bristle worm removal

[Sarahs]

I just worry that they are toxic (i've read anyways) when you touch them, and im worried bout accidently touching it when i move around the rock etc.. and I will have a small neon goby (only 1 inch big..) and worried about it eating it? Neons love being in the rock work etc.... or do i need not worry about that? he's just huge.. and creepy looking..
Sarah

[marie]

I have touched/accidently picked up many bristle worms and they aren't so much toxic as irritating (unless you're allergic I suppose) and the chances are pretty good you have lots more then just one if you have live rock in the tank.
If you do brush up against a bristle worm I've found scotch tape works pretty good at getting the bristles out

[justinl]

you should always wear gloves when you handle the rockwork. if you really need dexterity like during fragging, then just be really careful to not touch the worms. they'll retract into their holes when out of water anyways though.

yeah they hurt a bit if you get stung (which isnt terribly hard to do) but you learn how to avoid em. i dont see fish going after them either... i mean the vast majority of tanks have tons of these bristleworms and ive only heard two cases where a fish (a clown and a wrasse respectively) actually got hurt by a worm. i believe both survived with no ill effects. so if you're worried about the fish, dont imo.

imo it's just a lot more trouble to take the thing out than it's worth. chances are that that one individual worm isnt the only one in your tank... not by a long shot.

edit: oh first aid. as above, scotch tape. some also pour vinegar over the wound and apparently that helps a lot. Id imagine hot water would also help to denature the poison.

[Sarahs]

thanks everyone that responded.... it's now removed from my tank ... im hoping its teh only worm... only the 1 peice of LR came from a tear down tank, and im guessing it came with that. it was only in my tank since sunday. the rest of the LR came from another place.. i've never had any bristle worms in my previous tank that came a problem.. this one was TOO BIG!
sarah

[merryj99]

We had a 16 inch bristle worm(about, I never measured him but he was really long, it is still in the old tank, he never got moved over, but we still have tiny ones in the big tank, they don't bother anything and they are kept under control with our Orchid Dottyback. They eat dead things so really they are our friends. I am just glad that the big worm is not in the big tank.