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Old 15-03-2011, 03:26   #16
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

According to Cigua-Check web site the cat, dog, and flies are myths, but I must say I do like the idea of throwing up a cat.

I wonder how high it has to go!!!!
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Old 15-03-2011, 03:39   #17
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

Went on a cruise ship in Fiji last year. Watched the crew catch "reef" fish every day on a troll line. When I asked them how they knew which ones are safe to eat..they too, pointed to the fish laid out in the sun..barracuda's included and told me they use the fly method. Then it was served up in the buffet every night to us the passengers. Go figure, cant comment too much about the efficacy except to say I was quite crook the whole trip lol and ended up avoiding most foods except fresh fruit but hey I certainly didn' t get poisoned lol.

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Old 15-03-2011, 03:44   #18
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

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Originally Posted by Pagan View Post
According to Cigua-Check web site the cat, dog, and flies are myths, but I must say I do like the idea of throwing up a cat.

I wonder how high it has to go!!!!

I suppose they are going to belittle the other methods or you won't buy their Cigua Check Kit!!!
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Old 16-03-2011, 13:37   #19
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

Ask a local (preferably fisherman, but others are generally knowledgeable) if he would eat it. This has worked for us, and probably many others, through the Caribbean and South Pacific.

There is lots of published information about ciguatera prone areas, usually in cruising guides and from local sources. In those areas or if in doubt, don't eat reef fish or those that feed on them!
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Old 17-03-2011, 10:35   #20
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

First symptoms are often a tingling in the tongue or extremities. Cigatuera affects different people in different ways and is, I have heard, cumulative. Taking native advice isn't foolproof. We once sailed into San Salvador to find the customs officer recently recovered from a new-fatal dose of what was thought to be cigatuera. As a local he too was fooled.
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Old 17-03-2011, 10:47   #21
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Re: Ciguetera Detection Kits Info Requested

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prevention being better than cure,in suspect areas we only ate pelegic fish ie tuna,dorado,marlin etc avoided wahoo and barracuda,unless far off shore.

crayfish,coconut crabs ,shell fish,squid,octopus i belive are safe in suspect areas.

another theory is to only eat small fish>15cm and only 6 months of the year.

i have friends who ate a kingfish caught off the coast of antigua,and were seriously ill for more than a year.......best to be safer than sorry,best to avoid snapper,grouper,jack etc high in risk areas,no matter how good they look.............
Conch also have it, (I learned the hard way on this). So anything off of the reef can have it, the older the more toxin.
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Old 17-03-2011, 15:46   #22
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

For the Caribbean: think of a line that runs from south of Martinique all the way up to and through Cuba. South of that line there's no ciguatera poisoning. So, barracuda off the south coast of Cuba is okay while on the north coast there's a risk.

The tingling is an indication for every kind of poison... didn't you read any survival guides? First smear some on the back of you hand.. if it doesn't tingle after 5 minutes smear some on your lips /5 mins / then on your tongue / 5 mins then eat a little / 5 mins and if you're not dying then you can go ahead and eat it :-)

But seriously, it doesn't hurt to read one of those survival guides.

cheers,
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Old 17-03-2011, 16:03   #23
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

So how does the Cigua Check detection system work? Is it detecting the presence of the diatoms that cause the ciguatera poisoning, or is it detecting the toxins produced by the diatoms??
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Old 27-11-2011, 08:43   #24
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

In hope to resurrect this thread, I tried to order a cigua-check test kit directly from the company. The web site is still there but the message I received was that the kits are currently no longer commercially available. Does anyone have information regarding where these can be purchased?
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Old 27-11-2011, 19:23   #25
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

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In hope to resurrect this thread, I tried to order a cigua-check test kit directly from the company. The web site is still there but the message I received was that the kits are currently no longer commercially available. Does anyone have information regarding where these can be purchased?
FWIW,

The test kits were on the market for a period, but seem to have disappeared. We used them one season in New Caledonia (a bad ciguatera area). We noticed that the kits had a shelf life of 6 months from manufacture which was an issue considering their cost.

