Feather Duster pulled from "body"

[czukowski]

I was trying to reposition a feather duster off the LR and seem to have pulled his "body" off. Now is still fastened to the rock and in full bloom, but he has not "bod" to escape into.

Will he die like this or regen a body? As well, should I leave the body tube int he tank?

-Chris

 

[reefman23]

Leave the tube in the tank...he should find his way back into it.... at least that is what I think I have heard.

Jesse

 

[czukowski]

I spoke with my LFS and the fish guy said it was a 50-50 for survival. I asked about leaving the tube in and again it was 50 50 he would find his way back, or regen a new one.

-Chris

 

[EDGRAY]

That happens to the FD all the time i think it might make a new house than comming back to the old lake :mrgreen: and like they told you his survival is 50/50... but wish you the best luck of it...

 

[TimSchmidt]

Good luck.

 

[czukowski]

Update - Well so far so good the Feather duster is doing well, is seen out quite a bit and it appears he is growing a new "shell".

 

[Anonymous]

I have never had one go back into it's tube, but have had them build a new one. The fact that he still has his crown on is encouraging.

 

[hobokendude]

I just bought a beautiful Hawaiian feather duster today. Acclimated it to the temperature of the tank, then with a few cups of water over time. Then we found a nice spot for him in the tank and placed him. All was well when we left for dinner. When we came back, there were cob web like, stringly stuff throughout the tank and the feather duster left its tube and was floating around the tank. I suspect that one of my hermit crabs climbing the tube had annoyed it or I didn't acclimate it slowly enough, so it decided to jump ship. Or maybe the light or current was not to its liking. Anyway, I've been trying to find info about feather dusters leaving their tubes. I'm not sure if it is alive or dead, but it seems to still be very slowly moving around the tank. Maybe in search of a new area or safe place or maybe on its death bed ??? It still has its feathers in full, so I guess I will let it be in the tank overnight and see how things are in the morning. I assume my clean up crew will be all over it if he doesn't make it through the night. Hoping for the best.

 

[hobokendude]

Are the clear cob web stuff safe for the other things in the tank? I've been trying to push that stuff towards the filter for the past hour. The worm still has its feathers, but I think he is a goner. How does one know if its dead or not? ugh! I thought I was doing ok with caring for my animals. This kinda sucks.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Leave it alone, it will re-grow it's outer shell in due time. You pulled off it's shell, in this state it's extremely vulnerable to all critters in your tank; if you have large hermits, your feather duster will become lunch....

But if they are small hermits you should be okay and in about 2 weeks it will have created a good enough shell to at least hide half it's body if not more...

I speak from experience; feather duster worms are quite hardy critters...

MG

 

[drty811]

the two that i bought in the past , at the LFS they pulled them out of the display tank and left the tube. like MIKE said they will make a new tube in a couple weeks. one way to check if they are still alive is to just nudge them with the end of a net to see if it moves. HTH

 

[hobokendude]

Thank you, Mike and Erik. I woke up this morning to find the feather duster has attached itself to a piece of a loose rock. Hopefully that means he is still hanging on. However, there was a hermit crab also poking at his body, which a few scratches in his body. I don't know, but hope for the best. My hermits are relatively small to medium, so I may be ok. I surrounded the feather duster's body with small pieces of rock to try to protect him and give him a chance. The feathers are still on him, so I hope that means he still has a chance.

On a happier note, I've found that my red anemone has had babies. There are two really little guys next to him. I didn't know they could multiply by themselves, but I guess I am doing something ok to encourage reproduction.

Thanks again guys.

Chris

 

[hobokendude]

The feather duster is done. He either died on his own or the hermits got to him. Maybe both. I guess it is true that the first 24 hours after acclimation is the most cruticial time for new things into one's tank. This is a little sad, but I guess you win some loose some.

 

[islandcreation]

hobokendude,

Sorry to hear about the FD. I never had much success and when I did it lasted 1-2 months. I had the FD get out of the tube and had to physically direct him back into the tube. A month would pass and he did the same thing but this time he couldn't get himself back in. My parameters were good and to this day all the corals are still thriving.... I guess i wasn't meant to have dusters?