# Why you should not use a net to move a piranha...



## therizman1

So some of you may have noticed I have not been around much... the past couple weeks I have been moving myself and my gf to our respective new places (no we do not live together... I enjoy the little sanity I do have). So anyways, just about done moving, last thing I need to move is my big diamond I got from Winkyee (aka DrZoidberg).

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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## Winkyee

Damn Man,
I hope that heals up nice for you.
Worst bite I've ever seen..
Pete


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## therizman1

Winkyee said:


> Damn Man,
> I hope that heals up nice for you.
> Worst bite I've ever seen..
> Pete


Thanks for selling me a vicious man eating beast


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## LouDiB

WOW! I have never seen an actual picture of a hobbyist's finger in the aftermath of a bite. That looks gruesome and I bet the needle killed when they stuck it in the wound. I had a slap shot to the face earlier this year and had to get 6 stithces. The guy high sticked big time. That was the most painful needle ever tho to the upper lip under my nose.
















Good luck with the healing process bro


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## NickNick

Chpped the bone? Damn Looks painful as hell , so imagine what another animal feels when it gets caught in betweeen them jaws and razor teeth ?!!!!!!! Beautiful Fish Beautiful!!!! Hope everything heals up like its supposed to.


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## Mr. Hannibal

That's a huge bite Bro, sorry... anyway hope it heals very soon... just keep that wound "clean" since piranha bites tend to get infected easily (my experience)... and thanks for sharing those pics. Now other members will learn the importance of using a bucket when moving Ps... and that's a great looking planted tank and Rhom...







!


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## harrykaa

Holy Piranha, therizman1,

Hope your finger heals well. I bet you should watch the wound is not going to become inflamed. 
You also must bind it immobile at the joint.

Harry


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## Tinkerbelle

holy crap how many inches is that beast? i've decided never to put my fingers anywhere near sid when catching him or messing with his decor (he's only 6") after he decided to free himself from the bag I brought him home in and left a very neat 3/4" scissored circle in it.


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## therizman1

harrykaa said:


> holy crap how many inches is that beast? i've decided never to put my fingers anywhere near sid when catching him or messing with his decor (he's only 6") after he decided to free himself from the bag I brought him home in and left a very neat 3/4" scissored circle in it.


I am going to devise a little coral using egg crate from Home Depot to corner them in one area while I work on the rest of the tank. I already have a system for my 40g tanks, just need one for the 75 and 125 now... probably some sort of three sided thing to corner them against the glass. And that is my big rhom and he is up to about 11" now.


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## face2006

damn bro..i'm about to move my big Tern and man i'm not gonna lie i'm alittle worried..gotta prepare for this..i really hope ur finger heals ...so question? did u drop the fish when he did that or what?


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## bjmarche

Ouch.
That's the worst Piranha bite I've seen yet.


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## altimaser

That sucks man, hope that heals up with no permanent damage


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## Trystan

Damn man that is one bad bite. Best of luck with the healing process. I think that this will be a good warning to all of us to use buckets from now on with our large fish. Beautiful tank by the way. He looks to be happy in his new enviroment, and every bit as agressive as before maybe more. lol. Anyway good luck with the wound hopefully it doesn't rquire to much surgery.

Trystan


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## therizman1

face2006 said:


> Damn man that is one bad bite. Best of luck with the healing process. I think that this will be a good warning to all of us to use buckets from now on with our large fish. Beautiful tank by the way. He looks to be happy in his new enviroment, and every bit as agressive as before maybe more. lol. Anyway good luck with the wound hopefully it doesn't rquire to much surgery.
> 
> Trystan


Thansks... I hope people will see what piranhas are capable of doing and be careful and use a bucket. It is a bit more of a pain, but not having use of your right hand really sucks as does being off work.


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## traumatic

wow mike, I'm sorry that happened to you. That is by far the worst p bite I've ever seen. And by a big rhom no less. The most dangerous postion to be in w/ a p is when they are out of water.

Let me know if you need any help moving stuff I'll be glad to help.


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## therizman1

traumatic said:


> wow mike, I'm sorry that happened to you. That is by far the worst p bite I've ever seen. And by a big rhom no less. The most dangerous postion to be in w/ a p is when they are out of water.
> 
> Let me know if you need any help moving stuff I'll be glad to help.


