feather duster crawling out of its tube?

Sploke

Sploke

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Oct 20, 2005
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Woke up this morning and my featherduster is not looking so hot. Its at least halfway out of its tube. I just got it on Wednesday, acclimated it for an hour or so, and its been wide open and looking really good since then. Any reason for them to do this? I'm going to check my params now and probably do a water change, but any ideas?
fishwall1 002.jpg

fishwall1 002.jpg
 
Back when one of mine shed its crown due to the hermit crabs stressing it out it kind of crawled out of its tube, but not as far as yours has. It did eventually go back in and I would see it occasionally poke its head out. It has since regrown its crown and is fine now. What are you doing for feeding it? Have you tried to feed it and if so how?
 
No I haven't tried feeding it at all yet. I was planning on starting it on frozen brine shrimp and mysis, spot-fed.

Water params are:

pH 8.2
KH 14
nitrate 0
Ca 340
Mg 1400
SG 1.026
temp 82

So everything looks basically inline there, and all the fish and corals look normal so doesn't look like its a tank-wide problem.
 
by KH do you mean dKH? If it is dKH it is a little high. It should be in the 7 to 11 range. I did find a spot, but not like my schmink or any other well known researcher that states it is a sign of severe stress.

As far as feeding goes they are a filter feeder so shrimp etc won't be useful. Some people do feed some people don't and have no problems with them or coco worms etc. If you choose to feed they are going to need Phytoplankton like DT's or home brewed stuff.
 
yes dKH. I've been dosing a 2 part mixture, I'll cut back on the alk part a little bit. Should I try moving to a different spot with regard to flow or lighting?
 
Has it gone back into its tube or is it still lying there? I guess if it were me I'd put on a rubber glove (not to protect me but to protect the duster from my germs) and try to put it back in its tube. I have mine in a pretty high flow area and they seem to be doing ok. Where abouts do you have yours flow wise?
 
Well I moved it a little bit so the tube was completely buried. When I put it in the tank I tried a few different spots, whenever it was in a relatively high-flow area, it looked like it was getting blown all over the place so I put it in an area that still has some water movement, but more gentle. When I moved it, it retracted almost all the way back in, at least so the worm body wasn't hanging out any more, just the crown, but its back out again, although not as far as in the picture. Its kind of limply lying on the sand....it doesn't look too good.
 
sploke said:
No I haven't tried feeding it at all yet. I was planning on starting it on frozen brine shrimp and mysis, spot-fed.

Water params are:

pH 8.2
KH 14
nitrate 0
Ca 340
Mg 1400
SG 1.026
temp 82

So everything looks basically inline there, and all the fish and corals look normal so doesn't look like its a tank-wide problem.
Click to expand...

I'd give it much finer food than that. Plankton or food for corals like Reef Chili. I'd also get your Ca up.
 
The one LFS by me has a feather duster that left its tube and has been moving around out in the open for over 2 months now.
 
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