Feather Dusters acting weird

[BristleWormHater]

I have a little colony of tiny feather dusters; they have been doing great the past few weeks they were open 24/7. Earlier this week one of their tubes completely disappeared and I found it across the tank, the duster was still there though and was feeding and everything, but this morning it was completely gone (tube and worm). I don't know how it moved in the first place because they have to leave the tube to move. The rest of the worms remain either half closed or completely closed. WHAT IS GOING ON??

 

[BristleWormHater]

I thought I would throw this in to help, heres the notable water parameters.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 40 <- Is this the problem?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Typically when feather dusters are stressed, they'll drop their crowns, not move their tubes. Is there anything that could attacking the tubes or that could be breaking the tubes off?

 

[BristleWormHater]

Typically when feather dusters are stressed, they'll drop their crowns, not move their tubes. Is there anything that could attacking the tubes or that could be breaking the tubes off?

Not to my knowledge, the only things I know are in the tank are amphipods, micro brittle stars, parchment worms, and the feather dusters. The feather dusters are really close to each other, is that the problem?

 

[BristleWormHater]

Not to my knowledge, the only things I know are in the tank are amphipods, micro brittle stars, parchment worms, and the feather dusters. The feather dusters are really close to each other, is that the problem?

There's a asterina starfish in there too

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Not to my knowledge, the only things I know are in the tank are amphipods, micro brittle stars, parchment worms, and the feather dusters. The feather dusters are really close to each other, is that the problem?

That's really unlikely to be the problem. I'd personally check at night for predators and double check things like the flow they're getting, what they're being fed, etc.

Hopefully those with hands-on experience will comment for you here though.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Typically when feather dusters are stressed, they'll drop their crowns, not move their tubes. Is there anything that could attacking the tubes or that could be breaking the tubes off?

Forgot to mention all of them open up when I dose phyto, but other than that they close up or stay open a little, but they used to stay out all the time.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Monday
Today

 

[BristleWormHater]

@ISpeakForTheSeas What predators should I be looking for?

 

[BristleWormHater]

Update: I did a water change they seem happy now

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas What predators should I be looking for?

Not sure - just the tube popping out of place is odd.

Hope they're still doing better!

 

[BristleWormHater]

Not sure - just the tube popping out of place is odd.

Hope they're still doing better!

Here they are this morning I think it was just something wrong with the water. I have no clue about the tube though.

 

[inquiringmind]

I have a little colony of tiny feather dusters; they have been doing great the past few weeks they were open 24/7. Earlier this week one of their tubes completely disappeared and I found it across the tank, the duster was still there though and was feeding and everything, but this morning it was completely gone (tube and worm). I don't know how it moved in the first place because they have to leave the tube to move. The rest of the worms remain either half closed or completely closed. WHAT IS GOING ON??

Strange name you have, since feather dusters are bristle worms!

 

[BristleWormHater]

Strange name you have, since feather dusters are bristle worms!

Thats not how taxonomy works. They are both in the class polychaete, but they are not the same order, family, genus, or species. Bristleworms are in the order Amphinomida, feather dusters are in the order Sabellida. It's like saying a lion and a house cat are the same thing because they are both felines.
Nice try though

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Strange name you have, since feather dusters are bristle worms!

Thats not how taxonomy works. They are both in the class polychaete, but they are not the same order, family, genus, or species. Bristleworms are in the order Amphinomida, feather dusters are in the order Sabellida. It's like saying a lion and a house cat are the same thing because they are both felines.
Nice try though

Haha, it's mostly semantics for hobby purposes; technically speaking, any Polychaete is a bristleworm, including feather dusters (poly meaning "many," and chaete referring to the chitinous setae - the bristles - of the worms; so a polychaete is a worm with many chitinous bristles, hence the name "bristleworm").

From a hobbyist perspective, however, the distinction is easily made, and - with feather dusters being prettier and less likely to poke you with a bristle - they're generally considered desirable while other bristle worms are considered questionably acceptable.


Worms from the order Amphinomida are bristleworms, but more specifically they're considered fireworms (though I can't find any evidence on the toxicity of Euphrosinid worms to validate using that name for them; it does apply to Amphinomid worms for sure though).

So, to stick with the house cat and lion example, both are technically cats, but they're different kinds of cats - it's the same with fireworms and feather dusters; they're both polychaetes/bristleworms, but they're very different kinds.