male retic lost his stinger!!

[mos90]

my male 6" retic that ive had for about 3 weeks lost his stinger. it looked like it had a slight cotton fungus on his tail right in the stinger area but it seemed to go away. but this morning i noticed the whole stinger fell off.

what could cause this? is this bad?

 

[BlackShark11k]

don't rays shed their stingers naturally?

 

[PeteLockwood]

Stingers are shed pretty frequently, that part is totally natural.

Do you see a new stinger where the old one came off? If so, it's probably simply been shed. If not it may be that the stinger was damaged when he was being moved but a new one should grow in time.

 

[mos90]

ahh.. ok i didnt know that. i will keep an eye out for a new 1.

 

[Laosy Fish]

so does the stinger still carry venom when it falls off?

 

[PeteLockwood]

Yes. Run it under hot water to neutralize.