Feather Duster lost it's tube!

[deborah]

One of my 6 feather dusters expelled itself from it's tube and is now in two separate parts on the bottom of my tank. Is this a reprocuctive thing or something very bad. All the others are fine. This is in my 20gal tank, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Salinity .024 and Nitrate .10. I have 3.6 watts of light per gallon now.

 

[jacksonpt]

Mine have done that before, and I know I've heard other people experience the same thing with their FD... I think he is just shedding/molting or something. When mine did it, I thought he was dead, so I burried the tube in my CC (too lazy to remove it). About 3 weeks later I had a feather duster poking out of the CC. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[b_ball12_99]

I agree not to worry about it yet. Just wait and see what happens.

 

[ale368]

Originally posted by Deborah:
<STRONG>One of my 6 feather dusters expelled itself from it's tube and is now in two separate parts on the bottom of my tank. Is this a reprocuctive thing or something very bad. All the others are fine. This is in my 20gal tank, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Salinity .024 and Nitrate .10. I have 3.6 watts of light per gallon now.</STRONG>
nullnullThey will grow back.More inform.at Ale368@Dockpoint.net

 

[nosmada]

i would not say they WILL grow back. my duster lost his (or her)crown a little over a month ago. i had noticed him still in the tube coming to the opening so i knew he was still alive. one month later his tube fell over and he was gone. it had been about 2 weeks since and i have seen no sign of him in my tank anywhere. i would just recommend to keep your eye on him.
hth,
chris

 

[shel]

I have 4 FD and 2 of mine have done that. The first one just wasn't coming out of his tube anymore. Then like 3-4 wks later he was sticking out of his tube with a little crown. It is doing it again, the first time in was in May. (This was also my first FD in the tank) I came home two weeks ago and their was the a diffrent FD sitting about 4 inches from his tube, and the male clown protecting him. I left it alone, last week it was back in the tube sticking up with a little crown. I think this is just something they do. Good luck.
Shel

 

[matt dowdney]

Feather dusters lose their crowns during breeding. This way they don't trap their own larva in the process. As far as losing the tube all together... I can only say, maybe it was damaged by something, but the FD's make their tubes so as long as there's no threat of him being eaten I wouldn't worry about it. Good Luck. I'm off to go buy one myself.. he he.