Hawaiian Feather Duster

[jhenson]

Over the past 2 - 3 days my Feather Duster has been acting strange. It will start to come out and get about 3/4 of the way there and then contract back in to it's tube very quickly. It does not go all the way in but most of the way with only the tips sticking out. It will do this about 10 times and then stick out about 1/4 inch and stay that way. There are times throughout the day it will be completely spread out like normal but I have witnessed the strange behavior now about 3 times and it has me worried that there may be something bothering it like parasites. All parammeters in the tank are good and I'm feeding with DT's live Phyto. All water parameter's are in their norm. I have a Royal Gramma, a Flame Hawk, 1 Evil CBS, 1 Fire Shrimp, 5 zebra hermits and a few Astrea's. I have never witnessed anything pick on it although the Gramma does tend to worship it as all she ever does now is stay close to the Duster to observe it, never touch that I have noticed. I've only had it about 3 weeks and it's my first one so I don't know if this is normal or not. But I have seen a few of it's arms/feathers come off b/c it sucked in so fast.
Any idea's

 

[spicyballs]

feathers coming off cuz it sucked in so fast? that sounds a bit strange.. mine does that from time to time if a fish swims by very fast or aggrevates it but never has a feather fallen off... with regard to the feather extending and retracting, something must be bothering it... when the feathers are extended, does anything touch it? like a coral or live rock? i've noticed the tips of the feather on mine to be curled up as a zoanthid is near it and curls up each time it touches the zo..

 

[jhenson]

Right now it looks just fine. The only thing that could be touching it is the glass aquarium i nthe front.

 

[jhenson]

Anyone else?

 

[jhenson]

Well - the duster started the same thing today but this time it was jerking back in so hard the whole duster cap came off. Does this mean that it's dead? Should I pull the tube out and pitch it along with the duster cap?
Someone has to know what is happening here.

 

[spicyballs]

nope.. don't take it out.. at minimum, the worm will create a new crown.. but don't be surprised if the worm moves out of it's tube and goes else where.. if so, it just means that something is def not right and it needed to move elsewhere. unfortunately, i don't know what else can be causing it problems...