A man in the UK poisoned his family, two dogs and four firefighters by cleaning his fish tank.
Chris Matthews from Oxfordshire unknowingly released toxic fumes when he removed a rock covered in coral and scraped it clean.
The next day he, his mam, dad, girlfriend, sister and her boyfriend all fell sick with a flu-like illness. Even their dogs had similar symptoms.
Speaking to the Metro, Chris said he knew something wasn't right:
"It was worse than flu, we couldn’t concentrate on anything. We couldn’t regulate our temperature, we were struggling to breathe and coughing."
The 27 year old rang the emergency services and they were taken to hospital.
When it was discovered they were suffering from palytoxin poisoning, there was a large-scale emergency response to the house.
The road was closed and a police cordon was put up. Four firefighters who were first on the scene were also taken to hospital.
The house was ventilated overnight while chemical officers removed the rest of the coral.
The coral, pulsing xenia, is a soft coral common in home aquariums. It contains palytoxin, one of the most toxic substances in the world.
Palytoxin poisoning causes fever and a whole range of breathing, muscle and neurological problems, and can result in death.
Chris 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."
