Feather duster worm- dead? Shed? Gone?

[Melia]

I recently got a beautiful feather duster worm for my aquarium. It was doing great but soon lost some feathers (possibly from stress). I wasn’t worried about it but I was looking at it today and the whole crown fell off. I took it out of the tank immediately, it smells awful and I’m not sure if it just shed or if it’s totally dead. It’s in the tube, and I can see it through a small deteriorated hole in the side of the tube but it isn’t moving or doing much. What’s wrong?

 

[TheAquarian]

A sign of stress, I’ve had them survive and Ive had them die after the shed. If it’s in the tube leave it be. One I had took weeks before the crown started to regrow.

 

[TheAquarian]

Check your water quality.

 

[mike werner]

A sign of stress, I’ve had them survive and Ive had them die after the shed. If it’s in the tube leave it be. One I had took weeks before the crown started to regrow.

agreed.years ago I use to harvest them fresh out of the ocean to sell.what I discovered was 50% of them dropped the fan within a few days.of those probably half never made it alive out of qt.the rest would grow the mantle back over a 6 or 8 week period.i would say if you don't see the head of the worm minus the fan in a week it's probably not coming back.if you do see it it's pretty cool to watch the fan grow back day by day.hope ya get to see that happen.best of luck.

 

[Melia]

agreed.years ago I use to harvest them fresh out of the ocean to sell.what I discovered was 50% of them dropped the fan within a few days.of those probably half never made it alive out of qt.the rest would grow the mantle back over a 6 or 8 week period.i would say if you don't see the head of the worm minus the fan in a week it's probably not coming back.if you do see it it's pretty cool to watch the fan grow back day by day.hope ya get to see that happen.best of luck.

Thanks you, I do have another feather duster in my tank who seems to be doing just fine, so perhaps it’s that 50% thing you’re talking about.

 

[Melia]

Update: both of my feather dusters shed, and actually left the tubes. I’ve been doing a lot of research and only just now did I learn that they’re moving because they want to find a better place of flow and nutrition. The crowns fell off from hunger, and they left the tubes for the same reason. My understanding was they didn’t eat often, and now they have left their tubes and are in the tank. As for now, I put the product micro-vert all in the tank, so the feather dusters may either come out or return to the tubes. I’m going to leave the nutrient mix (micro vert, phytoplankton, other micro foods) over night and check in the morning.

 

[Melia]

Late update: they both crawled out, shed, and passed away. A great example to do AS MUCH RESEARCH AS POSSIBLE on something before it gets out of hand. I didn’t feed them individually and they left their places to find a better place of more food.