Question about tube worms

[user 26995]

I have had this tube worm for over two years now and his tube has grown from about 5" to over 10" long. I came home tonight and found the feather portion being nibbled on by a coral that is 8-10" away from it. The entire feather section had come detached, all in one piece, from the worm.

Please tell me it will grow back....or did my worm die...
I have three more in the tank, not as big as this one, but they are all fine.

 

[jrgilles]

If I remember correctly, they can lose the feeder part and it will grow back. I would get someone else to verify that before you get too excited though, haven't had one of them in a long long time.

 

[user 26995]

I certainly hope your right.
There is no damage to the tube. If the worm was dead, I would expect that the crabs in my tank would be tearing it apart to get at it. All the damage would be at the bottom of the tube and not the top so I might not have noticed that. I'll have to check it.

 

[Krish]

That was a really nice tube worm Lorrie! We need to get Leslie back in here. I can remember seeing some fish tear the feathers out of my cousins tubeworm before and it didn't grow back, but could be for other reasons as well. Hopefully they do grow back. Let us know if anything sprouts up.

 

[Krish]

Found this Lorrie so there is hope...

If it is severely stressed, it will discard its crown, growing it back later

If they become continually frightened or subjected to poor water quality, they may discard their radioles (fan tentacles). They will be re-grown only under proper conditions.

Got the info doing a google search where this site came up http://www.aquacon.com/fanworms.html

 

[user 26995]

Oh, sweet. Then I can hopefully expect them to grow back.

Hopefully it had to do with water temp. I had to replace the heater yesterday. The light was on, on the heater, but it was not putting out any heat. Tank got down to 72 for a couple days, possibly 70. The water was cold so hopefully that is all it was.

 

[Krish]

Yes stress can sometimes cause things to happen. Hopefully it grows back!


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[user 26995]

Its back! Not nearly as big yet, but its back.

 

[Krish]

That's good news Lorrie!!


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