stung by a bristleworm

starla

AC Members
Jan 16, 2008
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I got this gorgeous piece of live rock today, had a huge colony of button polyps and about 4 pieces of aptasia. So I am cleaning the aptasia off the rock, and thoroughly checking it over when I get this bee like sting to my finger. Enough to make me drop the rock back into the water and yell for my husband.

Well it looks like I been stung by something, we are assuming a bristleworm. It doesn't hurt too much feels like a bee sting with a little swelling. We soaked it in vinegar and will keep an eye on it. But it was just weird...and a little scary.

I made my husband finish cleaning the rock LOL

on a side note I have a refugium!!!!!
 
I got this gorgeous piece of live rock today, had a huge colony of button polyps and about 4 pieces of aptasia. So I am cleaning the aptasia off the rock, and thoroughly checking it over when I get this bee like sting to my finger. Enough to make me drop the rock back into the water and yell for my husband.

Well it looks like I been stung by something, we are assuming a bristleworm. It doesn't hurt too much feels like a bee sting with a little swelling. We soaked it in vinegar and will keep an eye on it. But it was just weird...and a little scary.

I made my husband finish cleaning the rock LOL

on a side note I have a refugium!!!!!

Congrats on the refugium and the rock and sorry about the bite. It's hard not to react when getting bitten!
 
i got tagged by a ticked off bristleworm a while back. i was taking out a piece of LR with some riccordea shrooms on it to trade with a friend and i felt what seemed like a bee sting. i dropped the rock and a 3-4" bristle worm scattered off into the depths of my tank somewhere. definitely spooked me a little but no real harm done.
 
Could be a bristle or even a sponge...There are certain sponges which can cause this...

Because sponges fit in somewhere between protozoans and cnidarians (stinging corals), some do posess the ability to cause a stinging sensation, however, there are actually not that many that pull in the ability from the cnidarian side and adopt the bristles to give them protection..

If you get stung by these, just use sticky tape to remove the bristles and run under flowing cold water for a few minutes to ease pain...then wash the stung area with a mix of 1 part salt, 3 parts vinegar..this will neutralise the toxin that is left behind by the bristles...

What sponges can sting you?? Well, there has been many tax reports done on sponges, and they do not seem to provide a huge insight into why specific sponges will sting. What "is" known is that Red or Fireball sponges are guaranteed to sting you..and yes...THIS FREAKIN HURTS...wear gloves....

If its a bristleworm, or even a fireworm sting, then follow the same cleaning procedure as above.....
 
Hopefully it was something other than a BM. These things give me the willies. Not only do they sting but they look freaky as heck, causing me to be phobic of them, like a slug, snake, spider, or leech. They're fine additions to your clean-up crew but gross.
 
Hopefully it was something other than a BM. These things give me the willies. Not only do they sting but they look freaky as heck, causing me to be phobic of them, like a slug, snake, spider, or leech. They're fine additions to your clean-up crew but gross.

BM=Bowel Movement?
 
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