2 Coco Worm questions

[plantweanie]

gotta bear with me - if i shouldn't have put this kid in my tank, i would have thunk the shop would have said so. alas, they said the critter was compatable and easy, so home he came. now i am not so sure the guy had a clue. seeking help to make sure the worm makes it.

29g tank, 39 pounds live rock....

1. the casing on the worm is about 8 inches long. the shop said it is ok to cut it -old growth not new growth. true or false? (we have NOT cut him at this point).

2. the shop said to orient his feathers into the flow. in doing this, his feathers are bent back. i don't know how he can eat this way. looking at tube worms at other shops, their feathers are wisping a little, straight up. i am a bad mom in that i don't remember how he looked in the tank we bought him from. so, into the flow with feathers bent back or low flow with feathers straight up?

he is less than a week old in our tank, so at this point, he is not showing any health issues. i would like to avoid said issues if in any way possible.

thanks for any help!

[zhenya]

The worm you have is probably Bispira sp.
Anyhow, you can find a little more information about keeping feather dusters here

PS. I didn't want go into details describing why such organisms shouln't be kept in the newly established tanks. There are really very little hope for these critters to survive because we know so little about the food required for their survival. I would go back to the store you got it from and ask those guys where they got their information about this worms.., their needs for survival and such.