Feather duster looks withered

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! My feather duster worm's gills look withered and curled up. What could be the cause? It was touching a gorgonian yesterday night till a few minutes ago...could that have been the problem? Nitrates were 10 ppm and phosphates no higher than .25 ppm a few days ago, but I am testing it now to see if that has changed, as I did a major tank cleaning yesterday that may have affected the nutrient levels in the tank. Thanks.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Tank was just tested...nutrient values are the same as before.

 

[Oscaror]

I don't know everything about feather dusters but I'll take a guess, is your tank new? Could it be from a lack of food? I'm not sure though #reefsquad

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Are you running carbon or purigen ?
Do you know if the gorg was wild caught or aqua cultured ? Wild gorgs have more “toxin”

And yea , it’s pissible the cleaning made it mad depending on how yucky the sand was.

 

[TheHarold]

In general, corals needs stability do thrive. You gotta work on maintaining stable water parameters without all the interruptions.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

The gorgonian is doing fantastic...it's the sun coral and feather duster that are not doing too hot. In any case, the feather duster has bailed from the tube and now is curled up on the sand...guessing it's dying. Sigh...

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Are you running carbon or purigen ?
Do you know if the gorg was wild caught or aqua cultured ? Wild gorgs have more “toxin”

And yea , it’s pissible the cleaning made it mad depending on how yucky the sand was.

I forget whether it was aquacultured or wild caught...didn't know gorgonians carried toxins powerful enough to nuke tankmates (nothing I read about gorgonians suggested that they emit toxins...only that some have distasteful chemicals inside of them). Don't use chemical media, but probably will soon if that could have prevented this.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Distasteful compounds or “toxins”.
Same same. Most just run carbon for it.
Yea many corals do. Some gorgs when they shed give some it off in the waxy shedding. And different gorgs shed differently. (I have 4-5 kinds).
So imo , it’s really a 50/50 either gorg funk or sand funk.

The worm will jusmp form the tube to escape. It may recover.