Abnormally Large Quantity of Feather Dusters

[jaysauce]

Hi.... Our aquarium has been up for about 9 months. At first there were a few but now it seems like it is starting to get outta control. Does anyone know if this is normal/ok? Is there a way to get rid or reduce the amount of feather dusters?

Thanks!!

 

[strange33w]

there are fish and such that wil eat them. I think it looks jinda cool though

 

[Kano]

Those look like cluster dusters: Cluster Duster, Colored My LFS sells them for $15 for a clump of them when he has them in stock (not very often). If you don't like them you could always trade someone locally for some live rock that doesn't have them. They are a good thing. Xtalreef - Reef Saltwater Aquarium

 

[KLR]

My LFS also sells these for about $20 per 1-2 inches when they have them, which is not too often.

I think your colony actually looks really awesome though! I would not destroy it unless it was causing harm to other inhabitants of the tank.

 

[Pkunk35]

Whoa!! That is a LOT of dusters! Pretty awesome.

Those lil guys gotta be filtering a significant amount of something from the water to be exploding like that. I would think that lowering/filtering your nutrient levels in the water column would begin to curb their growth.

I personally also love the way it looks too. I've seen clumps of those selling at the LFS for $50.

 

[wysiwyg]

i would worry more about the mojano nem next to them

 

[jaysauce]

Alright. Thanks for the help everyone. Do you know what kind of fish eats them?

I added some Berghia in the tank a couple weeks ago to begin taking care of the mojano/aiptasia in the tank.

 

[Kano]

Berghia nudibranch only eat aiptasia. If you have mojanos you'll have to kill/peel off to remove. The anemone in the picture is a aiptasia. Chances are any fish you add to eat the feather duster will also eat the berghia you added. I'd recommend selling or trading the rock because it is a nice piece. The feather dusters won't hurt your gorgonian or your SPS you have on that rock. If you think they're crowding it you can easily knock them off and keep them in your sump to filter your water.

 

[bbandu]

Like alot of others have said that is alot of feather dusters but I agree that they look pretty awesome. If they were in my tank I think that I would leave them.

 

[ddinox64]

That is an awesome piece.

 

[ritter6788]

What are you feeding to the tank? Are you feeding coral foods or phytoplankton?

 

[3Twinklets]

I love those and wish I had them in my tank but I have to many things in there that consider them lunch. Sell them or trade them to your LFS.

 

[jaysauce]

What are you feeding to the tank? Are you feeding coral foods or phytoplankton?

I feed formula 1 flake, mysis shrimp, coral frenzy, and oyster feast (alternating days of course).

 

[ritter6788]

I feed formula 1 flake, mysis shrimp, coral frenzy, and oyster feast (alternating days of course).

Coral frenzy contains dry phytoplankton that is feeding the feather dusters. Cut it out and the dusters won't reproduce so quickly.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I want a frag looks great no harm