Feather Dusters Taking OVER!!

[ajatill]

:help: One day we noticed a few new baby feather dusters on a rock in our tank and thought 'oh how cute'. But now they are completely everywhere!!

Someone told us to get some hermit crabs that they should eat them. We have been having them for about 1-2 months and they haven't started eating them yet. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do or what to get to eat/kill these things. It is making my tank look horrible.

 

[demartini]

you can take them off by hand lol if there arent that many...my brother used some additives to remove them in his tank. i dont know what it is called but im sure you can get them at your local fish store.

 

[whitey_028]

some peppermints will eat them also..

 

[ajatill]

There is just way to many to try to pick off. I have about 6 large rocks covered in them. They are even sqeezing in between mushrooms. I had to move a brain because they were trying to cover it. I really hate these things.

I would be afraid to get the peppermint shrimp due to having a snowflake eel. That thing loves to eat shrimp!

 

[teen]

are you 100% sure there feather dusters?

 

[skywatcher]

Sounds more like aiptasia. They can multiply very quickly. Have never seen feather dusters multiply very fast.

 

[sinaloa213]

i heard a yellow coris wrasse will eat them jmo

 

[teen]

Originally Posted by Skywatcher
Sounds more like aiptasia. They can multiply very quickly. Have never seen feather dusters multiply very fast.

thats what i was thinking

 

[ryanhayes9]

me too lol joes juice {edit}

 

[ophiura]

Check also that they are not hydroids.
Without a picture though, I would be hesitant to take any advice on what to do, IMO.
If they are feather dusters, they are something that will "bloom" and go away...check your feeding and water parameters.
If they are hydroids, that is a big time battle.
If they are aptaisia, then that is another issue.
But it might be something completely harmless in the end, so I wouldn't do anything drastic until you have a definite ID.
BTW, I've moved this to a forum wher eyou may get more replies

 

[g_d]

ajatill, does it look like the two things on the right in this pic? If so, it is aiptasia and you need to get rid of it. But don't pull them out or touch them.

 

[ajatill]

I know for sure what it is in my tank is indeed feather dusters. The little worm tubes are everywhere and yes the crowns do pop in and out all of the time. It looks like the Hawaiian Feather Dusters. It is not aptaisia.

 

[ophiura]

If they are definitely small feather dusters, then I would say they are "blooming"...is this a young tank? In time they usually do die off...and they actually will not get large. They are a different species, and full grown when still fairly small.

 

[marlin]

a arrow crab will take care of them as well

 

[ajatill]

We have a the tank for a couple of years now. I have been doing some research on these little critters and I also went to my local pet store. I was told of a few things that will help: pseudochromis, arrow crab, copperband butterfly fish, six line & eight line wrasse. I will try a couple of these. I am praying that they will help.

 

[ophiura]

I would strongly discourage the keeping of something like a copperband butterfly for this problem without a lot of research into its needs. Not a casual recommendation in my book

They are not real hardy fish.
How big is the tank? We could probably make some good suggestions. Your eel could be a threat, for example, to some of these smaller fish and the arrow crab.
But I am still worried about the description. Corals and such are not really happy to let things settle on them. And it wouldn't seem to me that a feather duster would be able to overwhelm the defenses of something like a brain coral :notsure:
It is definitely not like these, right?
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=164040

 

[ophiura]

Oh, here are some really cool images of the tube hydroids.
stinging hydroids