Christmas Tree Worms
- Thread starter cb
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spsfreak100
Active Member
Originally posted by Bang Guy
They don't seem to be ables to survive long without the Porites Coral they are usually found on. If yo can keep the Porites healthy then the worms seem to live a lot longer.
Porites is in the family Poritidae, which is a small polyped scleractinia or "SPS." What you usually get with the christmas tree worms is an incrusting species of Porites. The Porites can be difficult to keep in the incorrect invironment.
Generally, the worms are much easier to care for than the calcium carbonate based structure housing the worms. As you may already know, most small polyped scleractinians should be kept under Metal halide lighting (not PC's, not VHO's, etc.). SPS do best under metal halides, which is what they belong under. Why put a coral under anything but the best environment?
Now, the Porites will need a mature tank (over 7 months old, many people say a year). You should also have good & stable water conditions:
Obviously nitrite and ammonia should be undetectable. Nitrate should be as low as possible (<10 mg/L). Phosphate should be <0.04 mg/L, as anything greater will promote nuisance algae growth. Salinity should be maintained at 35 PPT (~1.026). Temperature is currently a subject of hot debate. Many people have successfully maintained aquariums at ~77°f (25°c), others at 84-86°f (~29-30°c). I will not get into this debate here. However, I maintain my aquarium at 82°f (27.8°c) with great success. For calcium and alkalinity natural saltwater levels (NSW) should be your goal (420 mg/L Ca, and 2.9 mEq/L (8° dKH) alk {TMCRA Vol.1 Fosså and Nilsen 1996}). To encourage coralline algae growth, I like to maintain an elevated alkalinity level. Levels as high as 3.6-4.3 mEq/L (10-12° dKH) should be fine.
Calcium and Alkalinity are major levels when keeping any Calcium carbonate based coral, esspecially corals which utilize calcium at a fairly quick rate. The Porites should be getting a strong amount of flow along with strong amounts of halide lighting.
The worms, as I said above, should be fairly easy to care for as long as the porites is healthy. The worms should eat Phytoplankton and golden pearls.
Take Care,
Graham
spsfreak100
Active Member
Originally posted by CB
The ones I saw at the lfs were actually on a rock not a coral if that was the case would you still need the coral or the halide lights.
The rock you're talking about is calcium carbonate based (also known as limestone [a quick fact: Porites is the coral that commonly makes up your Tonga Rock]), meaning that the "rock" you see was really once a live Porites. The coral most likely died off and calcareous algaes starting inhabiting the dead coral, making it loose the porites look and instead have the appearence of a common rock. I would try to find a better encrusting porites housing the worms, instead of the one you see at the LFS. The worms will not live long without the host coral.
Take Care,
Graham
jonthefb
Active Member
Interesting.....i found this little blurb in the new Reef Invertebrates book by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner......it states and i quote...
"Some Serpulid worms live embedded in live coral or rock like Spirobranchus giganteus (AKA Christmas-tree worm). Also known as "coco" or "Jewel stone" worms, there is an unsubstantiated legend that colonies will die if their "host" coral (typically Porites sp.) dies. There is likely no merit to this claim. The source of the lore is more so because any aquarium conditions poor enough to kill a hardy Porites species are surely bad enough to kill these sensitive filter feeding worms. And if the water conditions dont kill the worms, then the proliferation of bacteria consuming the dead coral tissue simply becomes pathogenic on the worms instead'
i think that this really states teh obvious......that we dont know what the relationship is between worm and coral, and that all we are doing is speculating!
interesting
good luck
jon
"Some Serpulid worms live embedded in live coral or rock like Spirobranchus giganteus (AKA Christmas-tree worm). Also known as "coco" or "Jewel stone" worms, there is an unsubstantiated legend that colonies will die if their "host" coral (typically Porites sp.) dies. There is likely no merit to this claim. The source of the lore is more so because any aquarium conditions poor enough to kill a hardy Porites species are surely bad enough to kill these sensitive filter feeding worms. And if the water conditions dont kill the worms, then the proliferation of bacteria consuming the dead coral tissue simply becomes pathogenic on the worms instead'
i think that this really states teh obvious......that we dont know what the relationship is between worm and coral, and that all we are doing is speculating!
interesting
good luck
jon
sammystingray
Active Member
Without any true research, aside from just keeping them, I believe given the way nature generally works....there is obviously a benefit to the worms health by living in/on porites. If not, than why do it? I, not long ago, received an horrible shipment of corals via another online store......the christmas tree worms came in a dead porite, not dying, dead. They are all still alive, so it is obviously possible, but I do believe there is a good reason they live in porites. hahaha I glued porite frags on it..perhaps they will take over the rock someday.