My FM Got Me

Z

zekni

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Nov 29, 2002
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So while I've always been interested in what kind of damage my freshwater moray (Echidna rhodochilus - as far as I know) might inflict on a digit, I've never been overly eager to try and find out.

In two years of owning the fish and generally being very careful to avoid being struck ("Sniper" has proven again and again to be an appropriate name for him) I got a little sloppy today.

I was changing the water in the tank and figured while the level was low, I would rearrange the plants in his tank. He was feeling a little fiesty (usually he hides out during water changes - but not always) poking his nose out of the water and swimming around like he was hungry, so I threw some shrimp in there and went back to messing with the plants, thinking I was out of strike range (really, I know better than to have my hands in there when he's eating) and WHAM, got it on the finger.

So FYI guys, the initial bite didn't hurt... it was about ten seconds after when it started bleeding that it really started to sting. I washed with antibacterial soap and then dabbed some hydrogen peroxide on there. That was fun.

In any event, it's been about an hour and it's a little swollen and still stings like the devil, although it doesn't look like much at all. It looks like a bunch of tiny pinpricks actually.

Has anyone else been bit by one? Did it get infected? I was handling raw shrimp right beforehand, and I can't imagine his mouth is very clean? Other than washing and hydro peroxide, should I put anything on it?

All in all, I'm just glad I didn't whip him out of the tank with my hand - but any insights would be welcome. :-)


zek
 
I don't think the mouth carries any toxins. If this is the case, an infection is your biggest threat, so I would coat it with an antibiotic cream, like neosporin (if you can take the sulfas!) and bandage it. Hydrogen peroxide isn't a good cleaner--it actually damages the flesh as much as it kills 'bad' things like bacteria. Make sure there are not any teeth embedded in your flesh, as this can increase the odds of infection in addition to slowing heal time.

As with many predators, they hunt by smell, so he probably bit you because your hands smelled like food. Washing them after handling food items will likely prevent further injury. Your wound sounds very much like the wounds roomie got when he reached into his snake cage after handling the feeder mice.
 
Thank goodness I have never been bite (I have a 3 ft long 2inch thick Zebra Moray Eel that I am sure could break the bones in my finger if he got the oppertunity since their jaws and teeth are designed to crush crab shells!!!!), luckily though he is not the aggressor, and is very peaceful. I would never get a Fimbriated Moray (SW, the Yellowhead Moray) cause those things are vicious and will bight hard. Anyway, very sorry to hear about that. Orions advice is right on target (as always!). I had a close encounter once when I had a little starburt polyp frag fall under this piece of arched rock work. So I saw the eel was on the other side of the tank (tank is 7ft long) and so started pawing at the substrate trying to get it within grabbing distance. I was pawing at it for a minute then all of a sudden out comes this moray head right where I was pawing and I flung my hand out of the water. It is like digging in a dark hole and all of a sudden an animal head pops out! That was the closest encounter I've had with him. He is very peaceful and will even let me pet him and rub his back. I have been bitten by several of my triggers, a Puffer, a 10 inch Lunare Wrasse but out of all of those my 5 inch Queen Trigger hurt the most. I was moving a rock that had gotten pushed over in the (looking back she was probably the one that moved it) and was just about to put it back up when she comes charging over and latches onto my pinky. She let go quickly but there two beautiful pin pricks with a little trickle of blood coming from the bottom pinch. So after all this story telling I wish you the best of luck in healing (it will get better quickly I promise, been there with the trigger) and now you know how to avoid it better the next time. Anyway, hope your finger feels better.
 
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