Tube worm - Feather Duster Question

I have a brown/white Feather Duster in my tank (name of Barry).....I
guess technically it would be a cocoa tube worm.....anyhows....Barry
seemed to gain a little Barry next to him a couple of months ago - I
suspected but never got to prove the point as I had an issue with some
dying corals that wiped out baby Barry, my Cleaner shrimps and a few
other corals on the way - Barry lost his crown but eventually came out
again and is now back to his full glory - so all resolved now happily.....

Right now I've been watching Barry.....his crown has seemed to be
becoming two seperate crowns out of the same tube....tonight it is very
distinct that there are now "two mouths" - has Barry divided himself
somehow? Will I end up with two FD's? and how does it work if I have now
got the two with them being in the same tube?

TIA

Gill

You only have one worm in the tube. They will get dual crowns when the
crowns mature....

If the tube is hard, its a coco worm, if not its not a hard tube coco
worm, Hard tubed worms are coco, soft tubes are not.m Not saying the
"baby" is not a product, of big barry, but the small tiny feather
dusters are very common in live rock, and they take qiite a bit to
kill em off. They even withshatnd substantially high ammonia and
nitrite levels and come out just fine. However they are destined to be
small worms all their lives.

Tube worms send out eggs for propagation........What I would say you
have is a typical small tube worm that happens to be next to a larger
type worm who is now sporting a new mature crown since its a double
crown....

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:09:45 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

I have a brown/white Feather Duster in my tank (name of Barry).....I
guess technically it would be a cocoa tube worm.....anyhows....Barry
seemed to gain a little Barry next to him a couple of months ago - I
suspected but never got to prove the point as I had an issue with some
dying corals that wiped out baby Barry, my Cleaner shrimps and a few
other corals on the way - Barry lost his crown but eventually came out
again and is now back to his full glory - so all resolved now happily.....

Right now I've been watching Barry.....his crown has seemed to be
becoming two seperate crowns out of the same tube....tonight it is very
distinct that there are now "two mouths" - has Barry divided himself
somehow? Will I end up with two FD's? and how does it work if I have now
got the two with them being in the same tube?

TIA

Gill



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Gill Passman wrote in
:

I have a brown/white Feather Duster in my tank (name of Barry).....I
guess technically it would be a cocoa tube worm.....anyhows....Barry
seemed to gain a little Barry next to him a couple of months ago - I
suspected but never got to prove the point as I had an issue with some
dying corals that wiped out baby Barry, my Cleaner shrimps and a few
other corals on the way - Barry lost his crown but eventually came out
again and is now back to his full glory - so all resolved now
happily.....

Right now I've been watching Barry.....his crown has seemed to be
becoming two seperate crowns out of the same tube....tonight it is
very distinct that there are now "two mouths" - has Barry divided
himself somehow? Will I end up with two FD's? and how does it work if
I have now got the two with them being in the same tube?

TIA

Gill


Sprung says that fission in feather dusters is "nearly an
impossibility" because of their calcerous tube...

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...002/invert.htm

....but then, "nearly" an impossibility leaves a chance for possibility,
doesn't it? :-) I'd photograph and document your observations, Gill.
You might be seeing something which happens only rarely (or is at least
atypical).

Since a feather duster can leave its tube, and make the beginnings of
a new home in about 10-16 hours, I'd be willing to bet thats what will
happen once the fission is complete. If you have an alternate home for
any potential worm predators in the tank, you might want to move them,
at least until BarryClone finds a new spot to settle in, and hardens up
a bit.


DaveZ
Atom Weaver

atomweaver wrote:


Sprung says that fission in feather dusters is "nearly an
impossibility" because of their calcerous tube...


It could be a double crown....but there are two distinct
"mouths".....when I first saw it I thought it was just a double
crown....but then I spotted the two mouths and now I'm not sure....

...but then, "nearly" an impossibility leaves a chance for possibility,
doesn't it? :-) I'd photograph and document your observations, Gill.
You might be seeing something which happens only rarely (or is at least
atypical).

Taking pics but just wish my photography skills were
better.....observation will be the key I guess


Since a feather duster can leave its tube, and make the beginnings of
a new home in about 10-16 hours, I'd be willing to bet thats what will
happen once the fission is complete. If you have an alternate home for
any potential worm predators in the tank, you might want to move them,
at least until BarryClone finds a new spot to settle in, and hardens up
a bit.

