Chris Matthews and his family-of-six were rushed to hospital in Oxfordshire after cleaning coral from their home aquarium released palytoxin into the air, with four firefighters also falling ill
A father has described the terrifying moment his fish tank released one of the world’s most lethal poisons, leaving his entire household and four firefighters requiring hospital treatment.
Chris Matthews is now calling for greater awareness about the dangers lurking in seemingly harmless aquarium corals after the frightening ordeal in 2018.
The family-of-six started experiencing flu-like symptoms and eye irritation whilst relocating and cleaning coral from their domestic fish tank.
Four firefighters rushed to the property in Steventon, Oxfordshire – but all 10 people ended up being rushed to hospital after exposure to the toxic substance.
Police subsequently sealed off the surrounding area, reports the Mirror.
Mr Matthews had no idea that palytoxin – ranked among the most poisonous substances on Earth – had been released into the atmosphere.
The then 27-year-old developed breathing difficulties, persistent coughing and a high temperature which he compared to “as bad as pneumonia”.
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When every member of the household fell poorly – including two dogs, Mr Matthews dialled 999, though he acknowledges the situation could have proved catastrophic.
He said: “If we had spent another night in that bedroom our lives would have been in danger.
“Certainly our dogs would have been in a very bad way according to the vet.”
He added: “That is what is so worrying, what if there had been a young child or someone elderly in the house?”.
The source of the poisoning was traced back to the couple transferring their aquarium contents between tanks in their bedroom the previous week.
During the process, they removed a coral-encrusted rock and scrubbed it thoroughly. They were unaware at the time, but by doing so they discharged the material into the air before compounding the situation by shutting the door and going to bed for the night.
Mr Matthews said: “We woke up the next morning feeling groggy but initially put it down to flu.
“It was when we noticed our two dogs had similar symptoms that we knew something wasn’t right.”
As his mum, sister and her partner all developed different degrees of sickness throughout the day, Mr Matthews identified the probable cause and phoned the emergency services.
Paramedics, firefighters from Abingdon and Didcot, and Thames Valley Police all responded at approximately 8.20pm on Monday, March 26, shutting down the road and establishing a security perimeter around the vicinity.
All six in the home, which included Mr Matthews’ dad Ian who had only just got back from work, were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, alongside the initial firefighters who arrived at the scene.
Whilst three of the relatives and the firefighters were discharged after several hours, the remaining individuals were detained until the next day for monitoring and blood analysis.
The property was also aired out through the night as specialist chemical experts from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service collaborated with Public Heath England to extract the remaining coral.
Mr Matthews said the most serious symptoms impacted himself, his partner and his mum, stating: “It was worse than flu, we couldn’t concentrate on anything.
“We couldn’t regulate our temperature, we were struggling to breathe and coughing.”
He added: “I’ve seen the coral described as ‘exotic’ but it is actually one of the most common around. It’s a pest coral called pulsing xenia that you grow in areas where you can’t get anything else to thrive.
“It’s not expensive and a lot of people have it.”
The engineer, who’s been keeping predominantly tropical fish for roughly 12 years, insisted he was far from inexperienced and believed he’d understood the potential hazards.
He said: “I knew about palytoxin, which can kill you if ingested, and that coral can cause things like rashes if you don’t handle it carefully but I had no idea taking the pulsing xenia out of the water could make the toxin airborne.
“The information is not readily available online in a way people can easily understand and more needs to be done when people are buying these corals.
“I want to use this experience to educate people about the risks and the measures people need to take.”
Despite the gravity of what happened, he hasn’t been deterred from maintaining his aquarium or even keeping certain types of coral.
Mr Matthews said: “We’ve put more safety precautions in place, making sure we properly ventilate the room, but I love having fish and it’s something that both sides of my family have always done.
“I’ll be a lot more cautious in the future though.”
Dr Mike Leahy, 51, who fronted the National Geographic programme Bite Me, lives in the village where the incident took place. He said: “The strangest thing for me is I’ve been all over the world and then I come back home and this happens in an Oxfordshire village.
“Palytoxin is the second deadliest poison in the world, one gramme can kill 80 people, though it has to be ingested to be lethal.”
Similar incidents involving home aquarium enthusiasts have been documented through anecdotal accounts across the globe.
Back in 2005, an algae species called Ostreopsis ovata flourished in the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in hundreds falling ill in Genoa, Italy.
A coastal wind had carried a Palytoxin-like substance onto the shoreline, requiring approximately 200 holidaymakers to seek medical attention.
