The year so far... January 2014

Not a happy time overall at The Towers, a major shock has been the loss of the two Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri last year to an apparent bacterial infection.

Neoceratodus forsteri ; A fish caught in time. The first fish had a raised scale with the flesh showing white and puffy, I wasn't overly worried because if a fish with large scales loses one it looks much worse that a smaller fish with a graze and this fish continued to feed well. Two days later the area of damage had grown as more scales appeared to have been knocked off. I worried that something may have been rasping at them so decided to separate and treat. That evening the caudal fin had red streaks through it, the following morning the fish was dead. Two days later the other fish had lighter patches appear on its skin, none having fungus or obvious breaks but obviously not right. I started to treat and the infection faded within a day but in the 10 days the fish was separated it didn't feed and was obviously unhappy being in the much smaller hospital tank. It was moved to a larger but bare hospital tank in the hope of starting to feed again and after 3 days looked like it was taking interest in some earthworms. Two days later, raised scales with white puffy flesh appeared in a patch on its lower body and it appeared to have trouble with buoyancy as its tail was at an angle in the water. Back in the smaller tank for treatment but I'm afraid it too died within 24 hours.  I talked to someone who looks after more of these fish from the same import. I had originally thought that something in my tank was causing the infection, possibly mechanical damage at first then a pathogen within my animals. Now it looks like it’s a longer term problem, inherent either in the fish themselves or with the husbandry that both separate tanks have…. The cause of the death seems to be a Mycobacterium infection, and although Myco is probably found in lots (possible all tanks?) its not normally a problem with young animals. As these fish are a CITES appendix 2 species they were micro-chipped before being sent to the UK, one possible cause of infection was contamination when this was done although this is just a speculation. So I've lost both of these specimens and 6 more from the same import died the same way, luckily 2 other fish are doing well. It's a species I've wanted to be around for around 30 years and no change of getting more due to the cost. You win some, you lose some, but it tends to be the one's you loose that stick in your mind the longest....

       South American water snake, Helicops angulatus. 

The short painful story of when I got a reaction from a Helicops angulatus bite! 

As we learn more about what species may have venom, our awareness when servicing our captives will become ever more vigilant, this obviously wasn’t what I was thinking when I took out the female  Helicops angulatus to assist her slough. The large female was sloughing and had some retained skin so I thought I'd help...
Even though I’d see papers saying these snakes could cause envenomations and of course the work done to highlight the anti-coagulant venom in the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis spring to mind. (Although if you’ve a 60KG lizard trying to tear your arm off I'd not be thinking, “ooh! This is soo going to bleed tomorrow!” but maybe that’s just me?)

I had handled this species and this individual on many occasions and had previously had a minor bite but never a reaction, or worried about one.
And then… she had started to slough successfully but the skin on her head was still there so I decided to “help her out”. I removed her from the tank and started to try and peel back the skin but although the body slough was coming off, the head area was difficult so I restrained her by “pinning” her . This went well and I managed to remove some of the skin but then let her go so I could assess how it was going. Although you frequently see people pinning snakes on tele, its not something that should be done lightly as if carried out wrongly damage can easily occur to the snake's vertebrae (or gets you bit...)
I decided to remove some skin from her body so using the towel that I had her in I allowed her to slide through, taking the slough with her, I noticed a small patch of skin on her head and decided to take it off before putting her back. 
With a venomous species or particularly aggressive species I would have then pinned her again, but as these aren't on the DWA I just reached forward, she suddenly flipped back and managed to get hold of my thumb. So, rather than take her off and pin her, I let her hold on while I removed the shed skin.
Not very painful and much better to get the job done in one go. I thought as she chewed away…
After putting her back I carried on my usual evening routine, within an hour I noticed my thumb had started to ache, then to swell. This could obviously be a symptom of mechanical damage so I didn't take much notice.
When it spread to the knuckles I realised something (writeable) was going on. As the hand became swollen I started to wonder how bad I should let it get before seeking advice, I quickly read up the few papers I could find to confirm its not considered life threatening, but still contacted someone I was planning to meet the following day so they were aware I may be indisposed.

The swelling went down over night, but the next day while walking around it swelled across the thumb and all the knuckles, to stop this I held the hand high and this reversed the swelling.
Did I think my life was in danger? No, never, I did think work the next day was going to be difficult (I couldn't cut my dinner and did get a few stares as it looked like I'd punched a wall or similar, not that I do that, but I must look the type?)
The moral of this story? Read up, and dont get bit...