New feather duster. Questions, Please help.

[gemini9]

I picked up a feather duster at LFS today. $20!! And have some questions about it. First off, how do I put it in the tank? I mean... how do I attach it to something? It doesn't have a foot... It doesn't have legs... it's not on a frag piece.... It's just .. there. If I just place it in the tank, the powerhead blows it around all over the place. I placed part of it under a rock and piled sand up around it, but as soon as a curios crab starts poking around at it like they do everything else I put in my tank, it will become dislodged easily as the sand isn't any good for rooting it down. It's too loose and fine. Truth is, I don't even know if I have the head or the rear end sticking out! How can I secure this in my tank? I don't want to lose a $20 piece. Worm. Fish whatever it is.

Next, is how I feed it. It has a mouth I saw at the LFS. Can I feed it shrimp pellets? Looked into zooplankton, but I hear it can contaminate a tank if you put in too much.

 

[Ja-reefer]

Feather dusters are worms. I usually would place them near the bottom of the aquarium, either in the sand or a hole in the live rock. they dont mind being placed on live rock. Once its settled and happy it will anchor itself down and stay there. Moderate flow. My feather dusters do very well with just dosing live phytoplankton like DTs. Cheers!

 

[Ja-reefer]

you can use coral glue to secure it!

 

[gemini9]

I don't have any coral glue. Just some cheap superglue. Probably not a good idea to superglue in a fish tank

 

[gemini9]

Just as I figured. All my hermits keep crawling all over it, tasting it, checking it out and knocking it all over the place. Ugh. Everytime I put something in my tank, they won't stay off it and causes me trouble. I think my next tank setup will be hermit-free.

 

[niftyjosh]

Super glue made out of cyanoacrylate is fine to use in an aquarium. Gel works much better than the regular stuff though.

 

[gemini9]

So I can just stick the tube of glue down in the aquarium, and glue the worm to a rock? The glue won't float off and hurt anything?

 

[Ja-reefer]

i would take the feather duster out of the aquarium, put a little glue on it then place it where you want.
ive never stuck the bottle of glue into my aquarium. Im always afraid its gonna cause something to go wrong.

 

[gemini9]

Well I got up this morning and half of my feather duster is gone. Tube and all. I guess something ate it, probably those stupid crabs. Would that have been the emerald or hermits?

 

[gemini9]

Or wait... I see some feathers sticking out from under the rock I had him in, but his tube is tore up and evacuated. Is he still alive? Do Feather worms molt and build new tubes?

 

[NanaReefer]

More than likely the Hermits. FD worms will bail from their tubes if irritated. It is possible it may build a new tube, if it's healthy and gets the chance.

 

[gemini9]

Well he's still alive. He pops his feathers out from under the rock all the time, but he completely evacuated his tube. His feathers are always out from under the rock and none of the other fish are bothering him. Is there anything I can do to help him? Or should I just leave well enough alone and let him take care of his own self? What should I feed it?

 

[saltyphish]

leave him be imo