Hawaian Feather duster question?

[sirfishmaster]

do they shed there feather? i bought one a couple weeks ago and after a week i saw its feather at the oposite end of the tube well i decided to poke around and the feather part drifted away in the current 8O ...well now its 2 weeks later i got home and 8O there it was! is this normal?




doug

 

[vertex]

Most feather dusters can "shed" their crowns (feathers) but it is usually stress induced. Bad water conditions or fish stress, etc. I have read they can only do this a couple of times (not sure if that is true or not) but as long as it has a tube and gets enough food to recover fully, it should continue to live. If it wasn't heathly when it lost the crown it would not have had the ability to regrow one since that is its means to collect food.

You might want to feed it by adding DT's phytoplankton (or something similar) to the tank so it gets all the nutrients it needs.

 

[sirfishmaster]

i use that and cyto once a week, i have a different kind of feather duster that is doing just fine...its not scared of anything i can have my hand right next to it and it stays out....maybe it was not healthy at the store...seems fine now although real shy, it darts in so fast that the tube collaps


doug

 

[malkore]

indeed feather dusters can 'blow their top'...when stressed or if they come under attack.
give it a few weeks, and you'll see a small crown start coming back.