At any rate we used the kits successfully for a few months, and then tested a very large Giant Trevally we caught in the northern lagoon a few days after the the kit's expiry date. This fish would have been released had we not had the kits, for it was large for its species (circa 25 kilos), and this increases the chances for toxicity. The test indicated no toxin presence, so we ate a meal from the fish. Within 8 hours we both became symptomatic. To be fair, we had both had a moderately bad intoxication about three years prior, and so still had a "loading dose" of the toxin in our systems making us more susceptible than a normal "victim". None the less, the indication of less than detectable limits should have meant that the fish was safe to eat. We reckoned that just a few days past expiry was not a problem... the term hubris comes to mind!

Ann and I chalked it up to experience, but I suspect that in our litigious society some one with a similar experience has taken the manufacturers to court, and they have removed the kits from the market as a result. Or perhaps the short shelf life meant that vendors were loosing stock when it didn't sell promptly... who knows? Cats are much cheaper, and are amusing before use as testers!

But seriously, ciguatera is NO FUN to deal with. We have had three doses now, and are REALLY careful about what we eat, for the next time could be fatal. We have two close friends who have nearly expired from the disease, and one (a contributor on this forum) still has symptoms a decade or more since he was stricken. It is a shame, for we truly enjoyed eating fish and now are anxious enough about it to spoil the experience in the tropics.

Cheers,

Jim

PS: To top it off, the fish wasn't very good to eat... when they get that large, Trevally get kinda dry and tasteless. Bugger....
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Old 28-11-2011, 05:45   #26
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

“...We regret to inform that we have discontinued manufacturing the Cigua-Check test kits. We greatly appreciate your support and interest in Cigua-Check. This site will remain online for informational purposes...”
Cigua-Check Fish Poison Test Kit
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Old 07-12-2011, 22:58   #27
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Re: Ciguetera Detection Kits Info Requested

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Excerpted from ➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ays-11282.html

The Kindley Air Force Base Fishing Club held a large tournament offshore Bermuda and afterwards all met at one of the officer's house for a fish cookout. Late that night the last guest left and the lady of the house told her husband that she could not face all these fishy dishes in the morning so they set about cleaning up and putting dishes thru several fillings of the dishwasher. Early in the process she found a plate of uneaten barracuda and told her husband she'd put it out for the cat. She called the cat and left it eating the barracuda.

When, much later, she went out to get the last plate, she found the dead cat next to the plate and she panicked. She called Colonel Frese, Kindley's head of the KAFB Hospital, who had been at the banquet, told him about the cat and asked what to do? Colonel Frese told her to organize a telephone network and get everyone who had been at the party to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped!

In the very wee hours of the morning, as she and her husband came back from the hospital, the neighbor's wife came over and told her "Honey, I did not want to spoil your party last night, but at 2AM when I drove my husband to the Base to fly a WB-50, I ran over your cat. Rather than spoil your evening I laid her at the door and figured to tell you this morning."

The fish wife grabbed her by the throat and told her that, on the pain of sudden death, mention this to no one on the base. She said "Because of your kindness we pumped the stomachs of 40 couples and there are 80 unhappy officers and their wives who would get violent if they knew."

So watch the cat eat the fish and keep track of it afterward so it doesn't get hit by a car!
ROFLMFAO That's the best story i've heard for a long while...tears!!!
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Old 07-12-2011, 23:51   #28
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

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According to Cigua-Check web site the cat, dog, and flies are myths,
Well, the site that sells ciguatera test kits would say that, I reckon...

I'm going with the locals here!
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Old 08-12-2011, 01:29   #29
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Re: Ciguatera Detection Kit Info Requested

Without reading all the entries, I have just done the milk run and learnt from locals and others that if you taste the liver of the fish you can tell if it is ok or not . If the liver is sour and unpalitable , throw it , if its edable and raw fish tasting , its good to cook up and feed the family.
Fortunately my partner is Japanese so I never have a problem with the taste testing of the liver.
We caught a coral trout over a metre long , normally I would have thrown back , but after the taste test , kept it and no one has been crook , YET.
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