Feather Duster

[Anonymous]

My featherduster two weeks ago started to drop his feathers and then disappeared for two weeks. He just came out last night with very small feathers about a half an inch long. My question is what should I feed him now? I have been putting "MICRO VERT" by Kent in the tank, using about a cap or two every 3 to 4 days. I have a 110 gallon tank. Should I keep doing this or should I try to use a plastic syringe to get it closer to him? Thanks a lot.

 

[Anonymous]

Can any help me out?? Dont want this duster to die!Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

You really shouldn't need to feed feather dusters IMO. You can try that but how about dosing DT's Phytoplankton a couple times a week? Everything will benefit!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi:
do a search on this site for an article written by bob toonen on feather dusters. It might be in the articles section. The final outcome is that these worms can be fed phytoplanktons, and will be well eating this stuff. Invert foods (like microvert) is essentially useless, and adds nothing but pollution to your tank. ALso one the main reasons why feather dusters pop their heads is due to stress (and according to Rshimek), the major streesor in a reef tank is lack of food.
Second feather dusters create a current around them which orginiates from the bottom up thru the feathers(just the opposite of what you'd think), and therefore squirting things onto the feathers from the top doesn't but scare the worm.
find his article
frank

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Your worm is starving to death. The pattern is: It can't get enough food to maintian its body, so it sheds extraneous material and regrows a smaller food capturing apparatus. This structure is less metabolically expensive, but it is also less efficient at catching food. The animal is on a down hill spiral unless you supplement the diet.

Microvert food is dirty water...

These animals need small particulate material to feed on. The best bet now is DT's frequently, and/or Brine Shrimp Direct's smallest Golden Pearls.

Good luck.

Ron