Thanks, I have just about everything moved, just a few odds and ends left and all my tanks are in their position, most just need to be planted and such.

On a plus note, the snowball pleco is looking good, and I may have some more plants for you... maybe some bolbitis and some more rosette swords and maybe a few others if you want them.


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## 2PiRaNhA~2FuRrY

holy sh*t!.....







that musta hurt man...anyways thos are very nice rhom...


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## PhsycoMexi

Man i fill your pain. My piranha bite is finally almost all the way healed up after 3 weeks. That is a freakin insane bite. I guess i just got lucky where i got bit because he took off only a portion of my fingerprint on my middle finger. And yes it does suck trying to use that hand especially if thats your dominant hand. In the documentary "Wolf in the Water" it said the bigger Rhom's can bite through a human wrist in 3 bites...







..Crazy. Well take care, I hope your bite gets better.


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## Coldfire

Damn, that is one hell of a bit. Hope everything heals up nicely. That has to be the worse bit I have seen. He is a beautiful beast, congrats!!


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## Ex0dus

thats gonna be a scar to brag about


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## therizman1

Coldfire said:


> thats gonna be a scar to brag about


It will be a giant scar, especially since they dont want to stitch it all up just in case it does get an infection they dont want to rip it all apart again if surgery is needed. Hopefully when I go see the surgeon again next week he can put a few more stitches in it cause if I move it the right way right now its almost like I can feel it tearing more which is rather painful to say the least.


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## Ex0dus

therizman1 said:


> thats gonna be a scar to brag about


It will be a giant scar, especially since they dont want to stitch it all up just in case it does get an infection they dont want to rip it all apart again if surgery is needed. Hopefully when I go see the surgeon again next week he can put a few more stitches in it cause if I move it the right way right now its almost like I can feel it tearing more which is rather painful to say the least.
[/quote]

You only have so many hours that you are able to stitch a wound closed... after like 12 hours its not possible. So they will not be putting any more stitches on the wound man


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## therizman1

Ex0dus said:


> thats gonna be a scar to brag about


It will be a giant scar, especially since they dont want to stitch it all up just in case it does get an infection they dont want to rip it all apart again if surgery is needed. Hopefully when I go see the surgeon again next week he can put a few more stitches in it cause if I move it the right way right now its almost like I can feel it tearing more which is rather painful to say the least.
[/quote]

You only have so many hours that you are able to stitch a wound closed... after like 12 hours its not possible. So they will not be putting any more stitches on the wound man








[/quote]

Actually he said he still can, he would basically cut on the same line the fish bit me on and then stitch it and it would get rid of some scaring... though that would then involve surgery which Im not a fan of. He said it will most likely continue to bleed for at least a week... I am changing the bandage 3 times a day and it is always bloody when I do so.


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## a-ronn

Tha fn sucks man sweet fish though.


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## 74jabeer

serious bad rhom,i always move my fish with nets , but no more!! hope it heals ok ,all the best


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## therizman1

74jabeer said:


> serious bad rhom,i always move my fish with nets , but no more!! hope it heals ok ,all the best


I had always used nets as well... even on 10" geryi and never had an issue, they actually were very good about it, easy to catch and didnt flop in the net... this rhom wanted nothing to do with it though. From now on I will always be using buckets though, dont want any more trips to the ER in the near future.


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## taylorhedrich

Damn Mike! That must have hurt like hell. It probably happened so fast you didn't have a chance..... I wish you the best for a speedy recovery.

What did the paramedics and doctors say when you told them your pet piranha bit you?








~Taylor~


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## therizman1

taylorhedrich said:


> Damn Mike! That must have hurt like hell. It probably happened so fast you didn't have a chance..... I wish you the best for a speedy recovery.
> 
> What did the paramedics and doctors say when you told them your pet piranha bit you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ~Taylor~


It happened so fast I had no clue, all I knew was he bit me and there was blood everywhere and there was a giant flap of skin and flesh hanging off my finger... then it was just shock and almost passing out due to the amount of rapid blood loss.

Doctors and paramedics couldnt believe the size and that I was still going to keep him and not eat him for dinner one night... they just dont get how awesome of a fish he is. The doctors couldnt believe how deep he was able to bite in and how much damage he actually did to my finger and that he was actually able to get all the way down into my knuckle.


