Feather Dusters

[Berzer]

Hi, I put a feather duster (green) into my 29 gallon tank and the algae blenny and some others were pickin on him so i moved him to the 5 gallon and then suddenly he just decided to come all the way out of his tube. Now he's just crawling around inside the tank. There is another feather duster in that tank as well, the same kind. That one is still in its tube and is still functioning normally. Is the feather duster going to go back into its tube or will it die. I heard somewhere that they will regrow the tube that encases them. I imagine he came out due to all the stress, but was just wondering if he's ok to be roaming around the tank so much. He travels alot.

[indy]

If they get stressed or decide they don't like their environment, they'll come out and move around. If he finds a place he likes he'll start rebuilding his tube. They are more vulnerable at this stage and can die, but there's nothing you can do to make them build a new tube.

[austinsdad]

Can you post a pic of the worm without a home? It'd be really interesting to see that. One of mine left his a couple of months ago. Never saw saw him again - I think. Then 5 days ago, I see a new, small duster peeking out of a rock where I didn't put one. Maybe that's him. Wish I had remembered the color of the first one.

[Berzer]

Yeah sure. I'll take a pic later this afternoon. Only way i can describe him is he looks like a long brown tongue with spines all down his side with the feather at the end. This tank reall surprises me with how well it runs. I have a duetto 50 in it that keeps the water stirred up pretty fast. It maintains a ph of 8.3-8.4 with no problem whatsoever. i rarely have to buffer the water whereas my 29 gal's i have to buffer all the time.

[Berzer]

Here are the pics.

http://www.xero7.com/feather1.jpg

http://www.xero7.com/feather2.jpg

http://www.xero7.com/feather3.jpg

[austinsdad]

Wow. So cool to see, but I hope he makes it. Wonder if putting him in a nice rock crevice would help him survive while he's homeless. Any other tank mates that could cause a problem with him out in the open?

[Berzer]

Nah, just a baby True Percula and 2 Green Chromis. The one that's out has moved himself over next to the other feather duster thats stuck in a crevice between some rocks. His tube is still on the bottom, he never even tries to get back in it. Who knows. Coolest thing is to just wait and see what happens. I'll post back if he does go back in or something.