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jdubb925 
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 Topic: Coco worm being bullied?
Posted: May 13 2013 at 11:26am |
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I have noticed that the top of the tube is being chipped away by something. The worm itself is fine hasn't been damaged and still opens up great and is very happy. I first thought the peppermint shrimp might be the culprit so I pulled him out for a day and noticed that another small chip had been broken of off the top of the tube. I'm guessing that my clowns are getting a little carried away when it comes to protecting their anenome but I wanted to see if anyone else has any other opinions or solutions.
I have a clown pair hosting an RBTA, a blue chromis, a firefish, the peppermint shrimp, a small pincushion urchin then just small hermit crabs, snails and various corals.
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Justin W.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: May 13 2013 at 12:24pm |
A couple options/questions: 1. Just to be sure it's not chipping away by the action of the worm itself, are the Alk and Ca levels okay? 2. The worm may be doing a little remodeling? 3. How close is the worm to the anemone? 4. What food is in the tank for the Urchin to eat? Mahalo, Mark 
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jdubb925
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Posted: May 14 2013 at 12:20pm |
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1. The Ca/Alk levels seems to be in the normal range.
2. Remodeling is certainly possible.
3.The worm is about 2 inches away from the nearest tentacle when it is fully stretched out.
4.I give the Urchin, Nori and also have started growing so Macroalgae in the display that it has taken a liking to.
I did notice that the clowns are very territorial, the little guy bit me when I reached in to the tank to grab a free floating piece of Nori that nobody was going ater.
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Justin W.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: May 16 2013 at 8:59am |
Aloha, I suspect then that the damage is due to #2 and #3, though it may be #4 I would move the worm further away from the clowns and their home. FYI a study done many years ago found that urchins starved and died on a diet of Caulerpa only. Urchins need to eat calcareous algae. They must have loads and loads of Calcium Carbonate in their diet because Urchins are mostly exoskeleton. Unfortunately, Nori is no better than Caulerpa. If an Urchin does not increase in size, and especially if it is losing spines, it is not getting enough coralline algae. I typically don't keep Urchins. When I did have a healthy urchin it was because I moved it back and forth between two tanks in the same system. When it had cleaned the Coralline off the glass and rocks in one tank I moved it back over to the tank it had cleaned 2 months ago. Mahalo, Mark
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Pete Moss
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Posted: May 16 2013 at 10:57am |
 Mark Peterson wrote:
Aloha,
I suspect then that the damage is due to #2 and #3, though it may be #4
I would move the worm further away from the clowns and their home.
FYI a study done many years ago found that urchins starved and died on a diet of Caulerpa only. Urchins need to eat calcareous algae. They must have loads and loads of Calcium Carbonate in their diet because Urchins are mostly exoskeleton. Unfortunately, Nori is no better than Caulerpa. If an Urchin does not increase in size, and especially if it is losing spines, it is not getting enough coralline algae.
I typically don't keep Urchins. When I did have a healthy urchin it was because I moved it back and forth between two tanks in the same system. When it had cleaned the Coralline off the glass and rocks in one tank I moved it back over to the tank it had cleaned 2 months ago.
Mahalo,
Mark
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A healthy tank should easily produce enough coralline algae to keep urchins alive and happy. Bryce has a 12 gallon nanocube set up in my house right now with TWO adult urchins in it. They've been alive and healthy since they were babies in that tank. They are now adult size.
If your tank is new, then coralline growth may be the issue, but I would look elsewhere to figure out what is stressing out an urchin if there is plenty of coralline in the tank. You certainly don't need two tanks to keep one happy.
Edited by Pete Moss - May 16 2013 at 10:58am
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125g 90g 2x33g 34g
What stores do I recommend?
Up North: Bill ( Saltwater Paradise 801-317-8115 )
Down South: Jerry ( Reef On 801-563-0600 )
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tfmreefs
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Posted: May 16 2013 at 11:04am |
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+1 ^^
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"The early bird might get the worm, but only the second mouse gets the cheese."
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: May 16 2013 at 11:30am |
Yes, I agree with Pete. I should have shared this. The rest of the story is that these were 20 and 40 gallon tanks with ordinary fluorescent lighting. (yeah, that was back in the days  ) Best wishes, Mark
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