What could they be?

[LarryB]

Well something ate my feather duster worm, one of the smaller species. My mandarin or the fire fish did not seem like lilkey suspects, neither were the 7 lazy scarlet hermits or the sexy shrimp. So, I decided to grab the flashlight and take a look late at night.
There is defintly a population of bristle worms in the tank, could they be to blame? The thing that caught my eye were several small aptasia looking creatures that were there which not there during the day. Are aptasia noctural? They are popping up out of that sand bed. I can see 5, none on the rocks. Always in the same place and no I don't have a picture. What ever they are they don't seem to be afraid of the light, I have been waving the flashlight at them like a maniac and they don't budge. I wonder if its some kind of worm head? I have a 5 inch sand bed so I know there is plenty of room for something like that. Or are they aptasia? I guess the name of this post should have been "are aptasia nocturnal".

 

[NaH2O]

I haven't known aiptasia to be specifically nocturnal, however, they may stretch out more at night. Does the aiptasia looking critter have a central mouth? or does it move its tentacles at all? Since it doesn't shy away from the light, you might be able to get a good look.

I also wouldn't be quick to blame the bristleworms for the feather dusters. For the most part, bristleworms are beneficial scavengers that feed on left overs or clean-up dead organisms. Their populations can be attributed to food source availability. How big are the bristleworms?

 

[mojoreef]

Feather dusters will exspell thier tail every so often, have you looked in the tube to make sure its not still in thier??


Mike

 

[steve-s]

Could be hydroids or pseudocorynactis, both tend to pop up more at night. Neither should be an irritant to the duster unless close to the crown or gill area at the base of the crown. If just brushing the tube only, the duster shouldn't be bothered by it.

Do you have any peppermint shrimp and how often/what is added specifically for the duster to consume?

Cheers
Steve

 

[LarryB]

There are no peppermint shrimp in the tank. The thing that I found strange is that something seemed to be pulling the duster back into a small hole in the rock. It started out about 3 1/2 inches long, but now there is only about an inch sticking out. Can they back themselves into a hole like that? I never really fed the duster anything, I just thought he would get bits of the stuff that the fish didn't get. Do they need specific feeding?

 

[NaH2O]

IMO, it depends on how large the duster is, and the food availability in your tank. I've had the smaller dusters in my tank and they have thrived just fine, however, my flow keeps alot of particulate in the water column that the feather duster can feed on. Blowing off live rock with a turkey baster will also help in getting food sources into suspension. The following quote is from the article: Featherdusters in the Aquarium

The food includes bacteria, fine detritus and other particulate organic matter, phytoplankton, and tiny microorganisms

 

[steve-s]

As Nikki said it is a "depends" kind of thing. My question was moreso related to how quickly (if at all) the crown will regrow. If there was a sufficient amount of organics it will do just fine, if not, it will grow very slowly or not at all.

If the hole in the rock goes deeper than the tube length, yes, they can pull themselves backwards quite easily. There is also the chance another (burrowing) worm is in there as well pulling it in and possibley consuming the tube (mainly made from detritus) which would also explain the crown casting off.

Lack of foods though can lead to this problem as well. Phyto is about the best food for them if organics are lacking. Excessive or sustained water flow would also cause it.

Cheers
Steve