Is my feather duster dead?

[greebs]

I've got a sneaky suspicion that it is but don't want to rush to get him out of my tank. I noticed yesterday that the 'feather' part of the body became detached. Prior to this, it had looked very healthy. I purchased it about two months ago from this site in a package deal. Anyhow, the feather part still looks about the same as it did when it was still connected to the rest of the body. And I can see something sticking out of the other part of the 'handle' part of the body.
Is that normal for this to happen or is it just a case where I've got a dead duster to remove?

 

[me-n-my-fish]

A duster will shed his "feathers" now and again. Don't worry, a new crown will be back in a couple of weeks.

 

[carrie1429]

This is a normal thing for feather dusters to do, somtimes they will "shed" their feathers if the water conditions are not right or sometimes they'll just shed them for no reason. It will grow back soon though.