Tube worm / Coco anemone losing tentacle

[DSFa]

Hi guys,

I have a tube worm anemone and it has been doing great for the past week since I added it near the bottom on the sand bed, just today i woke up to notice one of it's feeder tentacles a whole branch was seemed to have been broken off and lying on the sandbed. What could have caused this, is this a normal thing?
I will attach photos in a bit when I go back down to check up on it again

My only tank mates are: firetail gobys, black n white gobbies can't remember the name, Helfrichi gobys, 1 coral banded shrimp, snails / sandshifting starfishes.

Thank you!

 

[fishguy242]

hi yes pic would help ,does not sound like a prob ,it will grow more

 

[DSFa]

hi yes pic would help ,does not sound like a prob ,it will grow more

Hey man, just tried to take photos with iphone 5S it doesnt have filter so cant see much, took a short vid though the tentacle broken off still seems to be alive? I put in breeder box with very minimal flow close to none and the tentacles are still moving on their own.

 

[fishguy242]

video is not working ,keep an eye on should be fine can lose whole head ,and regrow another one

 

[DSFa]

Zz

video is not working ,keep an eye on should be fine can lose whole head ,and regrow another one
[/QUOTE

video is not working ,keep an eye on should be fine can lose whole head ,and regrow another one

Weird tried posting on phone ah wells bummer. The tube worm seems okay im just wondering if i can grow the other one in a sandbed and hope it builds it’s own burrow somehow, Is that a possibility?

Thank you for your input i’ll keep an eye on it.

 

[homer1475]

Tube worms/coco worms can shed their crowns and regrow them. This often times happens when they have a big crown and there is not ample enough food for them to sustain the large crown. They then shed the larger crown to regrown a smaller one.

The crown is not alive(although in the flow it looks almost like your is), and the worm should still be in it's tube. If the worm is still attached to it's crown and crawling about, it may not have liked where you placed it, and is looking for a new home.

 

[DSFa]

Tube worms/coco worms can shed their crowns and regrow them. This often times happens when they have a big crown and there is not ample enough food for them to sustain the large crown. They then shed the larger crown to regrown a smaller one.

The crown is not alive(although in the flow it looks almost like your is), and the worm should still be in it's tube. If the worm is still attached to it's crown and crawling about, it may not have liked where you placed it, and is looking for a new home.

Oh I see, I'll throw out the crown it's dismantled then. The worm is still in the tube with one crown and still feeds / comes out like normal. I'll try get some copepods in a refugium soon to try supply it with some more foods then if that's the case.

Thank you for the info!

 

[DSFa]

Tube worms/coco worms can shed their crowns and regrow them. This often times happens when they have a big crown and there is not ample enough food for them to sustain the large crown. They then shed the larger crown to regrown a smaller one.

The crown is not alive(although in the flow it looks almost like your is), and the worm should still be in it's tube. If the worm is still attached to it's crown and crawling about, it may not have liked where you placed it, and is looking for a new home.

Hey man!

Just ran into a crap moment, my tube worm threw off it’s remaining feeder tentacle... I have no idea what’s going on. Will he still be able to get feed?

Really worried as it’s my first one, everything else in tank is doing fine - splitted rbta x4 and 2 full rbta small - med.

All corals also doing okay.. i will take parameter tests when I get home from work if anyone has any knowledge it’d be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[CuzzA]

Oh I see, I'll throw out the crown it's dismantled then. The worm is still in the tube with one crown and still feeds / comes out like normal. I'll try get some copepods in a refugium soon to try supply it with some more foods then if that's the case.

Thank you for the info!

They don't eat copepods, they eat phytoplankton. For this reason most people do not have success keeping them because they don't culture or buy live phyto to feed them and are an impulse buy. I imagine it is starving to death.

 

[DSFa]

They don't eat copepods, they eat phytoplankton. For this reason most people do not have success keeping them because they don't culture or buy live phyto to feed them and are an impulse buy. I imagine it is starving to death.

Oh boy.. I see, definitely had no idea I thought it could just feed off the water column and reef roids etc.. it still has a worm inside the tube just no crown? Am I still able to feed it, I Tried to give it reef roids but i'm not sure how it felt about it as it kind of blew some of it out of the tube.

 

[CuzzA]

In my experience they don't appear to like Reef Roids as much and will blow it out. The poor survival rate in captivity is probably due to inappropriate foods. Reef Roids is more coral food, IMO. It's supposed to be used as a thick sludge for LPS and some SPS though filter feeders do likely eat it. That said, there's a lot of posts about people feeding them coral foods, probably because it's easier than sourcing, cultivating and feeding live phyto. Perhaps this is why they don't do well long term, which tells me they really need phyto. Live phyto gives a completely different response from my worm. My coco worm will stretches it's crown out significantly more in response and so that's what I've always fed them. Also, they are likely starving by the time they hit the LFS so need a good diet once they make it into our tanks. I don't know any techniques to feed them once they shed their crown. I would guess putting foods in or around the tube would help. Nevertheless, I'd pick up some live phyto. Nanno can stay alive for 90 days in the fridge if shaken everyday. See if you can nurse it back to health and confirm my anecdotes.

@Dr. Dendrostein has experience with non photosynthetic species, perhaps he can chime in.

 

[DSFa]

In my experience they don't appear to like Reef Roids as much and will blow it out. The poor survival rate in captivity is probably due to inappropriate foods. Reef Roids is more coral food, IMO. It's supposed to be used as a thick sludge for LPS and some SPS though filter feeders do likely eat it. That said, there's a lot of posts about people feeding them coral foods, probably because it's easier than sourcing, cultivating and feeding live phyto. Perhaps this is why they don't do well long term, which tells me they really need phyto. Live phyto gives a completely different response from my worm. My coco worm will stretches it's crown out significantly more in response and so that's what I've always fed them. Also, they are likely starving by the time they hit the LFS so need a good diet once they make it into our tanks. I don't know any techniques to feed them once they shed their crown. I would guess putting foods in or around the tube would help. Nevertheless, I'd pick up some live phyto. Nanno can stay alive for 90 days in the fridge if shaken everyday. See if you can nurse it back to health and confirm my anecdotes.

@Dr. Dendrostein has experience with non photosynthetic species, perhaps he can chime in.

That seemed to be the case when I tried to blow some in the tube earliar. It built a mucus ball up and shot it out the tube pretty smart way to clean house. I'll try hit up some LFS tomorrow and see if I can get my hands on any live phyto.
It still has a worm inside fairly decent size, so i'll try squirt some down the tube see if it can feed, still can build mucus + shoot it out so hoping it's able to eat also.

Thank you for your time and information man, much appreciated!!

 

[DSFa]

Heeeeeey guys!

Just an update, it's been a week or two now and I've been feeding it some phyto with a syringe down the tube and honestly I was contemplating if I should throw it out. So glad I hadn't as it seems they do have the ability to still feed despite having no crown!! Actually I can see 1-2 very small crowns starting to sprout as a result sooooooo glad the lil guy has been doing so so much better so thank you all so much for your time and advice / info as you've all helped saved the lil bugga!

I'll try snap a shot under white lights tomorrow of the tiny crown sprouting it's amazing!! <3