Ciguatera

[daintreediver]

Just thought Id share my experience with this horrible thing. I'm currently going through my 4th hit of Cig in the last 10 years and my wife is going through it for the second time. I don't know of anyone who has had it 4 times Id be interested to hear from anyone here who could put me in touch with someone who has as I think I'm in unchartered waters so to speak. It is very little understood most general GP have very little idea about it.

I live and spear in Far north Queensland Australia and spearfish the great barrier reef which is where all my fish come from. On 3 of the occasions I have had cig have been from bluespot coral trout and once from what we call "passionfruit" coral trout. However my wifes most recent hit was not from any large or single fish but from simply eating fish too often in which the cig must have been slowly accumulating to toxic levels. This has shown us that its not enough just to avoid certain fish but you need to be careful how often you eat fish as well.

My wife has had enough she will never eat fish from our waters ever again. This leaves me in a hard position I have lived and spearfished here my whole life and providing fish is a way of life. I guess my only options are to spearfish and give all my fish away. I will wait until it clears enough and will probably go back to eating fish eventually but man this is a serious issue. The only people I can think of who might have had as much CIG exposure as me is the pacific islanders people. Unfortunately getting in contact with such people is extremely difficult.

Oh forgot to add all the theory's on testing for CIG are BS, feeding it to the cat, flies wont touch it, ants wont touch it etc none of this works

[Marco]

I've had ciguatera 4 times. Eventually you'll feel better, but you will stay "sensitive"; a bunch of people can eat from one fish with no issues and you will feel "weird". It happens to me now and then. My hands and feet start itching.

Don't eat more coral trout.

[daintreediver]

Originally Posted by Marco

I've had ciguatera 4 times. Eventually you'll feel better, but you will stay "sensitive"; a bunch of people can eat from one fish with no issues and you will feel "weird". It happens to me now and then. My hands and feet start itching.

Don't eat more coral trout.

Thanks for the response mate, makes me feel better to see someone else who has had it as many times as me!!!!! Hopefully we don't drop dead in 10 years time!!!!!! Yeh problem for me is I eventually start feeling better than after a few years get back into bad habits of shooting and eating fish that are a little too big...... then bam another hit maybe this time I will learn my lesson

[nilsonov]

daintree how big were the culprit trout?

[daintreediver]

Originally Posted by nilsonov

daintree how big were the culprit trout?

Hi mate the bluespot trout that I have got it off have been between 70-80cm. They have a max size limit here of 80cm. The passionfruit trout would have only been in the 60cm range.

I wont ever spear another bluespot or passionfruit ever again. I see vids of white people going to places like Vanuatu and other pacific islands spearing these large bluespot. Not sure if they eat them themselves or give to the locals but they are rolling a very dangerous dice.

[SEATUX]

There used to be a Legit test kit made and sold in Hawaii...but as I understand, they are out of business. Too Bad...but the cost per fish was a bit on the expensive side! Probably why they are now out of business. But it was LEGIT and it did WORK!
But your right about all the bogus test, like the cat and flys, ants, etc. However, there is ONE test that still is fairly accurate...Feed it to your Wife...if she doesn't get Cig, you are most likely safe to eat it!

[nilsonov]

Some time ago i read a scientific paper on effect of cig on pets/farm animals which i think was based out of the Caribbean Guadeloupe. In particular, they mentioned on impacts on chickens. You should be able to find it on google.

Also, check it this white dudes vid of killing crazy amount of large fish in Indo, but only eating the tiniest fish for himself. How many locals do you think he screwed over with cig?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7O8n6qtFgU&t=1s

[daintreediver]

Originally Posted by SEATUX

There used to be a Legit test kit made and sold in Hawaii...but as I understand, they are out of business. Too Bad...but the cost per fish was a bit on the expensive side! Probably why they are now out of business. But it was LEGIT and it did WORK!
But your right about all the bogus test, like the cat and flys, ants, etc. However, there is ONE test that still is fairly accurate...Feed it to your Wife...if she doesn't get Cig, you are most likely safe to eat it!

hey yup I remember those tests, and yes you are right it certainly works on the wife!!!! unfortunately she has it worse than me this time.

[daintreediver]

Originally Posted by nilsonov

Some time ago i read a scientific paper on effect of cig on pets/farm animals which i think was based out of the Caribbean Guadeloupe. In particular, they mentioned on impacts on chickens. You should be able to find it on google.

Also, check it this white dudes vid of killing crazy amount of large fish in Indo, but only eating the tiniest fish for himself. How many locals do you think he screwed over with cig?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7O8n6qtFgU&t=1s

Yup I seen a similar video the other day of a well known aussie you tube channel over in Vanuatu they had a whole stack of big bluespot that the villagers were scaling up ready to eat.......Be interested to know if any of them took a hit.

[Marco]

In the Canary Islands (Spain), many large fish carry ciguatera (Grouper, Amberjack) and the local government does free tests to void the people to get sick.

I don't eat any "suspicious" fish anymore. Give it to your mother in law!

[hydroid]

Thanks for your post. The locals call it Beep Beep here in the Marshall Islands, I heard one American died from it on Kwaj. Serious stuff.