How do you know if a feather duster worm has died?

[Sweetpea]

Since I lost my nem Marlin has been verylonely. He started pestering the dusters... it looked like he was trying to host them, and they did not appreciate the attention at all. Monday night one dropped his crown, and they have both been clamped shut ever since. I put Marlin's rubber nem back in the tank, on the opposite side from the dusters, in an attempt to distract him. It worked... he's back hosting the goofy thing, but the worms haven't come out yet. My water levels are checking out fine so far, but if they don't come out soon I'm afraid they'll die. How do I tell if they've died?

PS - I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!! I know I ate more in one sitting than I normally do in two whole days! Ah, it was yummy!

[crawdad]

it takes 3-4 weeks for a new crown to grow.now its just a waiting game.

[Tom McKenna]

If Worm has not climbed out of tube he is fine and as crawdad said time to wait eheh

[graphixx]

yeah when your duster dies he will come out of the tube and it will not be pinched shut, it does take a while to grow the crown back. just keep an eye on them

[Sweetpea]

Here is what the wormslook like:




This morning, the one in the rear sort of deflated and then puffed back up. It happened in only 2-3 seconds... if I hadn't been looking right at it, I would've missed it.
Thanks for the replies. I'll play the waiting game now!