featherdusters

[fishfan04]

ok i had what appeared to be some featherdusters in my live rock. they were around for a few months and then dissapeared. my water parameters didnt change very much and im pretty sure nothing ate them. the only thing that seemed like a logical explination was that they were overun by my coralline algae which seems to have taken over my tank. where did my featherdusters go and will they ever come back?

 

[ostrow]

how old is your tank? they can go and come in waves with other critters (brine and mysis, tubeworms, limpets, etc). probably retracted in the rock. are you looking at night, several hours after lights-out?

 

[fishfan04]

my tank is a few months old. i used to see them in the daytime and at night but now i dont see them at all. i used to see them retracted sometimes but now they simply dont seem to exist.

 

[Great Lakes]

That is kinda odd...

Just maybe they weren't getting enough filter food. If you are skimming real well, and not supplementing too well....who knows.

GL

 

[7chanaa]

if they r stresed they the loose their crown that tube thing it is in.

 

[ste2k3]

have you added any fish?. fish such as copperbands etc will pick and eat tube worms or like GL said, there may not be enough food for them.

ste

 

[Erika_4404]

Just a thought i noticed the other day after i put some calium and other nurtrents 10 more pot out and i see more and more every time i feed the tank, sorry to hear that you went away also i have a very small tank it's only 3 1/2 gallons i i have a ton ...

 

[SaltyMist]

I would assume that your speaking of the mini feather dusters, the ones that are really really tiny, those guys can close up and hide for ages. Think of it this way, when you purchase liverock from the LFS it doesnt have any minis on them, then a month, or two or three months later they appear. Why? Because they can hide, I have a couple in my nano tank that pop out every now and then, but for the first 2 months you couldnt see them at all, they never came out while I was looking. Now they come out frequently, but then again they hide frequently.

The thing of it is, is that they are "worms" and dont need to come out unless they have to. Try feeding phyto to them and see if that encourages them to come out. I feed about quarter cap of Kents Marine phyto and mine come out a whole lot more, but keep in mind that mine are the minis. My large feather duster that I bought at the LFS stays out most of the time, but will retreat into his tube when he fancies, but thats the nature of the featherdusters.