Caught a bristle worm
 

Just happened to be looking in his direction at the time he happened to be out for food. Was about 3.5 inches long.

I know some say I should have left him but I have a vision of setting my thumb on him one day...

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Yes I have done this a few times as they are hideous and super fun to catch lol. Each time I bother to catch it I just put it in my ball of chaeto in my sump to never see it again. Prob gets sucked back into my DT

Yeah I felt kinda bad getting rid of him but I can't take the chance that someday my daughter grabs a piece of rock or something and gets stung. If it were just me I'd probably have left it.

Curious why your daughter might be grabbing rocks in the tank??

I was thinking the same thing......why can I picture peanut butter covered fingers in the fish tank?

It's my belief that for every worm you see in your tank, there are thirty more of them that you don't see. Possibly more.

I had the same thought, Hmm :nono:

Would that not be the same as saying, she shouldn't go outside, might touch poison ivy/stinging nettle?

I don't find their sting all that bad really and not all that frequent either, little more rare then anything. Tingles a bit then goes away, unless I get the hairs embedded in my fingers, then it itches and stings for a few days. NEVER as bad as touching those plants outside. I pick up bristle worms in my tank all the time, hand feed them to the anemones. It's usually when I touch them when their escaping the anemone that they sting.

When I feed so many come out I can afford to toss a few.

and yes I know that means I got too much food in the tank for them to multiply so much but im working on that.

Used to have plagues of micro bristle stars. now it's bristle worms.

With all due respect that is kind of a stupid question. I am making a guess but you don't have kids? Putting a bristle worm within reach of a child is a risk I can easily mitigate by removing said bristle worm. Would you do the same for your daughter? I don't let her play within arms reach of poison ivy or nettles etc. either.

dont allow your daughter to go in the tank, problem solved!

I've got 4 girls, none of them have ever touched my tank. Not a stupid question at all..., why is your child playing in your tank?? If anything is stupid, it's that.

And no, if for some reason I thought it was a smart idea to let my children play in my tank, I'd tell them to not touch the worm or they'll get itchy fingers. Some lessons are learned the hard way -lol

I think you're overreacting to his question, which is completely valid.
Why WOULD any child be grabbing at rockwork INSIDE a tank?
and bristle worms hide inside rock so even a passing grab at a rock (unless around feeding or after lights out) wouldn't result in a bristle worm sting.

Consider the barriers involved to get to the worm (tank cover, tank, water, rockwork) It would take some work for a child to get contact with a bristle worm.

So as a parent of four girls you can't imagine any scenario where they would reach into the tank without your knowledge or permission? Do you keep the top bolted on? You never do tank maintenance with them around? Do you have any rock in your sump? Is that within reach? When they were 2 did they understand and hear everything you told them and subsequently never did anything ill-advised? Did you keep your poisonous cleaners like drain cleaner, etc. up out of reach with the cap on despite you telling them not to touch it?

It was a stupid question and a smart-a** comment to boot. No I do not LET her play in the tank but it's my job to think of things that could happen and prevent them. You do your parenting, I'll take care of mine.

Maybe you should shut off all electricity to the house and dull all sharp objects as well.

see now THAT is a smart ass comment.

No, I can't imagine that scenario at all. If I could, the water would be a much bigger risk (drowning), then the tangs (sharp blades), then the other bitey fish, then the euphyllia corals, because they wave around and sting, then if they picked up a rock, I'd be more concerned with them dropping it on their foot and breaking a toe, or the glass which then hits them causing a gapping wound and requiring stitches. THEN, I'd worry more about electricity and water (although I removed that above to prevent risk of drowning) and then the rocks and acros are sharp.
Only after all of the above would I worry about a bristle worm, which, BTW, don't sting, they can release tiny bristles that, on the worse day, are slightly annoying and might teach my kid to keep her frekin' hands out of my tank like I said in the first place.

Just be honest here, you're squeamish and don't like worms and you're using the kid story as an excuse.

