# My piranha attacked my finger (graphic pics within)



## therizman1

To make a long story short, I had him in the net, out of the tank on his way to a large bucket and he decided to try to jump, I tried to block him with my hand and this is what happened:




























He got ahold of my finger damn well... he bit all the way down into my knuckle and broke the capsule my knuckle is in and chipped a piece of bone off it. Also went through all the nerves, and some other stuff in my finger (I dont know sh*t about the human body). Spent about 6 hours in the ER with tons of doctors and sh*t, and ended up seeing a surgeon yesterday. He isnt sure if I need to have surgery or not, he wants to wait to see if it gets infected first. There are just 3 stitches holding the flap of skin and flesh on so that if they need to go back in to work on it is easier to do. I guess if they stitched it all Id need around 30 or more stitches. Needless to say it hurts.

Lesson to be learned from this... always use buckets to catch your fish in and move them and not nets... he did a lot of damage to my finger and I will loose some feeling in it due to all the nerve damage that was done and some ability to bend it fully.. not to mention when you are right handed and loose a lot of the use of your hand, you feel useless... just try typing and not having an index finger... it is hard as hell.

Here is the monster in his new home (I made the stand and canopy and it is not yet done being planted... again planting with my left hand is very hard to do since I have about 0 coordination with it):


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## Zapins

Wow... that’s an impressive bite, and I am REALLY sorry to hear about the long term damage.

But damn!!! That is about the coolest story ever! Imagine the chicks asking how you got that one, and actually telling them a true story!

The possibilities are endless...


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## niko

I see that Zapins wants a piranha tatoo too - the ultimate proof that you are dedicated to this hobby!

--Nikolay


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## nailalc

Nothing against what happened to you, seems like a battle wound that can be talked about for some time...but my wife would laugh immediately (after she knew I wasn't going to die) and say, "Have you never seen the movie?"


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## C_perugiae

Yeah, Mike got made fun of a bit when he came into the store where I work. One of the managers actually laughed at him (the same manager that got nailed by a 2' Giant Gourami a while back). It does take some pretty special circumstances to have a piranha actually bite. They're generally big wimps unless provoked.


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## dstephens

Dude, Piranha 1, Humans, O. Ouch!!! Really sorry about any potential damage, but aside from that, this is far and away the best post I have ever seen on this forum. People might even quit talking about burning the plants in their tanks now and focus on illegal or exotic fish that can bite. I had always thought fish like piranhas were illegal until I got into this hobby and just cruised webistes selling all kind of plants and fish. I think they are beautiful fish and it looks like despite the bite, you have provided him/her with a very nice place to live. Kudos to you and good luck with your finger.


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## joephys

Atleast you still have the finger.


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## trenac

*Holy Crap!*:fish: ... This is why I don't keep fish with large teeth.

I hope that your hand heals fast and all goes well with the surgery if it comes down to that.


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## Raul-7

But that's just a myth, Piranha's are usually very timid and easily frightened - this is more of a freak accident if anything.


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## ruki

This doesn't look so rare when you see it happen, even if just once...

Obligatory Joke

Butthead: "pull my finger" heh heh heh huh heh. See Beavis, it's perfectly safe.

Beavis: let me try that. (splash). Ummmnmmm. Oh yeah. "pull my finger" Auuuurrrghhh!

Butthead: Heh heh huh heh huh heh.


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## IUnknown

> But that's just a myth, Piranha's are usually very timid and easily frightened - this is more of a freak accident if anything.


haha, reminds me of the shark week series where the scientist is waist deep with a bunch of bull sharks, commenting on how peacefull they are, and then one takes a chunck out of his leg. Probably not norman, but I woudn't get in a tank with Paranha's (although I think there is a jackass episode on that).


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## Raul-7

IUnknown said:


> haha, reminds me of the shark week series where the scientist is waist deep with a bunch of bull sharks, commenting on how peacefull they are, and then one takes a chunck out of his leg. Probably not norman, but I woudn't get in a tank with Paranha's (although I think there is a jackass episode on that).


You mean Eric Ritter? He was just pushing his luck, I mean he was surrounded by 20 adults and was hand feeding them. Though you have to beware that it couldv'e been much worse, they couldv'e easily started a feeding frenzy with all that blood in the water and bit everything in their path - yet the two other people in the water escaped unharmed.

And there's a difference. Bull sharks are notorious for attacking humans even when unprovoked, however I have yet to hear of a shoal of Piranha that attacked and killed a human.


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## newguy

piranha are not man eating monsters like in the movies but also not as timid as some of you made them out to be. The reason they seem peaceful in the aquarium is because they are taken good care of with daily feedings and also doesnt have a large shoal size. 

Lets just say i wouldnt go anywhere near a large group of hungry piranhas, they really do become man eating monsters while feeding, there are many reports of full grown cows getting ripped to the bones in less than a hour. To piranahas there is really no difference between human and cows except human has better ability to defend themselves with arms and legs, but it wont really matter after first blood and the feeding frenzy begins.

Different speicies also have difference levels of agressiveness. Red bellies in general are the most wimpy. Anyway nice fish, what is it? looks like a serrasalmas rombus(sp?) from the pic.


