Coco Worm Saved!

Cowman345 · #1 10/19/2005, 09:41 PM

Three weeks ago, much to my dismay, my beautiful and (I thought) healthy coco worm shed it's feathers and receded into it's tube. I guess either I was not feeding enough DT's or my DT's went bad without me noticing (use a Visine bottle that my LFS graciously keeps filled at no charge for my 2 gallon nano reef).

As expected, after a week or so, the worm regrew a tiny little head and came partway out again, truly a sad sight... but I quadrupled my dosage of DT's and made sure to dose everyday. For the next couple weeks, he'd recede and come back out with a bigger head.

I'm proud to say that it's head is now substantially regrown (and only in 2 weeks time!) and he's out feeding more and more. I hope this is a sign that he's well on the way to recovery and wanted to share my experience with others who may own or be interested in coco worms. They are truly a demanding species, but IMO, one of the most beautiful reef critters around.

-dave-

xdusty6920 · #2 10/19/2005, 09:55 PM

what happened to your coco worm is commonly refered to as "throwing its crown". its a defensive reaction that a coco worm takes when its touched or feels stressed. kinda like when i lizard lets its tail fall of if you were to pinch it. its a very normal thing and rest assure that it will be fine and regrow its crown in a few weeks. you might however want to take alook around and see if there are any tank inhabitants that could be responsible for your coco worm throwing its crown. this way you can take preventitive measures to ensure that it doesnt reacure.

greenbean36191 · #3 10/19/2005, 10:06 PM

Throwing the crown is not due to being touched. That's what retracting into the tube is for. It's not at all like a lizard dropping its tail. They only shed the crown under very extreme stress, usually in response to starvation. If you're a worm, being unable to feed while you expend energy to grow a new crown isn't something you want to be doing any time something stresses you. It's only saved for very extreme cases.

Unfortunately, regrowing the crown is not a sign of improving health. It will happen as long as the worm is alive and has enough energy left to do it regardless of whether conditions are improving. The only way to tell if these worms are healthy is to dissect them.

If your phytoplankton is in a visine bottle that would lead me to believe that you're feeding by the drop. That's not nearly enough for a worm like this. A large worm could easily eat all of the phytoplankton you could keep in a bottle like that in one feeding if it was concentrated enough.

xdusty6920 · #4 10/19/2005, 10:43 PM

i kinda resent your statements. first of all i stated "when its touched or FEELS STRESSED". when i say touched im not refering to your hand brushing it in the tank. i mean as in a crab thats made its home beside it and is constantly irritating it, or a fish that continually nips at it. it will indeed throw its crown. it is a defensive reaction to somthing irritating conditions.
somthing constantly touching or (attacking) a coco worm or insufficient flow, food, water quality etc will all amount to stress which causes this to happen.
reguardless its rather rude to say that your right and im wrong about somthing you cant factually prove (unless you can ask a coco worm). both of our OPINIONS on what can cause this reaction are just observations and nothing more.

dippin61 · #5 10/19/2005, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by xdusty6920
i kinda resent your statements. first of all i stated "when its touched or FEELS STRESSED". when i say touched im not refering to your hand brushing it in the tank. i mean as in a crab thats made its home beside it and is constantly irritating it, or a fish that continually nips at it. it will indeed throw its crown. it is a defensive reaction to somthing irritating conditions.
somthing constantly touching or (attacking) a coco worm or insufficient flow, food, water quality etc will all amount to stress which causes this to happen.
reguardless its rather rude to say that your right and im wrong about somthing you cant factually prove (unless you can ask a coco worm). both of our OPINIONS on what can cause this reaction are just observations and nothing more.

umm.. hes a marine bio student.. and is very well known around here for knowing what he's talking about. no need to get so defensive about it and start getting sarcastic. we're all here to learn and teach.

he wasnt rude about anything. he was stating other reasons and why he believes what happened.

xdusty6920 · #6 10/20/2005, 12:09 AM

huh? i dont need your clarifications. all due respect to him being a marine bio student, but that doesnt mean that he understands and knows exactly why and how every marine animal does what it does. im sure he knows a good bit, but why is it that you assume that "he knows what he's talking about"? let me guess, because he's a marine bio student and must know more then you and i, right?
if you would read the first 4 or so sentences youd see that he basically said i didnt know what i was talking about and then went on to explain the "real" reason why this happens, and that is rude. especially when you factor in that this isnt a factual thing, its an opinion of observation thing.
i am normally a mild tempered person but i really felt like my toes were being stepped on.

Cowman345 · #7 10/20/2005, 01:28 AM

Whoa, didn't mean to start a war here.

More important than who's wrong or right, how can I ensure my worm is well-nourished? By following DT's instructions for number of phytoplanton per gallon that used to be posted on their website, I concluded that in a 2 gallon aquarium, 4 drops daily would be more than twice the reccomended dosage.

Can anyone provide me with an idea of how much I *should* be feeding my tank daily?

-dave-

xdusty6920 · #8 10/20/2005, 01:53 AM

your fine cowman. no war here.lol
just a suggestion, you might want to give liquid life a try. although i cant personally vouche for it, i have several friends that are seasoned hobbiest that swear by the stuff and say the switch from dt's to liquid life was extremely postitive and yielded awesome results.
4 drops seems like the right dosage but consider this. in a 90g a coco worm would have all 90g with the same concentration to filter through all day, in a 2 gallon its the same concentration but with such little volume it would probably filter through your water 10x over every day.

greenbean36191 · #9 10/20/2005, 11:55 AM

Quote:

especially when you factor in that this isnt a factual thing, its an opinion of observation thing.

I've never worked with these worms, so I don't have an "opinion of observation." I do however, have the opinions of experts who have studied these worms, including my advisor.

If you think I'm spouting unfounded nonsense, see if you can find the Zooligical Record at your local library, get the index, and look up Annelida-Polychaeta-Serpulidae. That should give you all of the articles written about these worms since the mid 1800s. There will be more than enough there to convince you. If you can't find the record or it's just not worth the work to you, you can also ask Dr. Ron here and I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing I've already told you.

Quote:

Can anyone provide me with an idea of how much I *should* be feeding my tank daily?

As much as you can without compromising the water quality.

pbarrett · #10 10/20/2005, 12:48 PM

I have a coco worm that my sea cucumber always touches while feeding around him. The coco worm does not even detract. And I even get close to the worm with my magnet (1" or so) and it doesnt bother him a bit. I do not know if this helps but I thought I would give you my first hand experience.