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## bob351

i still want that fish







hope that heals up good looks like it hurts a sh*t load







, now i dont wanna stick my hand in the tank with my big guy even more


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## Hater

Damn sorry about your bite man. But now you have a story to tell your grand kids.

Hater


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## traumatic

just kinda hit me that you're lucky he didnt' swallow anything!


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## kookykay23

damn man...... thats pretty gross... hope that heals nicely and thanks for the bit of advice so that doesnt happen to me


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## Northstar

The pictures speak for themselves....R-E-S-P-E-C-T.....your fish....


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## BlackSunshine

YEOW! HAHA Thats an awesome bite there man! Don't get em wrong I do hope you the quickest and clean healing. but still DAMN! thats a bite to be proud of.


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## therizman1

bob351 said:


> YEOW! HAHA Thats an awesome bite there man! Don't get em wrong I do hope you the quickest and clean healing. but still DAMN! thats a bite to be proud of.


It will provide some good stories for people, its not a scar that will soon go away, nor a memory that will soon fade. Watch for it to soon be feautred on OPEFE


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## NexTech84

Wow, that's one hell of a bite! Good luck man, hope it heals up alright.


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## Snake_Eyes

Damn dude sorry to hear







hopefully you'll have a speedy recovery. Awesome looking fish and tank though.


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## hitler

nice bite. I know how that feels. I got bitten too. not as bad as you tho


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## DiPpY eGgS

Aww man! I am very sorry to hear about this! I hope all heals up well! Again, sorry!


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## therizman1

Snake_Eyes said:


> Aww man! I am very sorry to hear about this! I hope all heals up well! Again, sorry!


Thanks Dippy! Hopefully I can make you proud with this tank... I put a fair bit of planning into it and so far I really like how it is coming along.


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## chomp chomp

hopefully you will heal up ok.. since fluffy is just a touch smaller, this photo puts my fish into perspective.


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## Ducklake

Holly Sh*t!! That's Bad







He's a Man Eating Beast









I can't get over how sharp their teeth are, especially when you see the natives cutting hair with them, just like razor blades, Crazy.

Thanks for the pic's, alot of people will learn from them!!

Hope you have a speedy recovery!!


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## C0Rey

man you must be so proud!!!


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## Paulice

That looks nasty! Hope it all heals well and you get the feeling back!
Good luck,

When i had to move mine i used a big bucket and scooped him out, lowerd the bucket into the new tank and let him swim out!


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## therizman1

Paulice said:


> That looks nasty! Hope it all heals well and you get the feeling back!
> Good luck,
> 
> When i had to move mine i used a big bucket and scooped him out, lowerd the bucket into the new tank and let him swim out!


My gf loves your avatar


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## Oheye8one2

Hey when he got u, did u have shreds of meat dangling from the wound? i had 2 or 3 peices of meat just hanging from a bite a couple minutes ago- no flap of skin though, he just took a nice chunk of skin right off.

Oughta be an exclusive club here on the site for us guys who've been had by our pets..


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## sprfunk

Hey I am sorry about that. Perminant damege is always a scary thing to hear, especially when its you index finger. But it will heal and dont worry too much, your body has many ways of making up for loss of nerve and before you even know it you will be back and not even notice it. Then you will be left with a nice scare and a good story. It'll be ok. Just remmber it could have been worse, who knows what that guy could have done? 
Anyway thats a great fish you have, compleatly beutifull. I think I would rename it to Hanible Lector. O and I think you said it was hard to put that hand in the tank to plant plants? Please dont do that for your own good.

Jay

One more question... I see that it is cut alot worse on the top side then the bottom... were was the bottom jaw of the fish? Top or bottom?


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## Mattones

After looking at that and thinking what would I do if that happend to me I would prob scream like a f*cker kick the wall and run upstairs yelling for help. I havent had stitches yet..(Always ignores the cuts and let them self heal) but jesus I would be in shock from that.

god bless your finger :|


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## therizman1

Oheye8one2 said:


> Hey I am sorry about that. Perminant damege is always a scary thing to hear, especially when its you index finger. But it will heal and dont worry too much, your body has many ways of making up for loss of nerve and before you even know it you will be back and not even notice it. Then you will be left with a nice scare and a good story. It'll be ok. Just remmber it could have been worse, who knows what that guy could have done?
> Anyway thats a great fish you have, compleatly beutifull. I think I would rename it to Hanible Lector. O and I think you said it was hard to put that hand in the tank to plant plants? Please dont do that for your own good.
> 
> Jay
> 
> One more question... I see that it is cut alot worse on the top side then the bottom... were was the bottom jaw of the fish? Top or bottom?