And no, these are under the sink, protected by child proof locks that she's already hacked. Smart kid :)

Don't think you know what went through my mind. Truth is I have a worm farm in my storage room I use for composting and fertilizer. I've owned snakes, snails, ants, etc. I'm not squeamish about anything except human waste and spiders.

I'm not going to quibble over which word is correct to use to indicate the insertion of small syringe like barbs that contain poison. I think you're understating the sensation a bit too. I haven't been stung by one in my tank yet but I have been stung a couple times while snorkeling and it hurt like hell.

You're a worm fanboy and that's just swell and honestly I couldn't care less about how you take care of your kids; which I'm sure is just fine and that they are great kids. My reason for taking the bristle worm out is what I said it is. If you don't like that then I guess you'll have to live with that.

Do you want to know a great thing about this world? It is filled either least a billion parents and each of them, with their own parenting styles and all shades of playing in each others' tanks. :grouphug:

Now those Bristleworms???? Dems some nasty critters and, in my humble opinion, have a nasty sting to them. What is the best treatment for their stings again?

If you are concerned about the bristle worms then you should go after the rest of them. If your girls are prone to mischief and will handle live rock then it is definitely a valid concern if you don't want your girls getting bristles in their fingers. There are guaranteed to be more in your rock work. You should take your rocks out and nuke them. Either dry them out on your deck or give them a vinegar bath to be sure to nuke all the bristle worms.

Like sands through an hour glass............

I've read many different treatments but the consistent themes are around using tape or some other adhesive to remove as many of the barbs as possible and then some suggest applying ammonia, others alcohol, and others just heat.

I already ordered some traps. I'm going to bait them and see if I get any more. I know it's almost a certainty that there are more but I'll verify that before getting drastic. She's also got her own tank that she helps take care of etc. that I'll investigate.

Helicopter.....

k please don't take offence, but children do what you allow them to do, yes you can do everything in your power to prevent things happening but then your teaching them wrong from right very off course, children need to learn repeatedly that no is no, no tolerance for it, or they will do it and they will persist with other mischief as well, having everything child proofed to the tits isn't good either still teaching them that they wont learn for themselves i agree with brad on that note, i mean of course do your best to protect them, but to the point where they are sissies and turn to you later down the road for approval on a problem they somehow were unable to solve themselves due to being over protected or not disciplined.... just sayn'......

My daughter has her own tank too and this past weekend, just rearranged her rock work and frags, and I totally forgot about the bristleworms.:doh:

Luckily, she didn't get stung but now I feel like a neglectful arse because I didn't even think about that. I don't take precautions when working with my tank and am probably not setting a very good example of precautionary measures.

Thanks for the reminder. :wink:

I never intended to make you feel like that so I apologize. It's something I try to stay aware of but clearly others feel there's no need to so the truth is likely somewhere between.

It's amazing what can hide in your aquarium, sometimes in plain sight. I bought a mille colony at a LFS and even though I was able to peer right into the colony I somehow missed the two commensal crabs living there. I didn't even know they were there until one croaked and was being lugged around by a hermit.

Fortunately my display tank is too high for kids to get into and the tanks in the bottom if my nieces get into them so be it but all so far understand not to play in them but kids will be kids and the water is easy enough to clean up

As to bristle worms I did the nylon sock traps several times took 74 of the lil bastards out but unfortunately unless I nuke the rocks I have them for as long as I don't get tired of the rock formations

Soak infested parts in vinegar. The bristles disolve. Anyone of you guys heard of palytoxin poison? Go ahead and continue playing in your tanks. Those that constantly do are the ones that never have a decent tank and are constantly fighting with water parameters. :lol:

+1. My fishes think my hand is food so I don't like my hand in there.

To the OP, I can understand your concern but there's so little you can do :( Bristles are something that will appear somehow in any matured tank. Your best bet would be to teach your kids never to play with the rocks. But then again, Murphy is funny, you can be careful but you can't be too careful. Trap won't help take out all.....