3 Unknowns, one of them is increasingly showing distress!

[Perk]

I have two small pieces of LR that's teeming with life. They're isolated in two jars for now... I do water changes every day for the jars.

- One of them is a feather duster. Do you guys know what species? Looks like a juvenile Hawaiian duster to me, but I'm not sure. It's been two days and I've fed it some live phyto twice, but the crowns are starting to droop. I have air bubbles to provide moderate current for them. Are all care similar among the species? This will be my first feather duster experience, so I need to act fast with this hitchiker in order to save it!

- On the same rock with the feather duster, there are two white globs. I have no idea what they are. Sponge maybe? I didn't touch it for fear it may hurt my finger!

- On the other LR, there are these really thin tan colored worms. They come out when the lits are dim and will retract immediately if exposed to any bright light. They never leave their hole, they only extend out. And boy, do they extend! So far, I think one of them stretches out to the length of a standard toothpick. They feed on detritus or small pieces of shrimp pellets I throw in. I can see the small pieces passing through their bodies when they gulp it down. What is this?

 

[Perk]

Here are some more pictures of the white glob

 

[sean112280]

The thin tan worms could be brittle star legs. I have the same in my tank. Are you in frederick? Im over at APG, MD. Just asking because I see the apple farm label

 

[Perk]

The thin tan worms could be brittle star legs. I have the same in my tank. Are you in frederick? Im over at APG, MD. Just asking because I see the apple farm label

The food it gulps down travels through the inside of the body. I don't think bristle stars do that. Bristle stars carries its food over its arms, I think. I'm located near Frederick, yeah. We should high-five each other sometime.

 

[sean112280]

Im not to sure then.theres a bunch of critters in my tank that i dont really know but reading these forums helps me a lot. Yea we should higj five

 

[thincat]

You should feed the feather duster zooplanton and not phyto. Where did you get the LR from? In Hawaii feather dusters can't be removed with LR attached.

 

[Perk]

You should feed the feather duster zooplanton and not phyto. Where did you get the LR from? In Hawaii feather dusters can't be removed with LR attached.

Hm, okay. I'll go out and buy some frozen stuff and give it a try. The LR is quite small, and it came with the pistol shrimp I bought at my LFS.

 

[Sadielynn]

The thin things look like spibord ( I mushed the spelling on that one ) worms or spagaetti worms ..
THe round thing is a sponge
The feather duster can be removed with a pair of wire nippers and nipping the rock around it leaving it attached to a small section of it .. Generally the Feather dusters do not need feedings but will benifit from weekly to every 2 weeks they generally pull from the H20 column

 

[Perk]

Just curious, has anyone ever heard of a pistol shrimp or yellow watchman goby eat a feather duster?

Or maybe a mantis shrimp or purple reef lobster eating feather dusters?

 

[Sadielynn]

Never heard of a pistol or goby eating feather duster perhaps harassing it ...
Mantis will "bust" the LR up and I know zippo on reef lobsters

 

[Jimbo7]

my pepps demolished a feather duster 1/2 second after i put it in. First thing my girlfriend ever bought for my tank and they shredded it before her eyes. Not a fun experience. So I would wager it's within the realms of possibility.

 

[Zer0]

I have to agree with Jimbo. Anything is possible. Anything.

I had three feather dusters and as soon as i put in 7 supposedly "friendly and reef safe" nassarius snails, they all demolished my feather dusters. Tore the crowns off of the dusters and then started ripping open the tubes and went after the wormy filling surprise lol. God i hate those snails. I only trust nerites, ceriths, and astreas these days. Had them all and they're amazing.. Can't say the same for those darn nassas though..

 

[mrg02d]

I have to agree with Jimbo. Anything is possible. Anything.

I had three feather dusters and as soon as i put in 7 supposedly "friendly and reef safe" nassarius snails, they all demolished my feather dusters. Tore the crowns off of the dusters and then started ripping open the tubes and went after the wormy filling surprise lol. God i hate those snails. I only trust nerites, ceriths, and astreas these days. Had them all and they're amazing.. Can't say the same for those darn nassas though..

I remember you telling us about this and finding myself in shock!
Man, you had some crazy sadisitic snails!

All the inverts in my tank get along alright. Some of my snails like to grab my largest hermit and hold him for hours before letting him go. I guess its payback for him harassing them? Or maybe they want to eat the algae off his shell? Either way, good stuff!

Side note: How bout these smileys? Crazy! Haha!
Matt

 

[Jimbo7]

I had three feather dusters and as soon as i put in 7 supposedly "friendly and reef safe" nassarius snails, they all demolished my feather dusters. Tore the crowns off of the dusters and then started ripping open the tubes and went after the wormy filling surprise lol. God i hate those snails. I only trust nerites, ceriths, and astreas these days. Had them all and they're amazing.. Can't say the same for those darn nassas though..

Nassas are vicious! My brother had a sick fish that was on its way out (mind you this was before our period of enlightenment and thorough research) and it just kinda sat at the bottom of the tank, and all the sudden these nassa snails come out of nowhere and crawl right on top of it and start eating it alive! As cool as it is to see them surface out of nowhere from the sand, I dont think ill ever have one again.

 

[kdogg85]

Nassas will eat dead or dying animals. If it's an easy target they take it. I have about 60 of them in my tank and they don't bother a thing. Granted they have a lot of poop and leftovers to eat, so I guess that keeps them happy. I have a million little dusters and nothing bothers them. My flame angel won't have anything to do with them and that was the fish that worried me. Now caterpillar,cummins,and detroit diesel(my golfball or bigger sized turbos wreak the most havoc). They mostly just knock some stuff around but what they can knock around is on the sandbed. But, like people,any life can have a happy disposition or a sour and fierce one. Just the luck of the draw.

 

[Jimbo7]

Haha, I like how everyone names their turbo snails. My brothers was elephant, because he did the same thing, knocked stuff over all the time.

 

[cmor1701d]

I just added 100 nassarius snails to my tank. They are great scanvengers of left over food and decaying material. That includes dead stuff (fish, inverts, etc.)

Never heard of them attackin ganything that wasn't already a goner.

 

[Jimbo7]

that is a crap ton of nassa snails

 

[thincat]

that is a crap ton of nassa snails

How much is that in pounds! lol

 

[thincat]

Sadielynn, I don't think they are spinoid worms as those normally cover most of themselves with sand. and spagetti worms look like more then one worm....like spagetti/ lol