He got his top jaw a lot further into me, his top one is the one that went into my knuckle.

As for sticking my hand in his tank, I now have a small egg crate corral type structure made that I just corner him with in his corner he has chosen as I work on the rest of the tank... works very well and he can then still see what is going on and doesnt get as freaked out.


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## sprfunk

O I ment dont stick your hand in there if you have an open wound. That will up your chances to get a infection.


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## fliptasciouz

the worst bite ever!! I'm really sorry and hope it heals up soon. I nearly experience your situation when i was doing a gill operation with my manny, good thing my gf was there assisting me.
Anyways superb set-up so far on the tank







get well soon


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## moron

THat must hurt! LOL :rasp:


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## hastatus

Story is now on line at OPEFE. Thanks Mike for allowing me the opportunity to share your experience with OPEFE Readers.


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## werdna

:rasp:







LOL thats a vicious one


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## Mr. Hannibal

hastatus said:


> Story is now on line at OPEFE. Thanks Mike for allowing me the opportunity to share your experience with OPEFE Readers.


Very nice Frank...







!


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## DiPpY eGgS

> Thanks Dippy! Hopefully I can make you proud with this tank... I put a fair bit of planning into it and so far I really like how it is coming along.


Your tanks have already made me proud of you..








Now get well! Take care of your finger!! I would hate to see you loose feeling, or some use out of it.. Please, take good care of it!



> As for sticking my hand in his tank, I now have a small egg crate corral type structure made that I just corner him with in his corner he has chosen as I work on the rest of the tank... works very well and he can then still see what is going on and doesnt get as freaked out.


I do the same thing. Well, when I think he is getting 'frisky'. Maybe I should not take any chances with him..


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## hastatus

I was going through OPEFE and discovered this old article that I wrote:

Sort of predestined eh?


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## Mr. Hannibal

hastatus said:


> I was going through OPEFE and discovered this old article that I wrote:
> 
> Sort of predestined eh?:rasp:


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## therizman1

hastatus said:


> Story is now on line at OPEFE. Thanks Mike for allowing me the opportunity to share your experience with OPEFE Readers.


I am FAMOUS!!


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## Pat

WOW.... not that I am surprised by the damage but when you see it has happened it's a good reminder to respect these little creatures.

I would be very serious about keeping that hand sterile. Real serious. If you're really serious about healing it fast have "Low Intensity Laser Therapy" done on it. Go to the 'meditech bioflex' site and they will have links to clinics in your area.

Imagine if that was your old piranha?


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## Malok

owned

bite him back..


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## SpeCiaLisT

Ewww what a nasty big bite. But best of luck getting the finger healed up.


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## 911

at least you'll have a war scar

thanks for sharing that though

i can't believe it took out some bone!


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## Dezboy

Damn that is a really bad bite,, hope it heals sooner or later....that is what i call a aggressive P


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## therizman1

I am now famous in the UK as well: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...m.php?news=1034

Maybe I can get a Darwin award yet


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## hastatus

> therizman1 Posted Today, 05:47 AM
> I am now famous in the UK as well: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...m.php?news=1034
> 
> Maybe I can get a Darwin award yet


Good for you.


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## Ducklake

Damn, your story made it to digg.com, that's real good!! We need to get more people to digg it, and put it on the front page









http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Piranha_bites...of_man_s_finger


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## hastatus

I sent OPEFE article on your finger to a scientist friend of mine. He related a story of another person fishing and caught S. maculatus. The fish amputated the person's finger and swallowed it. They cut the fish open and retrieved the finger and the person had it reattached surgically.

Anyway, my friend is going to try and get the witness to relay the story to me (perhaps photos too).


