Last night I was transferring some cured Fijian live rock from a rubbermaid containter where it has been for a few weeks into a new tank. After handling the rock, I had hair-thin "needles" sticking out of some of my fingers where I had touched the rock. They were very short and thin, translucent, and barely visible except under a light. They were also pretty painful, just as if someone had stuck a tiny needle into my fingertip. After I washed my hands I was able to get them out. Any idea what could have caused this?
Needles in my fingers!
- Thread starter emjs777
- Start date
It's nearly impossible to say. There's too many things like that to know what it was. Maybe shed nemotocysts from some coral or anemone, maybe lost bristles from a bristleworm, maybe the shell structure of some microorganism, or maybe some species of algae? There's a lot more possiblities.
I'm glad you're ok though
I've been stung by just about everything reef-related and I literally feel your pain
I'm glad you're ok though
I've been stung by just about everything reef-related and I literally feel your pain im not an expert, but im 99.99% sure it's a bristleworm....happens to me quite often....next time it happens and you dont have tweezers handy, get a piece of electrical tape, put it over the bristles, and pull it off...should get most of them out...you can also use white (elmer's) glue, put the glue on, let it dry and pull off...that work's too. have fun
i have the same stuff growing on some of my rocks in the refuge, they seem like mini crystals spiney like in formation, very thin, translucent and when i grasp the rock from a certain angle they stick into my fingers also.
they seem to grow back after a couple of weeks, i dont think there leftover bristle worm spikes.
they seem to grow back after a couple of weeks, i dont think there leftover bristle worm spikes.
got nailed by a wild one here in fla.crawled up my shorts befor it stung me(not fun),was not paying attention on the dive.HURT LIKE HELL for 2 days,i never want to go through that again.this worm was only about 5" long and 3/4 inch wide,cool blue color but still knock ya with a very nasty sting.never been nailed by one in my tank but i do respect them alot now.
I have been stung by bristle worms so many times that I lost count. At first few times, it was simply stupidity that prompted me to pick them up with bare fingers, but the rest are moving rocks from one tank to another that I was stung pretty badly. Almost every time I was stung, Even after scrubbing off the little tiny frigging bristles, places it was stung would swell and becomes extremely itchy. Not necessarily painful, but the itch was bad enough that I tried from cut it open to bled the wound, to scrub it with steel scrubpads.
If left unattended, it will slowly go away in about a week.
If left unattended, it will slowly go away in about a week.
There is a growth in alot of live rock that appears just as some of you are desctibing. If you hand is burning like fire it probably isnt a bristle worm, my rock has alot of these spikes on it as well. It is just part of some growing things in the liverock, but i have no idea what they are. No one has ever been able to answer it for me either
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