Reef Discussion

[Darren S]

I was feeding the fish today and as usual my Foxface was front and centre waiting to be fed. He always gets excited and puts his spikes on display. I didn't notice as I put the food in and stabbed my finger on the spikes. Man did it hurt, felt like a wasp sting, instant burning pain and blood from the spike holes. It has now been 8 hours and still in a bit of pain. Lesson learnt.....won't be going anywhere near them again. I knew they were venomous but didn't think he would get me when feeding him.

 

[webber555]

You will notice I gave you a beer. It was the only rating appropriate. When in pain, drink up!

 

[Lesley]

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. !!! No thanks. Those spikes look deadly. I agree with above , alcohol !!!

 

[Buddy]

Mine takes food from my fingers and every now and then a fish will spook him and he will flare up his spikes. Haven't been jabbed yet but there have been a few close calls!

 

[Darren S]

Mine takes food from my fingers and every now and then a fish will spook him and he will flare up his spikes. Haven't been jabbed yet but there have been a few close calls!

That's what mine does normally, just eats out of my fingers. This time he was excited and I wasn't looking and I thought it was just him nibbling my finger but no, the pain was almost instant.

 

[MagicJ]

Still, before you head out the door, note that applying some hot water therapy can help to relieve the pain almost immediately. The venom is a heat-labile protein, which means it can be broken down very effectively by exposure to heat (Meier & White, 1995). So, you can soak or bathe the injured body part in water that's as hot as you can stand in order to reduce/eliminate the venom's effects. This is normally around 110° to 115°F, but should not be any hotter as you'll risk scalding yourself and making matters worse.

From http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/8/fish2

 

[ReeferRob]

I've never gotten it from a Foxface, but I've gotten it a few times from Lionfish. The hottest water you can stand for 20 mins usually denatures the venom. If you start having any sort of breathing difficulty or severe swelling, get to a hospital immediately and let them know what stung you. If you think you're going to pass out before hand, write it down on a piece of paper and pin it to your shirt somehow. We had a guy come into our ER once that had written down that a Copperhead snake got him, he had it pinned to his shirt, it saved his life.

 

[Ziggy]

OOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

 

[ReeferRob]

We don't have near the critters that will do you in here, but the 3-4 we do have will either kill you outright or make you wish you were dead. Copperhead snakes, Timber rattlers out in western Maryland, brown recluse spider and the Black Widow spider, any of those are lethal if you're bitten in the right place or you're allergic to their venom.

 

[Sam Banfield]

Yeah a few more really dangerous animals in Aust. The rough scale, copperhead, tiger snake, brown snake, tipan, inland tipan or fierce snake (I had one of these living under a water tank, never could convince it to move), death adder are the bad guys of what's in my local area! Lol!! then you can go on to spiders....., hahaha!

 

[Boxermom]

I've only ever been nailed by 2 critters in the tanks....first was a carpet anemone that got really pissed off about being removed from his rock. He wrapped around my wrist and burnt the crap out of me.

The other was a small snowflake moray eel that I was hand feeding (he was my little buddy). I trained him to take fresh dead feeders from my hand, and well, morays being morays, he went for the fish but missed and got my finger instead. Luckily nothing venomous has ever gotten me....even the tiny lion fish I used to hand feed.