Feather duster- out of his tube

yakfishin · 07/31/2007, 06:52 AM

I purchased two feather dusters from a LFS this past weekend. Yesterday evening I noticed that one of them had left his tube but was staying in the same vicinity as where I had put him originally. This morning he was nowhere to be seen. Should I do a thourough search for him this evening, or will he eventually show back up where he wants to be? My main concern is that if something is wrong he might die and foul up my water. Any thoughts?

reelsteel · 07/31/2007, 07:13 AM

Sorry...That's not usually good when they leave the tube. What size tank do you have?

papagimp · 07/31/2007, 07:18 AM

They'll leave the tube for several reasons, and regardless of why, I probably would not start searching. If you can spot him witout sticking your hands in the tank great, but don't go stressing out an obviously already stressed worm. He may start up another tube soon eough, provided nothing eats him in his weaker condition (no tube). If you have some hermits, nassarius, and several detritus/meat eaters in the tank, it shouldn't really be much of an issue if he were to die off, aside from the emotional loss and monetary issues. A decent clean up crew can decimate a smaller feather duster in no time. I watched a dead one in my tank disspear underneath a pile of bristlworms. Took em less than an hour. Kinda creepy!

yakfishin · 07/31/2007, 09:10 AM

My tank size is 215G, I have a good clean up crew so I guess they should take care of him if he were to croak. I have a foxface and when I put the two dusters in the aquarium he took a nip at one of the tubes but then I never saw him touch it again. I asked here at RC if the foxface would be a problem and others indicated that they never had a foxface bother a feather duster but I know that each individual fish can be different. The tube itself looked liked he might have nipped at it some more after the intial tasting I had observed, but the worm when I saw it didn't appear to be damaged at all. He seems to have never touched the other feather duster, perhaps this particular dusters tube had something on it that was attractive to him? Any case, I guess I need to keep an eye on my other duster and hope that the other will survive to rebuild his tube. How long would it take for another tube to be built?

07/31/2007, 06:52 AM	#1
yakfishin Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 696	Feather duster- out of his tube I purchased two feather dusters from a LFS this past weekend. Yesterday evening I noticed that one of them had left his tube but was staying in the same vicinity as where I had put him originally. This morning he was nowhere to be seen. Should I do a thourough search for him this evening, or will he eventually show back up where he wants to be? My main concern is that if something is wrong he might die and foul up my water. Any thoughts?

07/31/2007, 07:18 AM	#3
papagimp COMAS Rocks! Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 8,185 Blog Entries: 2	They'll leave the tube for several reasons, and regardless of why, I probably would not start searching. If you can spot him witout sticking your hands in the tank great, but don't go stressing out an obviously already stressed worm. He may start up another tube soon eough, provided nothing eats him in his weaker condition (no tube). If you have some hermits, nassarius, and several detritus/meat eaters in the tank, it shouldn't really be much of an issue if he were to die off, aside from the emotional loss and monetary issues. A decent clean up crew can decimate a smaller feather duster in no time. I watched a dead one in my tank disspear underneath a pile of bristlworms. Took em less than an hour. Kinda creepy! __________________ 58g Softie & 75g Stoney Member, Central Oklahoma Marine Aquarium Society Current Tank Info: 58g Mixed Reef Project - Started June 2011

07/31/2007, 07:13 AM	#2
reelsteel Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Southern Maryland Posts: 73	Sorry...That's not usually good when they leave the tube. What size tank do you have?

07/31/2007, 09:10 AM	#4
yakfishin Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 696	My tank size is 215G, I have a good clean up crew so I guess they should take care of him if he were to croak. I have a foxface and when I put the two dusters in the aquarium he took a nip at one of the tubes but then I never saw him touch it again. I asked here at RC if the foxface would be a problem and others indicated that they never had a foxface bother a feather duster but I know that each individual fish can be different. The tube itself looked liked he might have nipped at it some more after the intial tasting I had observed, but the worm when I saw it didn't appear to be damaged at all. He seems to have never touched the other feather duster, perhaps this particular dusters tube had something on it that was attractive to him? Any case, I guess I need to keep an eye on my other duster and hope that the other will survive to rebuild his tube. How long would it take for another tube to be built?