HELP! Feather duster problem

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MarkW19

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My feather duster's crown has just fallen out of its tube!!

It's been fine for 4-5 months, water quality fine, haven't seen anything bothering it!

What should I do with the crown? It seems to be still sort of moving!
 
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Go ahead and remove the crown keep an eye on him and make sure your perameters stay in check and that nothing is picking on him . He should regrow a new crown in a few weeks ... :)
 
Sadielynn said:
Go ahead and remove the crown keep an eye on him and make sure your perameters stay in check and that nothing is picking on him . He should regrow a new crown in a few weeks ... :)
Click to expand...

I've never seen the actual "worm", just the crown obviously, what am I keeping an eye on exactly?! The tube seems to be fine still. Am I making sure crabs etc. aren't biting at the tube?

Is the crown fully dead? It does seem to sort of curl up a bit every now and again?
 
The crown is dead . What you are seeing is the currents moving it . You will want to watch to see that he is not being picked on by fish or crabs . Some times they just molt thier crown to regrow it as it becomes old and tattered or something may have irritated it ... It is normal for them to decrown but it will grow back when we had ours he molted his crown every 6months or so .There are many reasons to why they would decrown but it will grow back if he has clean water and nothing stressing him :) Watch to see that you dont see him out ( they are ugly and look like a milipede under water and are usually dark brown ) Once they leave the tube it is less than 2% chance they will rebuild a tube and survive ... Look at the end of the tube does it look closed ? That is one of their defences it keeps prey out such as crab or shrimp claws .... It may not always look closed if he is eating but in a few weeks he should reemerge with a new (but smaller) crown ...:)
 
Sadielynn said:
The crown is dead . What you are seeing is the currents moving it . You will want to watch to see that he is not being picked on by fish or crabs . Some times they just molt thier crown to regrow it as it becomes old and tattered or something may have irritated it ... It is normal for them to decrown but it will grow back when we had ours he molted his crown every 6months or so .There are many reasons to why they would decrown but it will grow back if he has clean water and nothing stressing him :) Watch to see that you dont see him out ( they are ugly and look like a milipede under water and are usually dark brown ) Once they leave the tube it is less than 2% chance they will rebuild a tube and survive ... Look at the end of the tube does it look closed ? That is one of their defences it keeps prey out such as crab or shrimp claws .... It may not always look closed if he is eating but in a few weeks he should reemerge with a new (but smaller) crown ...:)
Click to expand...

Yes, the end of the tube is sort of closed (although not fully), but he often did that before when he had a crown anyway...

Maybe he's not getting enough food? I used to feed phyto once a week but stopped as I'm currently in the middle of a terrible algae bloom! But I managed to get my nitrates down now (to 0 according to my test, for some reason!), and reduced my feeding/lighting, so maybe the algae will die off now.

I hope he's getting enough food?
 
He should be getting enough IME ... I never fed mine just what they pulled out of the column ... They seem to have a bit of a short life anyways the longest I had one was 3 years ....They do need a more mature system but I am sure he is getting all he needs ... Just keep an eye on him and shortly he will reemerge with a new crown :)
 
Cool, I hope so :)

Shall I just leave the old crown in there for the clean up crew?

Thanks for the help!
 
Nope remove it it will add to your bioload there is nothing in it that really that the tank will use ....:)
 
Thanks Sadie, just removed the crown. Fingers crossed a new one will grow back soon!
 
Well I just saw the actual worm pop his head out a few times, then quickly dash back into his tube. Is this normal? No new crown yet.
 
He may develp another crown but it might not happen for a month IME. Or... he'll crawl out one night and make another tube elsewhere.

If you've seen him, that's a good sign. Still alive.
 
I`ve had several times when mine would drop it and grow another one. That part does not concern me but what does is why. They drop it because of stress. Make sure of excellent water conditions and that nothing is attacking it.
 
My water quality seems fine, and I've not seen anything attacking it. Just a bit of an algae bloom.

I thought if the worm leaves the tube there's only a very small chance he'll survive?
 
It is a good sign that you see him in and out . It is not always stress that causes the decrown but it is one that could be a cause , they can drop them for any reason from old and tattered to stress or H20 quality . I can say tho it is a small chance of survival if they leave as I have had it happen 1 or 2 times , where they up and leave and die I have only had one leave and rebuild but that was not to my knowledge he came up missing and I found him a few months later :) So it can happen both ways ... It really is more or less a crap shoot that you will get verying opinions both ways ... It really is a bad sign IME when they leave the tube ... it is almost always an irritant that causes them to flee ... He should be fine tho the new crown will be smaller than the first but they will continue to grow . Tho IME they never seem to get as big as the one previous ? Not sure why that is tho ..
 
Thanks Sadie.

Well, it's now afternoon here, and I still keep seeing him pop out then back in, I really don't want him to jump out!

What sort of waterflow do they like? I have a powerhead pointing in its direction at the moment, should I move the powerhead?
 
No direct flow IMO. You want a gentle breeze that they can catch food from the water with, but nothing that bends the tube.

If a powerhead has been pointing right at it, that could be one source of irritation I believe.
 
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Yes ,move the ph as austinsdad states they do not like direct flow , just enough to keep algea from forming on them and just enough to bring food to them , they should sway like if you were gently blowing on a cut to cool it . Not too hard not too light :) Their crown (when he regrows it ) should just gently move to and fro :)
 
Well, I just saw a new crown! He's not let it fully out yet, but I saw it peeping out! It's a tiny one, but it's quick isn't it, it was only a few days ago when he lost the last one!!
 
I have often theroized that they start to grow a new one that pushes off the old . They are pretty quick to get a small crown but it takes a bit to regrow bigger or even as big as the old ones . It is next to impossible to emulate compleatly the ocean and its perameters /foods ect :)
Glad to see he has started a new crown
 
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