Blue Tang Sting bad bad fish

K

kjord97

Premium Member
So, my friend in our local club got pricked by the barb on the tangs tail during his tank tear down. I would say he has been handleing tanks for 10+ years, so he is pretty cautious. Well from his explantion, the ***** was 5 times worse than a lion sting and his hand swelled up like a catalope. After several hours on the phone calling around to professionals back on the west coast where he came from, he finally made the trip to the ER. A couple of shots in the fingers and some antibiotics, he appears to be doing better. He had severe burning pain for about 7 hours before it started to reside.

Anyone know what kind of poison is on the barb? I do know the blue tangs skin is poisonious, wonder if he got some transfer?


So word of advice, be careful around those surgenfish.
 
I dont think they have poison but i imagine it would hurt greatly because this is theyre natural defense in the ocean which they would use to fight off other fish.
 
Yeah I agree with you, I dont think the barb has posion, it is the skin of the fish that is posionous.

Have you ever looked at another fish who has been pricked by a tang. The get permanate scars that always seem very harsh.
 
Ye i have seen some fish and they do look nasty there was a thread on here i saw somebodys rabbitfish had got into a fight with there tang and he had a big cut down the side, Looked deep aswell.
 
Re: Blue Tang Sting bad bad fish

Anyone know what kind of poison is on the barb? I do know the blue tangs skin is poisonious, wonder if he got some transfer?


So word of advice, be careful around those surgenfish. [/B]
Click to expand...

I've read in the past that Blue Tangs are poisonous.

From wiki:

The blue tang is of minor commercial fisheries importance, however it is occasionally utilized as a bait fish. The flesh has a strong odor and is not highly prized. This fish may cause ciguatera poisoning if consumed by humans. However, blue tangs are collected commercially for the aquarium trade. An unwary human who tries to handle the blue tang risks the chances of being badly cut by the caudal spine. These spines, on both sides of the caudal peduncle, are extended from the body when the fish becomes excited. The quick, thrashing sideways motion of the tail can produce deep wounds that result in swelling and discoloration, posing a high risk of infection. The pain can last for hours, until eventually subsiding into a dull ache. It is believed that some species of Acanthurus have venom glands while others do not. The spines are used only as a method of protection against aggressors. Having one in an aquarium and cornering it will most likely result in injury.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracanthurus_hepatus
 
Some more great info my friends have found over the weekend. They did alot of digging and research for me. Here you go.

SOME surprising data.

From fishbase.

Paracanthurus hepatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Family: Acanthuridae (Surgeonfishes, tangs, unicornfishes), subfamily: Acanthurinae picture (Pahep_u0.jpg) by Randall, J.E.
Image of Paracanthurus hepatus, Palette surgeonfish, Palet-doktervis, Ffiyán, Hugupau asut, Maasiyes, Masiyes, Montador, Paletkirurgfisk, Blue tang, Blue surgeonfish, Blue surgeonfish, Hepatus tang, Palette surgeon, Indo-pacific bluetang, Wedge-tailed tang, Flagtail surgeonfish, Wedgetail blue tang, Chirurgien bleu, Simusimu, Nanyôhagi, Voularg, Leter enam, Leter enam kecil, Debam, Dengkis, Chankatayan, Kimakimaga, Acaraúna-preta, Barbeiro, Cirurgião, Palettkirurgfisk
*Distribution map of Paracanthurus hepatus, Acanthuridae, Palette surgeonfish, Palet-doktervis, Ffiyán, Hugupau asut, Maasiyes, Masiyes, Montador, Paletkirurgfisk, Blue tang, Blue surgeonfish, Blue surgeonfish, Hepatus tang, Palette surgeon, Indo-pacific bluetang, Wedge-tailed tang, Flagtail surgeonfish, Wedgetail blue tang, Chirurgien bleu, Simusimu, Nanyôhagi, Voularg, Leter enam, Leter enam kecil, Debam, Dengkis, Chankatayan, Kimakimaga, Acaraúna-preta, Barbeiro, Cirurgião, Palettkirurgfisk
AquaMaps | Point map |
Order: Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name: Palette surgeonfish
Max. size: 31.0 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 2334)
Environment: reef-associated; marine; depth range 2 â€"œ 40 m
Climate: tropical; 24 â€"œ 26°C; 30°N - 30°S, 32°e - 170°w
Importance: aquarium: commercial; price category: medium; price reliability: very questionable: based on ex-vessel price for species in this family
Resilience: High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months(Preliminary K or Fecundity.)
Vulnerability: Low to moderate vulnerability (32.29), based on Lmax and K (Ref. 59153)
Distribution:
Gazetteer Indo-Pacific: East Africa, including the Mascarene Islands (Ref. 37792) to Kiribati, north to southern Japan, south to the southern Great Barrier Reef, New Caledonia, and Samoa.
Morphology: Dorsal spines (total): 9 - 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 19 - 20; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 18 â€"œ 19. Bright blue, yellow and black in color (Ref. 3145).
Biology: Occur in clear, current-swept terraces of seaward reefs. Observed in loose aggregations 1 or 2 meters above the bottom; juveniles and subadults typical in groups near isolated Pocillopora eydouxi coral heads and when alarmed hide themselves tightly among the branches (Ref. 9710). Engybenthic (Ref. 58302). Feed on zooplankton (Ref. 9710, 48637). Relatively uncommon and highly localized (Ref. 1602, 9710). Very popular and hardy aquarium fish. Anterolateral glandular groove with venom gland (Ref. 57406).


