Stung by a bristleworm!

[Joe Bongiorno]

Well, I did a really stupid thing last night. My porky puffer woke me up to alert me to the presence of an 8+ inch bristleworm, which up till now had only been a rumor and legend in my tank. Responsible for the death of 2 beloved mandarinfish and an anemone, I was anxious to catch it and get it out of the tank.

Needless to say, I did not take proper precautions and found my middle index finger pricked with the telltale fiberglass-like spines (I did catch the adversary at least). With no means of removing the spines in my finger, I resorted to attempting to pull them out with my other hand.

I got most of them out but am pretty sure a number of them broke off and are lodged still in my finger underneath the skin. I did some research on the topic, but none of it indicates whether or not the spines will (like urchin spines) dissolve eventually in my finger and bloodstream.

Symptons are as follows as of 12 hours later:

1) Very slight swelling and redness
2) Very slight numbness in the affected area (but not throughout the whole of the finger tip)

No itching, nausea, pain (other than when I touch the affected area with force).

I've been using alcohol, bactine and Foille (an antiseptic for insect bites) intermittently.

Should I be more concerned than I am?? I'm not big on doctors for most things... What do you think?

[iCam]

Hey. I'm not sure that a bristle worm would kill a fish or anemone. It might if it was dying, not sure. As far as getting out the bristles if it happens again, try rubbing some glue on it, and when it dries, peel it off.

[rshimek]

Hi,

None of these worms can kill either anemones or fish, you had better look for another cause of their mortality. In the future when you do this again - use a piece of tape to pull out the spines.

The venom in the bristles shouldn't be noticeable after a day or so. If you have longer lasting symptoms, see a physician.

[NicoleC]

Yee-oow, it hurts more than you'd think possible. I felt like my finger was chopped off. A long soak in very warm water will help the symptoms.

[Virginia Reef]

Larger quantities of alcohol, administered orally may help.

[Joe Bongiorno]

I definitely plan to do that!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Looks like I won't have to worry about amputation then. That's certainly good news!

[thebreadman]

You may want to wait a week to 10 days before concluding everything is ok. In the meantime I'd stick with the oral alcholol on a daily basis. (just kidding about everything but couldn't resist)
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

[romunov]

The bristles on the worm are for defence against a porky human like yourself. Hence the colors. You might not see them, but they're there... :)

[Joe Bongiorno]

Yeah, the swelling has gone down and there's no itchiness. But I see little, tiny black dots that may represent what broke off in there, and if I press hard enough there's pain. Of course, it's deep in, so no tweezer will help at this time. Actually, shouldn't they just dissolve eventually in the bloodstream like urchin spines?

I continue my nightly treatment of orally administered alcohol, and I must say, the pain does seem to disappear.

[rshimek]

Hi Joe,

These particular spines/bristles are calcium carbonate and should be absorbed by your body in a few days. There may be some residual scarring. I have had enough sea urchin spine pentrations in my hands (due to a lot of research with them over the years, that I get some fairly serious scarring when it occurs now).