The tank has some hermits, some snails, some corals, a sea urchin and a
couple of clownfish that seem determined to try and spawn without any
better results than making them aggressive enough to bite my hand if I
get too close to any potential spawning site - but they are still
young....they tend to leave Barry alone....preferring the button polyps
and at a pinch taking a chunk out of the Xenia....

Anyway I guess it is watch this space....it is the two "mouths" that
have got my curious.....I would expect just one mouth if it was a double
crown but then I'm still a newbie so don't really know what to expect....

Gill



DaveZ
Atom Weaver

Tristan wrote:

You only have one worm in the tube. They will get dual crowns when the
crowns mature....

Do dual crowns normally have two mouths? When I originally got "Barry"
he had dual crowns but only one mouth.....



If the tube is hard, its a coco worm, if not its not a hard tube coco
worm, Hard tubed worms are coco, soft tubes are not.m

Barry is definitely a hard tube.....I occassionally have to give him a
nudge when he decides that the best location is on top of one of the
corals I have on the substrate....

Not saying the
"baby" is not a product, of big barry,

A question that will never get answered because it didn't survive the
button polyp die off....it was right next to big "Barry"....I also have
smaller FDs that came in as hitchhikers on the LR....and by the position
in the tank it was unlikely it was one of them....but as I said it is
academic because it got killed off....


Tube worms send out eggs for propagation........What I would say you
have is a typical small tube worm that happens to be next to a larger
type worm who is now sporting a new mature crown since its a double
crown....

The smaller one died or at least moved on to pastures new in the tank -
who knows if it went to the back of the tank behind the rock....It is
the large worm who has the double crown and two mouths - maybe the
growing of an additional mouth is typical with a double crown - don't
know which is why I am asking....

Gill

One thing I found interesting in regards to both hard tube and soft
tube worms is they start a tube of correct diameter from the start.
They do not start off with a small diameter tube
outgrow it and then discard it and start a new larger diam tube. The
tubes they are found in are the original tube they first started as a
baby. They just make em longer not wider, although there are some
examples of a bit of variance in diameters in some hard tube worms.
I found this hard to visualize when I was told this. It was at the
last MACNA convention during a seminar there that I heard this from
IIRC Anthony Calfo.

Those tiny worms that are so abunbant in most tanks will never get any
larger in diameter than they are now......they are quite prolific and
do propagate readily in short order.

All other sources I have in regards to propagation basically rules out
fission. Its mainly when they cast off eggs. I had a good article on
them and breeding, if I can only find it.....duh!

Just be sure to keep calcium levels up with the coco (hard) type
worms for best results.

I have a huge red / white coco, and a short time back acquired a nice
smaller orange and blue coco.

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:38:17 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

atomweaver wrote:


Sprung says that fission in feather dusters is "nearly an
impossibility" because of their calcerous tube...


It could be a double crown....but there are two distinct
"mouths".....when I first saw it I thought it was just a double
crown....but then I spotted the two mouths and now I'm not sure....

...but then, "nearly" an impossibility leaves a chance for possibility,
doesn't it? :-) I'd photograph and document your observations, Gill.
You might be seeing something which happens only rarely (or is at least
atypical).

Taking pics but just wish my photography skills were
better.....observation will be the key I guess


Since a feather duster can leave its tube, and make the beginnings of
a new home in about 10-16 hours, I'd be willing to bet thats what will
happen once the fission is complete. If you have an alternate home for
any potential worm predators in the tank, you might want to move them,
at least until BarryClone finds a new spot to settle in, and hardens up
a bit.

The tank has some hermits, some snails, some corals, a sea urchin and a
couple of clownfish that seem determined to try and spawn without any
better results than making them aggressive enough to bite my hand if I
get too close to any potential spawning site - but they are still
young....they tend to leave Barry alone....preferring the button polyps
and at a pinch taking a chunk out of the Xenia....

Anyway I guess it is watch this space....it is the two "mouths" that
have got my curious.....I would expect just one mouth if it was a double
crown but then I'm still a newbie so don't really know what to expect....

Gill



DaveZ
Atom Weaver



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!