feather dusters being wiped out.....

[t-byrd]

my feather dusters (4 of them) have all lost there crowns and 2 of them,
the worms in the tube are gone.
i started using ro water 3 water changes ago, before that i used tap and all was fine. have 55g, done 3 5g water changes. nitrates never
tested above 5, all fish and corals are fine, and even the hard tube worms on my rock are doing great.
they were in the tank for months before this, and it happened suddenly.
i have hermits, sally lightfoot, 1 coral beauty, 2 firefish, and a pair
of scotter blennies.
what could be causing this? any ideas?
could it be some virus or bacteria?
only critter i could think may be a culprit are is the sally lightfoot, but have never seen him near the dusters. maybe the coral beauty?
he was in there for about a month before this.

 

[sslarison]

Tbyrd, Its normal for these fans to come off in fact they somtimes will be gone for months then come back. as for the worms that are gone i would keep my eye on the coral beauty or look out for another predator.If you see the coral beauty nipping at these then he's your man.

 

[SPC]

They are starving or have starved to death IMO.
Steve

 

[Anemone]

It is also very common for large fanworms to starve to death in our tanks - and it often takes 6 months to a year for them to die.

Are you feeding your feathers?

Kevin

 

[t-byrd]

i squirt them with dt's or marine snow every few days, plus the phyto they get on a daily basis when i dump some in for the corals in front of the powerheads. i dump a cube of brine shrimp in daily too, so they should be able to feed on the small pcs of the shrimp that get blown around.
i also have skunk cleaners that always breed, everytime i leave the pumps off, lots of teeny tiny shrimp gather towards the surface.
im sure i put more food of all kinds in there than i need to.

any better way to feed them? i like having dusters in there as much as corals.

 

[SPC]

Check this out T.
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... her+duster

Steve

 

[t-byrd]

thanks steve,
good links in that thread.
i've come to the conclusion that i havent been feeding them enough.
makes sense that a worm 6-8 inches long or more would need quite a bit of food, more than i have been feeding apparently.

 

[Toutouche]

T byrd, when a worm blows it's top, it is most often serious. It will often do this if there is not enough food for it to eat. What it will do is try to regrow another one, albeit smaller, therefore needing less food to sustain it. While it is rejuvenating it's crown, it will usually live on stored energy. This can take a very big toll on the animal, as it needs lots of energy to build a crown. Since it blew it's top in the first place, and is using up an enormous amount of stored energy, it usually is the demise of the animal. Also, these animals are strictly phyto feeders, so you have to be dosing your tank regularly with this. By the way, they feed from under the crown, if you directly feed them, and blow in the direction of the top of the drown, you are basically feeding it's butt!! Hope this also helps!!