My Foxface is going to get me... has anyone been poisoned by their fins?

My foxface is getting more and more aggressive at feeding time in regards to hand in general and my fingers, not to mention any other time my hand is in the tank.

When I feed the fish I take a pinch of pellets and put them below the waterline and he attacks my fingers and has brushed my hand with his dorsal fins about three times now and it's scary.

At this point I believe that his poisonous fins cutting my hand is just a matter of time. Has anyone ever been cut by these poisonous fins? If so what happens and what do you do about it??

 

mine popped me about like a bee sting best way to put it i feed with a big syringe so no fingers in the tank.

 

My rabbit comes up to me all the time when I am spot feeding my corals...I have given him krill from my hand all the time...(NOT SMART, trying to break it...dont do) I have not been stung yet by my rabbit but have been stung by my lionfish on 2 fingers right at the cuticle. They say that the two are relatively similar in stings. Hurts just as bad

Really it is not dangerous UNLESS you are allergic to them...and how do you know if you are going to be allergic. So the best thing to do is keep Benadryl on hand.

When I got stung I was at my parents house trying to transfer the fish from one tank to another. I knew it got me right away. You start having pain at site immediately. My mom didnt know what to do (and I was too busy crying... :} ) so she called the LFS. They said to take benadryl and run my hand under as hot of water as possible. So I did. It helped the pain but it still hurt horrible.

I did vomit and become diaphoretic (I think due to the pain). The pain lasted about 30-40 minutes and I could see the area become more and more red, and move up my hand. It switched from shooting pain, to stabbing pain, to numbness. But once that time period passed it was not too bad. I had a little residual numbness and pain for a couple more days (nothing really) and then it was fine. I did get a little abscess where the fin got on of my fingers

But long and short of it....take Benadryl and run under hot water for about 20 minutes (not too hot). Best to avoid getting stung period!!

 

Owner at the LFS said he got stung and it was worse then an Lionfish.He just immersed it in hot water for a while until the pain went away. Not too dangerous unless like schackmel stated, if your allregic. "Hot water to coagulate the venom, then vinegar of alchol over the wound to ease the pain" Is what one of my books say.

 

You are getting pretty brave to be messing with rabbit fish like that. I would count your blessing and quit getting that close to him. He will get you one of these days.

 

Not only do they possess toxin in their spines but you run the risk of infection due to bacteria, so you really need to be careful and keep your hands out of the tank. Syring or turkey baster works great!

 

I think I will start using the turkey baster because he's getting way too brave. He attacks my hand when I am doing water changes or messing with a coral or LR. This morning he bit my finger so hard that when I started to pull my hand out of the tank he didn't let go right away. I need to get him thinking that the hand that feeds is the baster, not my hand, and then maybe I'll be able to safely work in the tank again... Thanks for the info guys... at least I know what to do know in the unfortunate even that I do get stung!

 

Get gloves!!! http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/putting-my-foot-my-mouth-zoanthid-sting-56774.html

 

Ironically I was just telling my man about that post, he was saying he thought it would be cool to remove some zoo's from one area and put them somewhere else... Uhhh no...

I have gloves but I'm not going to put gloves on every time I feed the fish, plus I'm not so sure my foxface's dorsal fins can't tear thru my surgical gloves. Plus I want him to dis-associate the hand with food so I can put my hand in the tank without fear.

 

It feels like a bad hornet sting, you can urinate on it or use vinegar... Most people just use a little ice and wait it out.

Happy reefing!