My hippo got stung by a bristleworm

[dviper150]

I woke up this morning to find the top of my 3" hippo to be covered with the hair burbs that bristleworms have. Its in patches and needle-like. I can see it sticking out from him the same it was from my finger when I got stung. Will it effect the fish? What should I do?

 

[HumbleFish]

First, are you 100% sure about this? I've never heard of a fish being stung by a bristleworm before. All I'm saying is it may not be a bad idea to post a pic just to get a second opinion.

But now if you are positive that the fish has bristleworm barbs in him, then I think if I were in your shoes I would catch him and manually remove the barbs with a pair of tweezers. That is going to be a nightmare (and dangerous for the fish), I know. But I just don't see all the barbs working themselves out.

 

[dviper150]

I am 99% sure its bristle worm hair. Here are a few pictures of it.

Wouldn't catching it dig the barbs in deeper? Its going to head straight for the rock crevices when I put the net in and if its pushed up in that crevice, it might push the barbs in deeper. If I do catch him, I think it flapping around in the net would push it in deeper? Is catching it the only way?

 

[HumbleFish]

I see what you mean from the pics. I was curious myself, so I found a few threads for ya:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1689078

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1242624

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1242602

The last two threads are duplicate ?s, but with different answers.

 

[BlueFyre]

Recently my mccoskers wrasse got a mouthful of bristles. He was still eating fine and after 2 days all the bristles were gone. He's still going strong a week later.

 

[Beefy_Reefy]

My firefish got bristles to the eyeball.. Took about 5 days for them to fall out and eye to heal up.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

My watchman goby ate a bristle worm. All was ok after a couple of days.

 

[Spyderturbo007]

The same thing happened to my firefish. She was my first fish and died from the incident. RIP Fiona. :sad2:

 

[dviper150]

It looks like most of the barbs have are out now. There is still some left in those areas. Nothing has changed with his behavior. He is still swimming around and eating well. Looks like he will be okay but I still need to wait for all of them to come out and hope that he doesn't get any infection.