My Coco worm just dropped both its heads!

[FishWife1]

It has been doing great in the tank - coming out most of the time, opening nicely for the past 6 weeks.

Two days ago I saw something pink floating around the tank - it was one of the heads. The other one was still coming out but not as much. Then today it came out and pulled back in faster than I've ever seen it. Now the 2nd head is off. After I turned off the lights tonight I can see the worm itself coming out to the end of the tube.

Will it grow the heads back if its healthy? Is there anything I can do?

Thanks - Laurie

 

[venwu225]

they need large amounts of appropriate sized phytoplankton just to survive. Your animal is simply starving, and feeding is relatively diffcult to achieve in a 12 nano.

The worm most likely will use its energy reserves to grow new crowns that are smaller than the previously ones, if it still has enough reserves to do so...

While all this is going on, the worm is continously starved...

IMO they do not make good aquarium animals and we all perhaps should read upon the animals we end up taking responsibility for, BEFORE purchasing them.

 

[capncapo]

Coco worms, like other fan worms, will lose their head because of stress or conditions they find unsuitable.

They will slowly starve to death in a reef tank unless extreme care is taken to make sure that they are well fed. Unfortunatley, keeping them well fed is difficult.

 

[The steven liu]

They loose their head when stressed or food is scarce. You need to feed more plankton for one can make sure there isn't anything preying on them in your tank.