Nailed by a ray?

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haha, enough to convince me never to get rays, i will just enjoy the pics and videos people post :)
 
Oddball said:
I stepped on a ray and was stung in the achilles tendon by it when I was a kid. 20 years later, I was stung in the palm of my hand when I tried getting my hook out of its mouth. A friend was holding the tail/stinger wrapped in a towel but, it wiggled free and nailed me. Both were extremely painful.
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Dam thats my fear everytime I hook up a ray. I flip them on their backs and usually they are calm and cant swing them Barbs
 
Amazonian Rays are worse than saltwater ones, toxicity-wise (or so I've heard). I remember a thread a while back where someone got nailed by a Leopoldi (I think). It looked nasty.
 
I had to have a snapped off piece of barb taken out of my hand. And, both times I got nailed I was taken to the ER and had my tetanus booster administered along with cortizone for the inflammation. The main treatment was immersion of the stung appendage in water just short of scalding to break up the proteins from the ray slime coating the barb. The reaction to the slime is like multiple hornet stings for a couple of hours. Both times, the holes were packed with webril gauze to pull proteins from the wound. The holes were never closed but allowed to granulate new tissue in over time.
 
Have to add one more thing I Picked up a shed stinger out of the bottom of my tank I let it sit for quite awhile before i picked it up I grabbed it with bare hands nothing broke the skin I was gentle but it still made my hand tingle a bit so now I know to use gloves or tongs to grab them and I also bleach them now


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Oddball said:
I had to have a snapped off piece of barb taken out of my hand. And, both times I got nailed I was taken to the ER and had my tetanus booster administered along with cortizone for the inflammation. The main treatment was immersion of the stung appendage in water just short of scalding to break up the proteins from the ray slime coating the barb. The reaction to the slime is like multiple hornet stings for a couple of hours. Both times, the holes were packed with webril gauze to pull proteins from the wound. The holes were never closed but allowed to granulate new tissue in over time.
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The scalding thing, I had a Bullhead spine go through the base of my left middle finger all the way through the bone... and up until then I didnt know if all native Catfish were venomous or just Channels... and it swelled to twice its size and I bled so much that the grass where I had been standing was completely blood-soaked... I went home, cleaned up, and soaked in hot water, and it killed the pain, but didnt affect the swelling at all. Not sure what that's worth. Just wanted to relate :grinno:
 
johnnycoolxx said:
Dang... that's why I've never seriously considered getting a ray. They're beautiful but just one sting and you'll regret ever buying it.
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I think with all the ray keepers here, the lack of stories should tell you something. Use common sense and it won't happen.

(and as I say this I'll go home tonight and get tagged)
 
+1. I've never been hit by any ray in my aquariums. What's gotten me at home were gars, aros, wasp fish, fossil cats, lion fish, and a plethora of cichlid fin ray spines.
 
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