Im Obviously Not Careful Enough In My Tank....hospital Sucks

[bunjiweb]

Well Tuesday evening i arrived home to find my largest shovelnose catfish eating my black ghost knife fish. I was really angry so I stuck my hand in the tank to try and coax it into spitting it out. After a few splashes I had coaxed it into a corner to net it, but before I could do so it body slammed itself into my hand and swam off.

After a split second I had an immense pain in the knuckle of my right hand index finger. at first I thought I had just had a bad jab and it had hit a nerve. After realising I couldnt move my finger properly and the pain was intensifying I inspected the fish. Its left Pectoral spine had snapped off near the base and it became clear it must be in my hand.

I jumped in the car and drove (in a lot of pain) to A&E. After an hour they x rayed it and it showed the spine had gone in through my index finger and burried in the middle of my hand. The hospital refused to let me home as they were scared ofme being infected with some horrid disease or toxin. The next morning I was prepared for sugery and they insisted it coud get complicated so I was put under general anesthetic. 3 hours later I woke up in recovery and was moved back up to the ward. Apparently they had to open up quite a bit of the left side of my hand to clean the entire entrance wound and make sure it was totally removed. Unfortunately even though I felt fine they said that I would need to stay in for futher tests an antibiotics, so i had to stay in another night....

Home today but feeling pretty crap after all the preventitive antibiotics...

So the moral of the story, dont get too cocky if you keep big fish as it could end up badly!

Ben

p.s. typing with one hand takes ages!

 

[xweeqtx]

Ouch.

Hope you feel better!

 

[starrynightxxi]

well, that'll learn you to interrupt your catfish during his supper, eh? I've done stupid stuff like that because I was angry, too. it's never a good idea

 

[MermaidMel]

That's horrible! And I totally sympathise, I got injured by debauwi catfish once, it's like pain but paralysed, weird. I still have a scar. Hope you get better soon, but painkillers might be in order!

 

[bunjiweb]

im trying to avoid paracetamol, i prefer natural remedies....

 

[starrynightxxi]

good luck!

that's not sarcasm, though it's gonna read like it -lol- Natural remedies are fine, though technically aspirin is natural. Don't know how much pain you're actually in, i know when i broke my wrist they gave me a prescription for a huge amount of vicodin that i never touched. Took a few ibuprofen but mostly just toughed it out. Doctors have a tendency anymore to overmedicate, i don't know if it's a money thing, or just to make whiny people shut up...

 

[bunjiweb]

well i have a lot of antibiotics to take, thats enough pills as far as im concerned, i never ususally take pills of any form!

thanks for the sympathy, ive learnt not to be so cocky..

Ben

 

[AJGray]

Ouch, hope your better soon!!

 

[divisible by zero]

so maybe i won't be getting any shovel cats

 

[bunjiweb]

id hate this to put you off, theyre nice fish, just as I have learnt you gotta be a bit careful and mix them with big fish.... mine shares the tank with a 3" syno decorus which it hasnt touched, but it did try to eat a 2.5" bristlenose once....

Ben

 

[archamfr]

sorry but i laughed when i read story goota suck though get better

 

[divisible by zero]

i saw some at a LFS recently and was thinking about doing a tall tank with a few and or pictus catfish, but i've not done any research on them, so i'll keep that in mind.

 

[angelmouse]

Oh no, that sounds dreadful, didn't realize that could happen, hope you feel better soon.
Angel

 

[GuppyDude]

Wow, thats quite an ordeal. I Hope you fell better soon.

Hows the catfish fairing?

 

[Ilya]

Sounds life fun.