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## therizman1

newguy said:


> piranha are not man eating monsters like in the movies but also not as timid as some of you made them out to be. The reason they seem peaceful in the aquarium is because they are taken good care of with daily feedings and also doesnt have a large shoal size.
> 
> Lets just say i wouldnt go anywhere near a large group of hungry piranhas, they really do become man eating monsters while feeding, there are many reports of full grown cows getting ripped to the bones in less than a hour. To piranahas there is really no difference between human and cows except human has better ability to defend themselves with arms and legs, but it wont really matter after first blood and the feeding frenzy begins.
> 
> Different speicies also have difference levels of agressiveness. Red bellies in general are the most wimpy. Anyway nice fish, what is it? looks like a serrasalmas rombus(sp?) from the pic.


Yes, it is a Serrasalmus Rhombeus... the common name is a Black Diamond Rhom due to the sparkles in his scales... he was originally imported from Peru.


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## j_chicago

Boy if my fish bite me like that, lets just say it wouldn't be enjoying its new digs....but I guess that's why I'm getting rid of my kribs for being too aggressive...But according to Animal Planet's Special the other night, there has never been a documented human death by Piranhas
Sorry about your finger.
Jason


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## LindaC

OMG that looks nasty and I'll bet it hurt like hell too! Sorry to hear that there could be long term damage, I sure hope not. 

He is a very beautiful fish!

Good luck with the finger!
Linda


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## Gumby

Sorry to hear your Rhom messed up your finger. It's the chance we take keeping piranhas, though. The possiblity of long term nerve damage sucks a ton. Hopefuly you have some good doctors that can repair your finger so you can keep full dexterity.

How big is that Rhom? How long have you had him?

I know what you mean with the netting difficulty. If you remember me from PFury, I had 9 Pygos in a 125. I decided to rescape the tank and went through 2 nets while getting the fish out. One actualy bit it's way through the net and ended up on the floor. That was a huge "Oh ****, now what?" moment. I still have a net full of holes from them 

Unfortunately, I can say I'm in the same boat as you, or was, a long time ago. Not nearly as severe though.

When I was about 13-14 I kept a Red Belly Piranha (Pygocentrus natteri). I was gravel vacing the tank one day, and he got cornered, flipped out and took a pea sized chunk out of my finger. There was LOTS of blood. I've got a nice scar on my finger now. The fish was only about 4 inches long. Looking back on it, I probably should have gotten stiches. There was really nothing there for them to stich back though, it was a clean through-and-through bite. I had a pea sized chuck of my finger floating around in the tank. Nasty.

I've worked in fish stores or around fish for the last 7-8 years, so I've had my fair share of issues. Some were avoidable, some were just freak accidents.

As far as other "fish related" damage I've incurred goes:
- I was bitten by my Payara (Hydrolycus armatus) while netting him. Puncture wounds, bleeding. Nothing too serious.

- Stung by cory cats 20+ times. They love to swim inbetween your hand and the glass when you're scrubbing a tank full of them.

- Stung by Notesthes robusta, a scorpion fish... The same way the cories got me. You wanna talk pain? Get stung by a scorpion fish . This one scared me, I had slight breathing difficulty and my vision became a little blurred, but it passed quickly.

- Stung by a stingray- twice. Once while in the ocean in Florida, once when unpacking an order(the "dead" stingray wasn't so dead after all). This is the *worst* pain I've ever felt in my life. Also had similar symptoms to the scorpion fish sting.

- Bitten by a couple of nasty morray eels. No matter how much precaution I take, they have found a way to bite me. None of my bites were severe (just bled a good bit), however a coworker did have to be rushed to the hospital for 10-15 stiches after one jumped while he was netting it.

- Grazed by a Volitan Lion's spines. Just a lot of itching burning, and pain. No where near as bad as a full on sting.

While it may sound like I've been pretty unlucky when it comes to fish keeping, it could have been a lot worse. I've had to bag 2 Blue Ring Octopus and several Cone Shells before. That could have ended up with me being dead on the floor within an hour or less if I didn't know how to handle/_not handle_ them. I also bagged a 10lb (I kid you not, this thing was the size of a basketball) true stonefish, all went well. I was always the "go to guy" at work when it came to handling dangerous animals, partly because I was one of the only ones willing to take the risk, but mainly because I knew what I was doing. The only bagging/netting related injury I suffered was those damned cory cats stinging me and possibly 1 eel bite.

Fish keeping ain't all fun and games. Especially when you deal with the predators/venomous ones.


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## Ajax

Wow those are some amazing stories! I've had my share of injuries, but never anything that bad because of my fish. I got bit a few times by my large oscars that drew blood near my nail bed, and nearly got bit by a 2' giant gourami but that's it.


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## C_perugiae

I've been nailed by a 12" Jaguar cichlid and a 24" giant gourami. I wasn't expecting a fish to pop 4-5" out of the water to grab my hand; I'm a little more careful now. 

We used to have a 30" arowana at work that nailed about 4 or 5 people as they were opening the canopy to the tank. A few of them had pretty deep cuts and bled quite a bit.

I'm happy to say I've never been seriously hurt by fish, even with the amount I handle them, but I also don't handle saltwater stuff often, which is where the really nasty stuff is. My fiance ends up with urchin stings and random sore spots on his hands from time to time, which is why I stay away from it!


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## DataGuru

I don't get the attraction of keeping fish who are that aggressive or poisonous.


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## Petfairy

Ok, that turns me off of fish with teeth. I wasnt fond of them before.... but now i know i wont be stocking the 125g with something like that.


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