feather duster ??? help!!!

[Brad-DA]

The feather part of my feather duster came off and was floating around in the tank!! The creature in the tube is alive he comes to the end of the tube, but no more feathers!
Is this the end? Will they regenerate? Should he be taken out of the tank?
BRAD

[kewliz]

Take gentle good care of him and he should come back. He's simply discarded the feather top, which means he was stressed. Leave the tube alone and he should build a new one in the next few weeks.

As long as he's alive in the tube, there's hope.

[kaserpick]

I agree :) no worries

Thumbs up!
Kasey

[mathias999us]

I've read that this is a symptom of starvation, and if the "feather plume" is shed a few more times after it regenerates, it will most likely not survive....

[YoungReefer]

Starvation??? No way! He's just stressed. They usually come like that why you get them shipped to your house from the fly and bumps in the road. Just keep him feed with his normal food and he'll grow them back to full size within a month.

[Brad-DA]

Normal food? Like phyto right?

[lakebound]

Yes, phyto or zooplankton or whatever it is that you feed him. I had the same problem, still fed him with a turkey baster inside the worm hole and mine came back even better looking than before. No worries.

[The Yellow Longnose]

its just happends when there stressd out, my did it a couple weeks ago and now grew one back ,
No worries
Joe

[cmondo]

Yup, happens all the time, you should be fine.

[SuperNerd]

If we're talking about giant feather dusters then I believe they do eventually die of starvation in most nutrient poor reef tanks. I read somewhere that they are somewhat particular in terms of the size of food they can capture and eat...they will not consume just any type of plankton.

I've kept some in the past and noticed that with each shedding of the crown the resulting (or regenerated) head was smaller than the previous...and eventually the worm died.

They released babies into the water column...but the babies have never grown larger than most dwarf feather dusters I see and look nothing like the parent worm, not only in terms of size but also color.

[Kigs]

mine recently came back to health after my tank crashed from a 2 week vacation i took. now it looks bigger and healthier than ever. but when i came back from the vaca, it was half way out, looking limp.

is it true that they cannot flourish? such as in my 10g nano? i thought he was doing well.

[fromtheocean]

2 weeks ago I showed my daugther (3yrs old) how they go inside, instead it popped it's crown. the look on her face was priceless. needless it's new crown is back. so don't stress'em cause they will die.

[Brad-DA]

Thanx for all the good feedback on this subject. How will i know if he is still alive?
Brad

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6507233#post6507233 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Brad-DA
Thanx for all the good feedback on this subject. How will i know if he is still alive?
Brad

If you tap the tube and feel something move it probably is still alive. The tube itself will remain regardless of whether the worm is inside (at least this is what I have experienced...).

[Brad-DA]

hmmm i tried to see if it moved but no luck!!
Do you thing hermits and other scavangers would be attracted if
it were dead?
Brad

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6516143#post6516143 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Brad-DA
hmmm i tried to see if it moved but no luck!!
Do you thing hermits and other scavangers would be attracted if
it were dead?
Brad

Maybe it's hiding towards the end of the tube. You can definitely feel something jump if you lay it in your hand but I would not try to remove the tube from where it is attached if you are not sure whether the worm is alive or not.

I've seen hermits go after the crowns of small feather dusters on LR while the dusters were alive...but this is most likely the result of hunger in a nutrient poor environment or predatory instincts instigated by the scent of an obviously injured worm (at least that is what I think) because now that I feed fairly heavily I have no problems with them at all.

They would be attracted...but IMO bristleworms and other animals living in the sand would have a better chance at getting to the decaying flesh, if the base of the tube was buried, than the hermits.

[fromtheocean]

the odds are it's alive. give it a few weeks and you'll be rewarded with a new crown.:rollface:

[SuperNerd]

And dose the tank with live phytoplankton. I just read that my case was not atypical. They shed the crowns when they are starving and will regrow them several more times until they finally die from lack of food.