Feather duster out of tube ?

[Lily Lemire]

Hi everyone ! SHORT STORY : I have a 10 gallons reef tank with about about 10 lbs of live rocks, about 10 Hermit crabs , zooanthids, palytozooanthids, two Red mushroom corals , a purple gorgonian and 2 feather dusters. Recently I bought a bigger hermit crab and he scared my feather duster so much that they lost their crowns . Usually they are not bothered my my hermits. Anyways! I decided to put them temporarily in my 3 gal. nano reef tank while setting up another 10 gal reef tank for them. Its been 2 days that they are in the new 10 gal. (12 lbs live rocks and 10 gal. Filter that was in the 3 gal. ) and I spot feeded them with turkey baster (Reefroids+ live phyto) ...but this morning I noticed one of my worm is out of tube and clinging to live rock. Should I continue spot feeding them ? Can they absorb food without their fan? Also do they need a mineral supplement to rebuild their tubes ? I plan on buying cycled reef sand today to put in the New 10 gal.

Thanks for your time and future advice!
Lily

 

[AcroNem]

If it still has its crown you can continue to feed/broadcast feed as you should be. Larger particles of food/detritus will be used to form a new tube so it definitely needs the food just as much now.

 

[Lily Lemire]

If it still has its crown you can continue to feed/broadcast feed as you should be. Larger particles of food/detritus will be used to form a new tube so it definitely needs the food just as much now.

They both lost their crowns ! Should I try to spot feed them anyways ?

 

[AcroNem]

They both lost their crowns ! Should I try to spot feed them anyways ?

They won't be able to feed without it, just leave them be and hope they settle down and grow a new one so they can resume feeding.

 

[Lily Lemire]

Should i buy a mineral supplement tout help them build their tubes?

 

[AcroNem]

You can dose trace elements, iodine and amino acids. But really they use mud, detritus and too large food that they capture to rebuild their tube. Or that mixed with calcium to form hard tubes.

 

[Lily Lemire]

Any idea if Replenish from Seachem is safe for saltwater tanks? Maybe that would help ☺

 

[AcroNem]

I wouldn't use that. And it likely wouldn't do anything good. Sounds like a planted tank additive.

 

[Lily Lemire]

Alright thanks ☺

 

[vetteguy53081]

Leave the tube in the tank. I have in the past had the work vacate the tube to find a new one poking out weeks later

 

[Lily Lemire]

Ok thanks !

 

[cristata.reef]

Yeah leave the worm alone, it probably didn't like the spot that it was in. It sounds counter-intuitive but the best thing you can do is let it be. In the wild sabellids like these will drop their crowns if conditions aren't ideal. Keep in mind that the crown allows them to eat but serves as their gills. The worm's "know" what they're doing and should make itself a new home eventually. Try to keep the hermits away from it while it rebuilds it's shell