Featherduster problem?

[fraggle rockette]

I got two new featherdusters yesterday, and my pink one opened right away in the tank while the brown one sat there. now today i'm working on the tank and the brown one has been open off and on the last few hours while there's no sign of the pink one. however, there are one or two little holes in the tube of it and the mouth is pinched tight. do you think it's dead, or is this normal behavior? i'm going out of twon tommorow and i'd hate to leave something dead in the tank to crash it.

 

thanks guys!

[fraggle rockette]

helpage?

[fraggle rockette]

please???

[ChuckP]

please???

 

fraggle_rockette: Sorry I know you will probably jump at this thinking it is a valid response. However I am also looking into getting a feather duster and I would like to know why you are having this result with them. So BUMP! Someone has to have had this happen before.

[Spliffstar]

dont do anything for awhile... these guys are funny, they can take a long time to come out... they are very fragile and it sometimes takes them along time to adjust from the move and to their new surroundings.. I had one that actually lost its head (fan) and didn't come out for a month or two until it grew a new one.. now its out all the time. as long as u saw both of them out i dont think either is dead..

 

just in case, what size is ur tank? over 20 gallons, imo, i dont think it would crash your tank.. i lost one in my 24g and didnt have a problem.

 

good luck..

[fraggle rockette]

thanks chuck. i wish i knew too... the brown one came out to eat when stuff got stirred up... i wonder if the pink one is trying to repair his holes and that's why it's hiding or what? i cant find anything anywhere... usually wetweb helps out... sigh.

[ChuckP]

thanks chuck. i wish i knew too... the brown one came out to eat when stuff got stirred up... i wonder if the pink one is trying to repair his holes and that's why it's hiding or what? i cant find anything anywhere... usually wetweb helps out... sigh.

 

Fraggle: going on what Spliffstar said check out: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=107427&hl= it talks about the feather duster losing it crown. Not sure if this is what happened. From what I have read it seems these guys are extremely hardy and will survive just about anything if given time to rebuild.

 

Do you have plans on spot feeding, or just let it do its thing? Not sure if the type you got do it, but some posts say these things reproduce like a plague.

 

-Chuck

[fraggle rockette]

thanks chuck... UPDATE: i saw the worm poke it's head? out two seconds ago, and my peppermint shrimp was near it and pulled on it- the worm (feathers not out) then fell out of his tube, floated into the bubble coral below it, wiggled, and disappeared. does this mean the tube is empty and i should pull it out or that it just has reproduced?

 

lots of strange things happening with this tank... two shellfish (emerald crab and pep shrimp) molt in the same week and now a duster dropping its worm/crown? any ideas as to why maybe?

[idog]

Woa, did the worm's body leave the tube, or the feather? Did the coral injest it?

 

If the pep went after it, it was probably dying or dead.

 

Sorry to say, this doesn't sound good...

 

Good luck, keep us posted.

[fraggle rockette]

the worm seemed to leave the tube... i saw it's pink feather inside its body? but then the whole thing fell... the pep was like "eh..." once it fell out, and the feather worm crawled into the coral, but not it's mouth, tho i did see the coral's mouth a few minutes later... could that mean it ate it? i think im going to pull the tube out of the tank before it deteriorates... there are just holes thru it, and the mouth is whitish, and the body a tad softer than the other... i dont think there's anything in it anymore. well, you win some you lose some right? so much for adding color to my tank... at least feather dusters aren't super duper expensive and someday i'll try another one when i learn to care for my little brown guy

[jbbaus]

I wouldn't worry about the worm just yet unless you've seen something actually eating the worm itself and not just picking at the tube.

