs or microscopic. Because of this and you saying you have shellfish allergies I would steer clear of really handling snails unless you're prepared with a dose of an epipen and are willing to use sanitary gloves and pincers everytime you feed (or let the snail grow in your tank). Hope this helped!
I don't know if its all shellfish or not. never been tested for allergies. I live in southeast texas and almost every restaurant or fast food place has shrimp or crawfish and I know those 2 hit me bad. I cant even walk into one of the grocery stores here and others I have to hurry up and get out quick when shopping. I get instant throat close on injestion but on inhaling it, it comes on slower and im ok if I don't stay very long in it as it will subside and I have time to take some Benadryl but depends on how much is in the air. if I was recently exposed or its very strong then it hits me a lot faster. other than shrimp and crawfish though I really don't know if im allergic to anything else in that general category. I don't like seafood so im not about to test that out by taking a bite. I don't recall ever having issues with handling shellfish but then the last time I handled some I was a kid and the allergy hadn't hit me yet. I just noticed that there is shrimp on the ingredients to the flake food that *** been handling for a year now with no issues. of course its in a closed container and I don't ever have it open more than a few minutes. many of my cichlids will take the food from my hand and a few like to be pet or held. got some friendly ones. I have cut back on the feeding after realizing it was too much and the uneaten food in the tank before has never bothered me. the tank is in my room and as im disabled im sitting or sleeping in here about 90% of the time. perhaps it being in the water dilutes it vs being out the open like at a restaurant or store.
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I think an excellent and probably benign way of assessing your concern is to go to a LFS which has tanks containing snails. Go in, stay a while, then leave. If no reaction, go back, stay longer. If no reaction, explain your situation to owner...ask to handle a snail or two.
My money is on absolutely no reaction...
My money is on absolutely no reaction...
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