[Coral-List] African Dust Troubles

[Melissa Keyes]

Hello Listers.
 
I've lived in the Caribbean most of my adult life, and believe me, the African dust is very troublesome.
 
Every island has allergy centers.  People have a lot of problems with their breathing, sinusses and skin (rashes) from these attacks.  I've read that the dust is full of chemicals, DDT being one, and all sorts of 'microbes'.
 
For the last few days we've had pinkish-gray skys here in the Virgin Islands from the dust.  Mold counts are off the scale, but I don't know if the mold comes from the dust.
 
One theory is that the Elkhorn corals all died from something in the dust.
 
There is a coat of dust all over everything, you can swipe your finger over your car and come up with a brown crust.  Not a kilo, but a significant amount.  This accumulates in our cisterns, and needs to be cleaned out occasionally.  One that I cleaned had a few centimeters of reddish brown goo in the bottom.
 
Cheers from Paradise,
 
Melissa Keyes
 
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

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