 

I have a few hermits that were constantly picking on the opening of the tube on my feather duster when I first put him in my tank. Finally, he got tired of it and bailed out of his tube like yours did. I was certain he'd rolled under the rock to be eaten by the scavengers, but about a week later I saw him stick his crown out of the surface of the sand. He had crawled about six inches away, burrowed in the sand, and made himself a new, albeit shorter, tube. Interestingly, the hermits don't bother him anymore and his crown is looking better than ever. I think that sometimes the worms incorporate stuff into their tubes from the water that other critters think would be a tasty snack, even if they aren't interested in going after the worm itself.

 

Unless he was mortally stung by the coral, or the coral didn't actually eat the worm, there's a pretty good chance he just relocated. It's not uncommon for them to pop their crown if stressed or starving, nor is it uncommon for them to abandon their tubes to relocate if they don't like where they are for whatever reason.

 

Also, I'd leave the old tube in the tank for about a week or two just in case this was a reproductive split. Sometimes they split themselves in half, and the half with the crown moves to a different location to make a new tube, leaving the other half in the tube to grow a new crown. I don't think this is what happened with you, but better safe than sorry. Also, the tube wouldn't add any significant bioload to your tank even if it's empty.

 

How big of a worm was it anyway? The smaller ones can generally filter what they need out of the water without much in the way of supplementation, but the bigger ones need to be regularly fed phytoplankton or they'll slowly starve to death over several months to a year. Most often, but not always, when a worm looses it's crown it figures the one it has isn't doing a good job capturing food, so it decides to try to make a new one in the hopes that the new one will work better.

 

Hope this helps some. Keep us posted on if you see him again.

[fraggle rockette]

thanks jbbaus- i ended up taking the tube out- it had flattened (showing it was empty) and had a much larger hole and a tear in it, so there was really nothing left. you think maybe he wiggled thru my bubble c and into the rock work? I hope so... such a pretty flourescent pink... sigh. anywho, i feed all my corals this really cool liquid- there's one that has kind of livish suspended seamonkey things that all the crabs and shrimps like too (and fish loooove, even picky eaters) and there's one that is green and smelly that the corals literally open their mouths for- it's awesome. my dusters love it too... i can't think of the name offhand, but i'll post it when i remember...

[jbbaus]

Yea, if the tube was flat all the way down the length of it, it was empty. Honestly, I don't know if he could have wiggled through the bubble coral. I've never had one, so I'm not sure exactly how they feed. Maybe someone else can comment on the likelyhood of it wiggling through?

 

Most of the feather dusters feed on phytoplankton (suspended algae), so the green stuff will probably work. Not all bottled phyto is all that good, though. If it needs to be refrigerated, chances are it's one of the better ones. DT's phyto is the one I use, and yea, it can get kinda smelly over time. The zooplankton stuff you feed (the seamonkey things) are great for the fish, crabs, shrimps, some corals, etc., but the dusters don't eat that stuff as it's too large.

 

Also, something I've always heard is that the bottled phyto tends to clump up in the bottle, so it's a good idea to whisk it briefly in a small bender or something to get the particles to break up into small enough pieces for the filter feeders to handle. At the very least, you should shake up the bottle really well before you use it.

 

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is don't give up hope that he may show back up again someday, but don't be surprised if he doesn't, either. How's that for playing both sides of the fence? lol

[ezcompany]

thanks jbbaus- i ended up taking the tube out- it had flattened (showing it was empty) and had a much larger hole and a tear in it, so there was really nothing left. you think maybe he wiggled thru my bubble c and into the rock work? I hope so... such a pretty flourescent pink... sigh. anywho, i feed all my corals this really cool liquid- there's one that has kind of livish suspended seamonkey things that all the crabs and shrimps like too (and fish loooove, even picky eaters) and there's one that is green and smelly that the corals literally open their mouths for- it's awesome. my dusters love it too... i can't think of the name offhand, but i'll post it when i remember...

 

featherdusters are a lot hardier than you think. i would just leave it alone, you may have a good chance of finding him eventually. also, a pic would help greatly.

[jbbaus]

Hey fraggle, I noticed you swapped some stuff around in your tank (new sb and such). Did you ever find the missing feather duster?