feather duster out of casing

[Deserter23]

I bought a nice feather duster from a good store who is in the process of moving locations today. By the time I got the little guy home, about 20 minutes, he had come out of his casing! Will he die or can he recover?

If he is going to die, what should I do?

[mnestroy]

He's stressed out, from my own experience the odds of him finding a new spot are unlikely...

I have heard of Feather Dusters who come out, and start a new home..

I started messing with my flow in my tank a few months back and one tossed his feathers, fortunately they grew back... 2months later they are almost good as new :)

Good luck.

[Deserter23]

In my case, the worm has come completely out of the casing. He is still attached to his feathers. Could he crawl back into his shell?

[blot60]

No he wont. He may create a new casing though. I remember a thread about this but the worm did nor survive. I hope yours does.

[Tang Salad]

Find a place in your LR where it will be secure. You don't want it getting pushed around by flow.

[reefgeek84]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8892352#post8892352 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tang Salad
Find a place in your LR where it will be secure. You don't want it getting pushed around by flow.
You are correct about very low flow...but they should be on sand...they do better creating a new tube from the substrate.

I have had a couple do this to me and some have survived and made a new tube and others died.

It needs to be in very low flow and if you have any big fast moving fish, try to keep it in a spot they can not swim over or around it. If they move to fast around it, it could knock the newly forming tube apart...

[Deserter23]

good to hear they can survive. I remember reading a thread on this subject as well which is why I was not too optimistic. I hope he can create a new shell from aragonite.

Thanks for the help

[reeformadness]

I have heard that some featherdusters basically break in half with their head portion leaving the body to reproduce. Weird. Just google "feather duster" and go to the wet web media page.