Scary ***** Story!!!

neotrin17

Member
I was at my local ***** today picking up another tank...hehe
Well they had a lionfish there in the tank. I was like...I can't believe you guys sell these. The girl was like ya...they are pretty....
Well I turned my back and she was cleaning the salt water tanks...I was walking buy and she was like OUCH!!!
I walked over and I was like ummm what happened she was like something stung me in the tank...I was like what tank?!? She was like the one with the "pretty" fish. I was like you need to call 911 you need to go to the hospital...she was like it is only a sting...I was like a deadly sting at that....I got the store manager....he knew nothing about the deadliness of this fish...they had nothing there to help anything at all...she started screaming though from the pain in like 30 seconds....alas the ambulance came.
I didn't know how to treat it...but I knew it was bad...
I said to the manager if you are going to "try" and carry fish like this you need to let your employees know about the danagers that some can have...
I just don't want to imagine what could of happen if I wasn't there....not to toot my horn but goodness.
Okay that is another ***** story for us.
 

neotrin17

Member
I just knew that they could be horrible stings and I had no clue what to do so it was best to seek medical advice...better be safe then sorry in my eyes.
 

wocka

Active Member
ive never heard of a lionfish brushing up on a hand, maybe she tried to pet it lol. common sense not to touch soemthing that has spikes and stuff coming out of the body. poor lady.
 

killafins

Active Member
lionfish have been known to 'charge' hands... territorial thing. It really happens if it doesn't get used to you or any hand so for a while it's best tto screen it off first.
 

sailfin

Member
You like used the word "like" like 12 times in your post. That's like got to be a record or something.
 

disgusted

Member
I was "like" going to say the same thing. You "like" must be young. I was "like" thinking the same thing. These stores that sell lionfish and don't "like" know the dangers of them are "like" pretty irresponsible.
 

neotrin17

Member
I realized I did just use the word like alot....no not young...goodness there always has to be something to pick about...that is mine I guess.
 

brinkdrum

Member
In all honesty i work at Pecto myself. But that is just plain rediculous to not know the threats of the fish you have in the room. My question is, how can you have someone working in the fishroom that doesn't know the first thing about saltwater fish? There are alot of untrained and uninformed people that work there for a variety of reasons. I have learned about the species that we carry and take it seriously when i help customers. I found this board when i was fairly new at *****, maybe a half year into working there. Now its been six years and i am very thankful to all the knowledge i've learned from just watching q&a's on this board and also asked some of my own. The ***** employee stereotype i regret to inform everyone as you all know already, is sadly almost always true. I take pride in knowledge that i provide to my saltwater and freshwater customers because i know i'm actually "helping" them. I just wish other employees would take the time to learn. I'm sorry this is just one thing that aggrivates me. I definetly don't want to be shoved into that category just because i work there. But situations like this i can see why ***** has a terrible rep on this board and i understand.
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
She was pretty lucky you were there, Neotrin17. Even though they aren't deadly unless you are allergic to bee stings, they are quite painful. When I first got my lion, he would often charge my hand whenever I put it in the water. Lions are known to do that, if they don't know you.
For future reference, tell the person to run their stung hand/arm under the hottest water that they can tolerate until the ambulance gets there. This helps get some of the venom out of your veins and skin.
 

saltymist

Member
I guess we are all told something different, because while the sting is usually painfull, but just because your allergic to Bees, does NOT mean you will be allergic to the lionfish venom. Thats what I've been told by a couple of my LFS, that
while one person may have a reaction to a lionfish, does not mean he will have a reaction to a bee sting, and a person that is allergice to a bee sting will not necesarily find a lionsting deadly.
As for the *****. Well, must be a nice one, the 3 or 4 that I have visited, have never carried anything quite as ummmm, exotic as a lionfish. There main staples are clowns, blennys, and tangs, never a lionfish in sight, NOT THAT I WOULD BUY ONE FROM THEM ANYWAY!
My really local *****, or Petsmart (I always get the two confused), has a decent fish guy that does seem to agree with what I've read on many forums as being the majority acceptable information, unfortunately he only works part time, so the rest of the time, the job is covered by someone that has no idea about fish at all, and is pretty much there to just stock the shelves, and take the peoples money when they are playing cashier.
"Like" Wow!
 

sly

Active Member
Does your PetSmart sell saltwater fish? Mine doesn't and I've been told that they never have plans to. :(
 

saltymist

Member

Originally posted by Sly
Does your PetSmart sell saltwater fish? Mine doesn't and I've been told that they never have plans to. :(

Hey, that finally solved it for me! Thanks, if the store sells saltwater fish, then its a *****, if it doesnt, then its a petsmart.
Thats a great way for me to remember which store I was in after the fact. Both these large chain stores just seem like each other to me. So it was a ***** for sure, and not a Petsmart.
Kaiser, your probably right to a certain degree, once the pain set in, regardless of how much or how little it hurt, she started to see death in her immediate future, so she probably was screaming more from panic than pain. I've only been stung once by my lionfish (took him back to the lfs for credit after that, as I then decided I wanted a peacefull tank, not an agressive tank), and while it hurt, it was nothing to scream out about, couple soft sobs maybe, but nothing to scream about.
 

neotrin17

Member
I made her panic...goodness try and help someone and next you know it was my fault...I made her panic. I just told her she needs to get help. I think she started to panic when her arm swelled and the pain became unbearable...that is when she panic...
I called up there today and asked. She was okay, they kept her at the hospital for the night because she had a reaction to the venom.
I don't feel I made her "panic"
 

neotrin17

Member
Our ***** carries a lot of saltwater actually. The store manager loves the fish so he tries to carry as much as he can. Great but he needs to employee some individuals that can help with the upkeep of the tank and fish.
 

debbie g

Member
You did the right thing, Neotrin17. Better safe than sorry is the way to go.:yes: You're her hero!
Debbie G
 
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