my feater duster broke

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Silentrob21

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Messages
19
Location
N Fort Myers, Florida
The other day I got up and checked on my aquarium and I noticed the tip of one of my hawaiian feater dusters was broken off. Does this mean its going to die or will it grow back? I've never heard of this happening before is it common?
 
When you say the tip of your feather duster, do you mean the entire crown, or just the tip of one feather?
 
For a duster to drop it's crown, it has to be under a great deal of stress. I would check the water parameters, look for any fish that might be picking at it, etc... If the source of the stress is removed, in time, if it doesn't starve, it will regrow a new crown. Were you providing food for the duster, before it dropped it's crown? If you touch the tube does the worm move?
 
im sorry to say but no i wasnt feeding it at the time. I didnt have enough money to buy invert food. I do have some now though, but im still wondering... why did just one of my three do that? I didnt have any fish at the time that would pick at the feather duster. and yes if i touch the tube i can feel the worm move too.
 
There are many reasons why it might only happen to one, but it boils down to the fact that that one felt the stress the most, or was the only one under stress. The food should be used for the other dusters, the one without the crown can't feed until it regrows. Right now, you need to be concentrating on what caused the stress and try to remove that factor. The first place to start is water tests and observing the tank for predation.
 
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