Bristlenose Brocken Bristles?

[dwarfgourami]

Yesterday my male bristlenose got his head stuck in the outlet pipe for the filter system (he seemed to like to surf the outflow by attaching himself to the outside, but probably misjudged it and got stuck inside). Anyway, I managed to disentangle him by removing the ouflow from the pump, but he disappeared into his cave. Since then he's only come out sporadically and seems very jerky and only nibbles his food. I managed to get my first good look at him this evening, and he seems to have lost some of his bristles. Any ideas what I can do? I'm going to try some Melafix, but I do have quite a lot of fry in the tank (both bristlenoses and portholes).

 

[WILDER]

Do they find food with there bristles like cory do with there barbels, could be stress, is he able to maintain his balance as when they get trapped they can damage there swim bladder.