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View Full Version : Fish and crayfish causing infections



groverwa
02-05-2016, 03:42 PM
Just seen this on Fishwrecked- a west aust site and thought some people may benefit from the info

... But I have seen a few nasty infections lately caused by fish spines,
Lobster scratches and hooks causing holes in perfect skin (sounds like me).

It is caused by common bugs called Streps and Staphs mostly, but sometimes it is caused by Erysipelotrix causing Erysipeloid, which is a nasty little infection. This is called "crayfish poisoning" colloquially.
Now a very simple and relative cheap options is to get a script from your local GP called Bactroban (note currently a short supply until about June). This stuff is great for other non marine caused skin infections aswell.
As soon as you see any redness around a puncture whack some on and it will very often abort the infection and prevent it progressing to the point where you need proper oral Antibiotics...
This cream/ointment is a proper topical antibiotic that penetrates the skin killing invasive bacteria.

EdBerg
02-05-2016, 08:16 PM
Back in my younger days (40+ years ago), I worked as a deckhand for a couple of seasons on the crayfish boats in W.A., we would continously get scratched on our forearms by the crayfish horns and feelers when pulling them out of the pot. I vagually remember just coating my arms with Betadine if any scratches were getting bad, changing to longer gloves helped a lot but didn't solve the problem 100%. For me it wasn't a major problem but I did know some deckhands that had it bad.

If people only knew what crayfish loved to eat they wouldn't touch them!!!! ;)

goona
02-05-2016, 08:51 PM
If people only knew what crayfish loved to eat they wouldn't touch them!!!! ;)[/QUOTE]

Hey EdBurg don't leave us hanging what did they love to eat

EdBerg
02-05-2016, 10:22 PM
Well for starters, we used to use 2 bait baskets in the cray pots, first one was just full of pilchards, those aren't a problem as they got replaced on a daily basis as they got chewed up pretty quickly by sea lice and other critters, the second one was full of cow bits from the abattoirs, mainly the ears with flesh and hair from the head attached, ect. which had been salted down for who knows how long, anyway they only got replaced/topped up as required, which could be a week or so.

Do you have any idea how a piece of fatty cow flesh looks and smells like after a week while it is putrifying in warmish salt water with bacteria, sea lice and other marine life chewing on it including crayfish? Yumm!!!! obviously they must have treated it like a delicacy. You soon develop a strong stomach as your nose is about 150-200mm from it as you have to stick your arm into the pot and under the rim to skewer the bag back in place and also to pull the crayfish out. but the crayfish seem to really like it! Our arms used to be covered with the goop. You know the old saying...old fishermen never die they just smell like they did, now you know why! ;D