Bristle Worms: out or in?

[blackbeltmom]

I saw a tank at a LFS in Tulsa, OK that was what I call "totally eaten up with bristle worms" ....made me think I didn't want to buy anything out of that tank. Wish I'd have taken a picture....never have seen such a concentration of them before. Made me wonder since then if they had them "for sale".

I have had people actually ask for some before because they are good scavengers. I just can't stand the site of the large ones and like Diana am a little concerned about accidentally ending up with bristles in my skin? I had friends that had this happen and a couple of beers and pieces of duct tape later, they were gone. Painful.

 

[Akshay]

Oooh I have a lot of bristle worms, but they are small usually around 1", biggest maybe 2" long. They live just below the top layer of the sand bed and below the algae. Come up in the night and usually polish off any excess food left behind. But even these smaller ones sting. Everytime I clean, I atleast get a finger or two stung. Can just feel my fingers tips tingling now reminding me of that pain. Just cannot imagine how badly that monstrosity of yours might sting. I'd be super scared doing any work with that in the tank!

 

[jerry26]

i must have tough fingers because i grab them all the time and have yet to feel anything. ive grabbed probably 50 - 100 of them. now my lionfish on the other hand, i felt that one. it sucked.

 

[Kremlin]

i had one in my tank that looked exactly like yours, Doogle. it was about 8-9 in. long and it was pretty wide for a bristle worm. it also had those red lines on the sides. he was trapped and taken out of my 28.