I Hate When He Does That

[Crazy fishes]

I am so annoyed with my urchin. He was eating my mushrooms yesterday and then when I tried to remove him one of his numerous barbed spines lodged under my finger nail. IT HURT A LOT...... after a whole bunch of curses and numerous threats I manage to prise him from the mushroom who at this point was half eaten and had extruded his guts in an attempt to save itself. It feels better today but I swear there is still a chuck of spine under my nail. The mushroom well not looking too good. The moral of the story: DON'T buy an urchin for your home aquarium as they destroy your tank and your hands.

Regards

 

[garybuk]

I am so annoyed with my urchin. He was eating my mushrooms yesterday and then when I tried to remove him one of his numerous barbed spines lodged under my finger nail. IT HURT A LOT...... after a whole bunch of curses and numerous threats I manage to prise him from the mushroom who at this point was half eaten and had extruded his guts in an attempt to save itself. It feels better today but I swear there is still a chuck of spine under my nail. The mushroom well not looking too good. The moral of the story: DON'T buy an urchin for your home aquarium as they destroy your tank and your hands.

Regards

HAHA its does hurt when you get 1 up ur nail!! do mine doesnt seem to eat much in my tank! just poos alot

 

[rocknurworld2006]

I am so annoyed with my urchin. He was eating my mushrooms yesterday and then when I tried to remove him one of his numerous barbed spines lodged under my finger nail. IT HURT A LOT...... after a whole bunch of curses and numerous threats I manage to prise him from the mushroom who at this point was half eaten and had extruded his guts in an attempt to save itself. It feels better today but I swear there is still a chuck of spine under my nail. The mushroom well not looking too good. The moral of the story: DON'T buy an urchin for your home aquarium as they destroy your tank and your hands.

Regards

if you think its still their go to a and e or gp immediately as could cause a severe infection.

 

[kj23502]

I don't think I'll have an urchin Not just for that reason though

 

[IIITYIII]

Urchins not for me they dont even look cool. but that sucks i guess they are pretty pointy huh?

 

[SkiFletch]

Time for SkiFletch's lesson on marine infections. If for some reason you do have to stick your hand in your tank with open wounds, OR are injured while doing tank maintenance (urchin spines under the fingernail included), make SURE you wash and sterilize the area thoroughly upon removal from the tank. And IF the wound does get infected proceed directly to the hospital, tell them that you got the infection from putting your hands in a marine reef tank, and tell them you want the infection to be tested to see if it is "Myobacterium Marinum" which is a NASTY bacteria, usually only removed via surgery and hefty antibiotics. The infection can burrow itself underneath the skin being harder to detect, but beware, if not caught early enough, aquarists have lost fingers to this infection...

 

[Crazy fishes]

I saw a patient the other day with 'fish tank granulomas'.You acquire it from marine fish tanks, brackish water and swimming pools. It gives you a 'wart' in the area of the abrasion which is pretty harmless just looks unsightly. Surgery is not necessary; the resulting scar is worse than the infection. It is usually treated medically by a 6 month course of minocycline (a tetracycline antibiotic) and resolution is pretty rapid..... well for a mycobaterial infection. If you leave it alone it normally resolves spontaneously in 3 months to 3 years. I have never read or heard about mycobacterium marinum causing fingers to be lost, where did you hear that Ski?

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

I saw a patient the other day with 'fish tank granulomas'.You acquire it from marine fish tanks, brackish water and swimming pools. It gives you a 'wart' in the area of the abrasion which is pretty harmless just looks unsightly. Surgery is not necessary; the resulting scar is worse than the infection. It is usually treated medically by a 6 month course of minocycline (a tetracycline antibiotic) and resolution is pretty rapid..... well for a mycobaterial infection. If you leave it alone it normally resolves spontaneously in 3 months to 3 years. I have never read or heard about mycobacterium marinum causing fingers to be lost, where did you hear that Ski?

Regards

Well, you should see the scars and pictures my LFS owner has of his own infection. The infection created an abscess all underneath the skin from his 2nd knuckle past the 1st all the way to the tip of his finger. He had little pain other than inability to point his finger straight until the finger swelled up to the size of a bannana at which point he went to the emergency room. All from a little cut on his knuckle.

I've also seen pics of/read stories of people loosing a fingertip to the infection, mostly on a large competetive forum

 

[Crazy fishes]

Well, you should see the scars and pictures my LFS owner has of his own infection. The infection created an abscess all underneath the skin from his 2nd knuckle past the 1st all the way to the tip of his finger. He had little pain other than inability to point his finger straight until the finger swelled up to the size of a bannana at which point he went to the emergency room. All from a little cut on his knuckle.

I've also seen pics of/read stories of people loosing a fingertip to the infection, mostly on a large competetive forum

Mycobacterium marinum, like all other Mycobacterium Spp. doesn't generally form abscesses and 'swell up like a banana' that is because they are dealt with be a type 4 hypersensitivity reaction (a lot of macrophages and giant cells form a wall around the invading bacteria since they have difficulty destroying them). This is a slower process and is generally devoid of neutrophils which make up a large part of the pus found in abscesses. I would suspect the guy had another bacterium causing those symptoms most likely a skin commensal like Staphylococcus aureus. It is quite possible to have two organisms at the same time and as you said before he is a LFS owner so M. marinum is probably his best friend but not necessarily the cause of symptoms .

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Compound infection, could be. Either way, still likely something he caught from his tank, and not something I'd want in my fingers

 

[Crazy fishes]

Compound infection, could be. Either way, still likely something he caught from his tank, and not something I'd want in my fingers

Certainly not......

 

[WayneVT08]

Compound infection, could be. Either way, still likely something he caught from his tank, and not something I'd want in my fingers

That's what she said.

 

[@ombomb]

Compound infection, could be. Either way, still likely something he caught from his tank, and not something I'd want in my fingers

That's what she said.

http/www.instantrimshot.com/

 

[Crazy fishes]

I just thought I would up date you on the latest annoying and down right destructive thing my urchin has done. Many of you may remember some time ago I said my urchin had eaten half way through my hammer coral skeleton well I woke up a few weeks back and he has removed two thirds of the polyps which were scatter all over the tank!!! This induced some more cursing and impulsive threats before I went searching for the 'decapitated' polyps. I found them all and lucky have found little cracks to wedge them in and they are still alive!! Luck for the urchin he is still alive too !!

Anyway regards

 

[Donya]

DON'T buy an urchin for your home aquarium as they destroy your tank and your hands.

Oh come on now, don't be harsh. What about things like lovely little mine urchins? I may sometimes hear the one I've got eating my liverock at night, but big, blunt spines makes for pure cuddly goodness. Of course, that urchin has on occasion nearly taken a chunk out of my hand with its little beaky mouth, but that's just the urchin version of a little love nip.