http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi.../97/3/206/TBL1

Good article on link with a whole list of posinous fish.

Acanthurus pyroferus mimic surgeon fish without venom gland

Paracanthurus hepatus Blue tang with venom gland

Prionurus scalprum Scapel Sawtail with venom gland

Zebrasoma flavescens Yellow Tang without venom gland
 
Blue Tang Sting

Blue Tang Sting

I know that this is an old topic. But I was transferring fish from my 265 that I'm having to sell because of a divorce into a 55 gal bowfront. I had some fish that I knew I wanted to take back to the LFS and one that a friend wanted to buy. The rest which included 4 tangs went into a bucket to make the journey to their new tank. In the process of netting the regal blue tang, it thrashed around a bit and got caught in the net. When I tried to untangle it from the net, it thrashed and stuck me in the right thumb just below the thumbnail. It hurt but I thought nothing of it...until about 2 hours later when it started to throb. And throb, and throb and then swelled to almost twice it's size. I mean to the point the skin hurt to touch it and was very hard from the inflammation. It's now been 25 hours since the sting and my thumb is still sore and the swelling has subsided about 50%. Be careful with these fish! I got stuck with a spine from the dorsal. If it was able to do that...maybe the toxins in the skin are also on the barbs of the fins? All I know is it hurt like a mother!!!
 
Thanks for the heads up! I have a yellow tang but I never knew they had toxins in their skin. Will surely be careful if I ever want to catch that fish.
 
I don't think that's an issue with the Yellows. I didn't know Blues were in any way toxic until this happened and a friend told me about it. I did a little reading and found that 1 or 2 species of blue have poisonous barbs near the tail. And that ALL of the blues have some toxicity in various levels in their skin. I was surprised to hear that. I called my local store and the guy laughed and said, "No one ever believe me when I tell them they can be slightly venimous. There's not much you can do except soak your hand in VERY hot water that is so hot it nearly scolds you." I did that for 5 hours and all it did was hurt anyway.
 
I've read in the past that Blue Tangs are poisonous.


actually no!!!!

ciguatera poisoning has nothing to do with a tang's barb, many reef fish can poison humans with ciguatera. it has to do with algae that is consumed by the fish and the poison enters the fishes flesh. the fish is not effected but if eaten it can make you sick.
 
Not at all sure what to say except that I'm not the only person who was affected this way by a barb from a Blue Tang. My thumb is still swollen a little, but is no longer "hard" from the swelling and has most of the normal feeling back to it. I was actually scared for a bit last night but decided to wait it out. Guess no matter what you think or know about any fish, it's best to handle with extreme care. I would have never thought that would happen. Now a lionfish...that I would expect to hurt.
 
No venom in any species of tang. However, any puncture from a fish spine is prime for infection. It's that reaction to a punctue by a bacterial Laden spine in a bacterial soup that you are seeking, not a toxin from the tang.
 
Thanks for that reassuring info. I've had reactions very minor in comparison with freshwater fish. Never anything like this. I can only state what I've read on a few sites. I didn't ingest the fish, nor was it's flesh damaged where it made contact with me. So perhaps you are correct in your statement? Could just be the bacteria in the water and on the fish reacted poorly with my skin? Who knows. As of now it has been 32.5 hours and it's still slightly swollen. It's amazing how badly you can be injured by something so delicate.
 
I just picked a regal that was sitting on a power head. Sleeping is more like it. BOOOOM. stuck the dorsal spine right in my hand. It started to hurt like heck right away. I just ran super hot water over it, and put antibacterial gel on it. It hurts like anything. I'm going to soak it in the water again.

Wow. Never. Ever. Again. Jeeze. :mad2::blown:
 
just tryed to free my tang from thye net wile transferimg it. got stang by the fin or sometring it hirts like mother. now for like an hour and it sweled.
 
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