[wgscott]

My clown triggerfish ate a wasp that fell into the tank and was dead a few days later. I thought this fish was fairly indestructable, but is it possible the wasp poison killed him? I would have thought that the wasp poison, which I believe is a peptide, would have been digested, but who knows?

[jsaltzgi]

Sorry to hear that. I just lost a new pair of clowns to shipping (I think)...
It's possible the wasp could have had insecticide on it and poisoned the fish- I'm not sure if the stinger could do any harm internally. I guess it could have been like an anaphylactic reaction. It could also be that the wasps in the USA are poisonous to triggers...

Anyone else have any ideas?

James

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by wgscott

My clown triggerfish ate a wasp that fell into the tank and was dead a few days later. I thought this fish was fairly indestructable, but is it possible the wasp poison killed him? I would have thought that the wasp poison, which I believe is a peptide, would have been digested, but who knows?

How about the sting itself, causing internal injury?
As far as I know, wasps don't pump the poison as bees do.
Was it the yellow jacket kind of wasp? hard to chew on, you trigger would have had a hard time expulsing such a big piece, if it did at all?

Joaco
ps: I'm moving it to the fish forum

[wgscott]

Originally Posted by Joaco

How about the sting itself, causing internal injury?
As far as I know, wasps don't pump the poison as bees do.
Was it the yellow jacket kind of wasp? hard to chew on, you trigger would have had a hard time expulsing such a big piece, if it did at all?

Joaco
ps: I'm moving it to the fish forum

Well it never had any particular problems swallowing large chuncks it bit out of my finger.

[Amphibious]

Think of the pain a wasp sting gives us humans. That is not just from the stinger penitrating our skin nerves. They indead pump poison. Some sensitive people, like my sister-in-law, have to keep a vile of anti-venom and syringe on hand to inject herself ASAP or she's in trouble.

Think of the same amount of venum injected into the soft tissues of the tangs mouth/throat area. Much closer to the heart. My money goes with the wasp killed the trigger.

Now, my personal experience. Many years ago, when I had some freshwater aquariums, I had a breeding pair of Geophagus jurapori (spell?) and after a day of collecting daphnia, I found a larva of some kind of terrestrial bug such as a dragon fly. I thought, cool, I'll give the Geos a treat and tossed it to them. The male was on it like a killer. He sucked it in and spit it out just as fast, twice. At that moment the female, who was after it too, grabbed it and down it went. That was cool! Within one minute, no exaggeration, she was dead as a stiff! The creature from hell did have a pair of pincer like claws at it's head end and I guess some very toxic nerve poison because the Geo just litterally stiffened out and quivered until dead.

Blew me away!

[Bughead]

Wow! Sorry about your trigger. I think it was the venom too.

By the way, Bill, do you have 3 kids yet? I don't go over to general discussions much, so I may be behind the times and you announced the arrival of your third some time back. Just curious.

[Reefland]

Originally Posted by Bughead

Wow! Sorry about your trigger. I think it was the venom too.

By the way, Bill, do you have 3 kids yet? I don't go over to general discussions much, so I may be behind the times and you announced the arrival of your third some time back. Just curious.

Yeah your behind the times.
Baby

[Bughead]

What a cutie! Both my boys were born in August and they turned out just fine. It's a good month to have a little boy. Congrats.

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by Amphibious

Think of the pain a wasp sting gives us humans. That is not just from the stinger penitrating our skin nerves. They indead pump poison. Some sensitive people, like my sister-in-law, have to keep a vile of anti-venom and syringe on hand to inject herself ASAP or she's in trouble.

Wasps injects the venom, while bees pump it (apitoxin) with a gland.
Bees die when they sting (their abdomen separates from the body and stays in the victim), and their saw-like stinger is still connected to the gland that keep pumping the venom. That's why you have to remove the bee sting as fast as you can, or else it just keeps pumping the apitoxin.
Wasps don't lose the stinger, it's not sawed like in bees, so the can sting victims over and over again. That makes them much more dangerous, including to bees, when they attack beehives.
I was meaning that situation, when I mentioned 'pumping venom', sorry for not being more specific. Of course wasps also have a toxin.

Joaco