attacked by bristleworm

it looks like that pic....do you think catching and removing with tweezers would stress him to death

 

is that your finger...did you just do that? LOL...wow....tweez them off him and keep an eye on him...best I can say for ya.
Thats funny what ya did there....always a first. : )
good luck.

 

lol...its a google image....he seems to be getting more fiesty...hes now in a rock crevas so catching him is impossible unless he comes out....this is so crazy,im just glad i spotted the bristles or i would be freaking out thinking i have velvet or something horrible....ive never seen/heard of this before

 

i caught him and tweezed out what i could quickly and put him back in....hes back laying on its side breathing heavy,hopefully just tired from trying to escape the tweeze

 

can he recover from this?

 

from what it sounds like he would not have done much better with them in him...sometimes you just do what you can do...like you said, it is a first for me also....but I believe he has a better chance with them removed. jmo Just watch him closely..hopefully he will bounce back....he's surely stressed, but that don't mean fatal...high hopes man.

 

hes still out with the lights off laying on his side breathing. every minute or 2 he trys to swim, but he just swims in circles mostly upside down and falls on his face...also its hard to tell with just the moonlights but his eyes look like there starting to bulge,but it could be just the lighting playing tricks...i wonder if hes blind from the sting...he has been banging around when he trys to swim

 

Is there a chance his was dying anyways and a BW, smelling impending death, took advantage of the ailing fish. When you moved he fish, he could have quickly receded to the sand so that you couldn't see him.

I'm afraid you didn't really help with trying to remove the bristles. The barbed end will still be imbedded.

Vinegar removes bristles from humans very quickly. For future reference.

I've seen fish covered in bristles, they eventually just came off. I can't say that's what always happens, it's just what I've seen.

This was my husband's finger when he got hit with one of those big psychedelic ones. First I went for my camera. Then I went for the vinegar. Any kind will work.

 

.well there ya have it...But with what I have been reading, it is recommended to use tweezer and or adhesive tape to remove them...they are not as prone to barb as a cactus......but that's on humans...cannot seem to find treatment for fish..as stated, maybe it was dying anyhow? ...that makes the most sense.
but now I'm wondering how is it so many people get "attacked " by bristle worms.??..6 years and never seen it until now...what a trip...does it hurt?..info I was reading stated that it was like a sting ..are you picking them up with your hands..I bait trap and dump them in the yard for the birds..never had one come at me...quite the opposite actually..they are fast at going away.

 

We tried pulling them out (one time) but he could still feel them when he touched it against something, but they could no longer be seen.

He picked a rock up that had some HUGE ones underneath and he grabbed them accidentally. The rock was probably like 20 years old, so they've had time to grow. The ones that are blue/gray or the pink ones with the shine, their spines stick in easier than the regular old ones.

You can't always feel it when it happens because you are handling the rock and hitting a sharp corner here or there and don't notice it. Afterwards it like a splinter when you brush it against something. Doesn't hurt in the traditional way you would think by looking at that picture.

More and more people are buying dead rock. I can imagine it would take a nice bit longer to establish a tank with bristle worms than with live rock.