Caught a bristle worm

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

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.

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

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

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

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.

[Rogue951]

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.

[SanguinesDream]

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.

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?

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by SanguinesDream

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.

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?

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.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by SanguinesDream

What is the best treatment for their stings again?

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.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

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.

+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.....

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

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.

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.

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

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.

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.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

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?

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