Treat catfish sting and pain naturally

The catfish is a fresh water fish that has a certain type of dorsal and apectorial spine on each side. It is these spines that are the cause of the numerous amounts of stings that fishermen have to deal with. The spine generally causes a puncture wound or a scrape and does not always cause serious injury.


There is pain in the stung area and a slight amount of inflammation. The best way to hold a catfish is to hold it in the palm of one's hand, and thus you avoid coming in contact with the dorsal spines.

The best way to treat a catfish wound is to clean it with fresh water.


You can use either cold or warm water, but the warm water is thought to be more effective and is thought to destroy the molecular composition of the venom better and should be rewashed with warm water if the pain arises again. The barb can generally be removed using a pair of sanitized tweezers, however if the spine is lodged deep inside the wound then you may have to take an x-ray in order to locate the spine. Once the spine is removed and the wound properly cleaned make sure not to bandage the wound or stitch it up. The result could be a severe infection if the wound and further complications. Another important factor to keep in mind when treating the wound with warm water; is to not make the mistake of using water that is very hot as it will not serve any other purpose than burning the skin on your hand and causing further injury. There are also some over the counter antibiotics that you can take to prevent an infection as the infection is actually caused by the usual flora that lives on our skin.