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## oblene

ouch that sucks man


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## face2006

just thought i would share alittle with ya my exp. yesterday..i went to move my 9 inch Tern and this guy ripped through the net ... got stuck in the middle ...looked like he was just tryin to reach for something (hand)...splashing up a storm...and man did have a stressful move...it really sux movin these big guyz i can't imagine anything bigger ...wow pain in the ass







.. crazy ass f$#kers


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## Mr. Hannibal

hastatus said:


> I sent OPEFE article on your finger to a scientist friend of mine. He related a story of another person fishing and caught S. maculatus. The fish amputated the person's finger and swallowed it. They cut the fish open and retrieved the finger and the person had it reattached surgically.
> 
> Anyway, *my friend is going to try and get the witness to relay the story to me (perhaps photos too)*.


That would be an amazing story...







!


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## stitchgrip

man that sucks. it think after he did that he was prob thinking "ahhhhhhh man that was a bad idea" lol 
well sorry to hear that man hopefully it dosent get infected


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## als

Everyone PLEASE be carefull!! Canadian fish have quite a bite..


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## Piranha Mcfly

PhsycoMexi said:


> Man i fill your pain. My piranha bite is finally almost all the way healed up after 3 weeks. That is a freakin insane bite. I guess i just got lucky where i got bit because he took off only a portion of my fingerprint on my middle finger. And yes it does suck trying to use that hand especially if thats your dominant hand. In the documentary "Wolf in the Water" it said the bigger Rhom's can bite through a human wrist in 3 bites...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ..Crazy. Well take care, I hope your bite gets better.


How exactly did you get bit?


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## PhsycoMexi

Piranha Mcfly said:


> Man i fill your pain. My piranha bite is finally almost all the way healed up after 3 weeks. That is a freakin insane bite. I guess i just got lucky where i got bit because he took off only a portion of my fingerprint on my middle finger. And yes it does suck trying to use that hand especially if thats your dominant hand. In the documentary "Wolf in the Water" it said the bigger Rhom's can bite through a human wrist in 3 bites...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ..Crazy. Well take care, I hope your bite gets better.


How exactly did you get bit?
[/quote]

Quoted from old post. "So This post was supposed to be about how i finally completed my pygo shoal. But my Tern had some other plans. So today i went to pick up 4 pygo's to complete a 7 pygo shoal in my 135 gl. I got a 11 in red, 2 6in reds and a 5 in one-eyed tern. All for $40..Yes i was stoked. So i get them home and begin to put them in their new home. One by one, big bastard first. So i get to the last one and as i was just about to have him over the aquarium he jumped out of the net. So i scrambled to get him back in the net. As i was scooping him in, he made a meal out of my free hand. About a dime size bite."

His mouth was facing toward my left hand which i had my net in and the idiot that i was decide just to use my hand to scoop him up from the back. Yeah, he flipped the other way as my hand was in perfect condition to get jacked. It bleeded for so long...But now it is all better finally, although i cant really feel anything at the tip of my finger when i touch the scar. Please be safe people. If you need any advice, just ask around cause there are a lot of helpful people on this site that would be more than happy to show the right and safe way to do things.


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## gimmemyshit

Those close ups look alot worse than the origional article that I read online.....Fricken Oww!


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## therizman1

gimmemyshit said:


> Those close ups look alot worse than the origional article that I read online.....Fricken Oww!


Gotta love digital SLR pics









You shoulda seen them before I shrunk them down to post them online... you could see all the details up to my finger print


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## etomilloso86

Glad he left you the flap to stitch back on


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## -NBKK-

Wow, this got super bumped. All they way from 06 ! nice.


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## jmax611

oldie but goodie


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## anthonycaf

i had a red about 4" jump out of a net and bite me in the same place
ouccccccccccccccccch


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## jacks

therizman1 said:


> So some of you may have noticed I have not been around much... the past couple weeks I have been moving myself and my gf to our respective new places (no we do not live together... I enjoy the little sanity I do have). So anyways, just about done moving, last thing I need to move is my big diamond I got from Winkyee (aka DrZoidberg).
> 
> 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:
> 
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> 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):


f*ck me that looks sore,





















crazy


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## RBP7

man that looked like it hurt. dont worry chics dig scars.


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## Dr. Giggles

-NBKK- said:


> Wow, this got super bumped. All they way from 06 ! nice.


Thats why it got


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