Feather duster infestation

GCL · May 30, 2022

I’m using a flattish rock as a stand for another large rock in my tank that is kind of a dead spot and catches a lot of detritus/ food/stray corals. It seems it’s the perfect spot for those tiny white feather dusters to take over to the point where it’s becoming a problem. The feather dusters also catch little bits of sponge which have also taken to this spot. Today I pulled the rocks and brushed off as many as I could get. The base of the tubes stuck to the rock but most of them broke off and were rinsed in tank water. I didn’t pull my other large rock because it’s covered in corals but there is a lot of worms on it too and they are growing into the zoa colonies. Anyways, I was curious if anyone else has dealt with this issue and if they had any success getting the number of worms down or successfully removed them from their zoas. Thanks

ying yang · May 30, 2022

Just looking at your pics and I can't see one fan from the fan worms.

You mean fan worm/feather duster right ? Or am I mistaken maybe ?

Looks like some kind of sponge to me ( mean the white tentacle things )
Either that or. Boat load of spiniod worms maybe.
Or are all the fans retracted?

Some fish like cbb and many others eat them.
Ovbiously check compatability and recommended tank size first etc.

Also some cuc.

Either way that's an impressive amount of fan worms if that's what they are.
Good luck getting rid of them.

Maybe increase flow so detritus doesnt settle there,or target feed your fish for little while so not as much food going to the tank instead just your fish.
remove rock and scrape off I guess would be last resort as you say got corals on one rock

GCL · May 30, 2022

yes, just like in the last pic. You can see them if you look closely, the fans look blurry. Anyways, my tank is too small for a CBB. Unfortunate as they are such beautiful fish. Thanks for the input. I’ll add some more CUC and try to target feed more. I will update how brushing off the first two rocks went but I don’t have super high expectations. I wish I would have addressed them earlier before it got so bad.

GCL · May 30, 2022

This is the rock where they are growing into the zoas. They were sticking to the shady spots on the underside of the rock but have since started growing into the colony of rasta zoas.

anthonygf · May 30, 2022

Make this tool and maybe you can suck them out with your water changes. Get a stainless steel straw and a hose, you can use 1/2" or smaller. I had a similar problem and worked great. Idea was from a fellow reefer on this site.

GCL · May 30, 2022

anthonygf said:
Make this tool and maybe you can suck them out with your water changes. Get a stainless steel straw and a hose, you can use 1/2" or smaller. I had a similar problem and worked great. Idea was from a fellow reefer on this site.

That seems like a great idea. I will try it