Bristleworms and the skin

[ckmullin]

Sorry to hear. Dunno if you want your private digits to be a guinea pig however might be of value to post a shot or two so others can see effects of a possible bristleworm jabbing.

[Coralgurl]

Originally Posted by ckmullin

Sorry to hear. Dunno if you want your private digits to be a guinea pig however might be of value to post a shot or two so others can see effects of a possible bristleworm jabbing.

Don't think anything would show up in a pic, unless my hand swells more. The bumps are under the skin, on one finger they are white, the other red. The white ones are itchy, red ones swollen. My assistant says they almost looks like burn blisters, but deeper in the skin, not on the surface... I know I didn't burn myself.

For those of you who have had to remove the bristles, were there any side affects? I don't know if what is going on is due to working in my tank or something else as I did not have any bristles in my fingers at the time. That's why I asked if getting stuck by a bristleworm could go unnoticed.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

For those of you who have had to remove the bristles, were there any side affects?

No, there was no side effects at all for me. I used duct tape to put them out. I had to use really good tweezers for a couple that were in further.

The last time I got mine I didn't even notice until about an hour later when I kept brushing one finger against another. Then it started to move the bristles around and it got irratated. Duct tape and a good anti-bacterial wash and I was good to go.

[reefwars]

careful what lurks in your rocks!

[MMAX]

That's bad ass

[Northvan]

I get stung constantly, or pricked, or whatever. I use tape to pull out the spines. I've never had a reaction of any kind, but its possible you are allergic. For me it feels like I touched a small spiny cactus.

[asylumdown]

let us know how it works out. If it was a super delayed reaction, it might not have had anything to do with the tank. However, considering the ubiquity of bristleworms in marine aquaria and you think you might be sensitive to them, I would consider wearing gloves when you work in there from now on. A minor allergic reaction can become a serious allergic reaction if you're exposed to it enough.

Any time I hear stories like this I think of my best friend, who used to work at Petland. He started working there with no allergies of any kind, but due to repeated exposure, developed a life threatening anaphylactic reaction to blood worms. He used to take care of my tanks for me when I went out of town, but stopped when he had a reaction at my place (while he was alone and I wasn't there) simply because the shelf in the freezer where I kept the marine food had previously been where I kept the blood worms when I still had a FW tank. I hadn't had any blood worms in months, but he still had a serious reaction from handling the mysis packages that were on that shelf and then touching his face.

If you are getting allergies to something in your tank, nip it in the bud and wear gloves before it can become something serious.

[marie]

I get allergic reactions similar to yours when I mess with my euphyllias, the torch in particular. It can take weeks for the itching to stop

I've never had problems with bristlworms though and I've even had an entire worm wedged under my fingernail.

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by marie

I get allergic reactions similar to yours when I mess with my euphyllias, the torch in particular. It can take weeks for the itching to stop

I've never had problems with bristlworms though and I've even had an entire worm wedged under my fingernail.

Reading that last sentence literally made me gag. Bristleworms are so, so, so disgusting. I was just getting used to them until I watched how they eat pellets. B-rated horror movies couldn't come up with something grosser.

[MMAX]

I've always just let the bristles in my fingers run their course. They don't bother me too much.