Stinger stuck in the disc - solved

[Proximus]

Just sharing this little incident i had today. One of the males got rid of the stinger at some point, and before i was able to remove it - it was stuck in one of the felmales.



I was thinking about leaving it for some reason, thinking it would exit on it`s own.. but i figured it could enter her again, because of the angle of the stinger and the way she moves and uses her disk.. There would be a risk that it could injure the other rays as well. So i took one of my feeding tongs, gripped it as hard as i could and just pulled quickly.



It went stright out, i felt no resistance when i pulled, and she did not make any sign of being in pain, and just kept on browsing around as always when it was finished.



All went well, just a small wound!

 

[millerkid519]

Is she acting a little different? If not you got lucky

 

[Proximus]

I didn`t see any change in her behaviour just after i pulled it out, and she didn`t seem very affected when it was still stuck in her disc. But she did move a bit slower when i fed them few minutes ago.

 

[Woefulrelic]

Are the stingers non venemous after they fall off? I think I've heard only when they turn all white but that might not apply to black rays of be true lol.

 

[litigator666]

had the same issue with the OP - on a stinger stuck on the disk of my female. i had to full it out as it didn't came off in a few days I was observing it. the female seems to didn't feel any pain and back to normal.

As to the stingers being poisonous after shed, when it was white, i found your answer the painful way. I was cleaning the topfilter and found a white old stinger in the gravel, i set it aside with the filter wool i was cleaning, i forgot that i had it in there and when i squeeze off the wool, my hand started to have bleed. I squeeze the stinger inside the wool, i had to pull it out my palm. it only sting and made me bleed, but i would say not poisonous.

 

[Tig Phish]

related question, I see my ray has 2 barbs. When you see 2 barbs, how long should you expect for the ray to fully shed the old barb? Cuz its been 2 weeks now

 

[Woefulrelic]

related question, I see my ray has 2 barbs. When you see 2 barbs, how long should you expect for the ray to fully shed the old barb? Cuz its been 2 weeks now

I'm pretty sure my male had it growing in for 3-4 weeks before he shed his first. Make sure you save the barb, the first one can be used as a benchmark.

 

[harris522]

I have saw a few rays with 3 or more barbs.