Feather Duster Dropped Crown

[Savanna’sReefAndFish]

I woke up yesterday morning to my feather duster without a crown. Ive had him for little less then a year and has been doing great. Its in my 15g invert tank that I perform 10% water changes every 7-10 days and dose with marine snow weekly. The tank is stocked with hard and soft coral, a sexy anemone shrimp, a hermit crab, the duster and various little critters like bristle worms, asterina, planaria and other crustaceans that I cannot ID (see pic down below).

From my understanding, they can drop their crown for various reasons? I would like to try to understand why he decided to drop it, but I also want to make sure its still alive and can regrow the crown. I added some pics below but I believe the the worm has just been hanging out next to his old tube? This could just be a polychaetae in my tank but this worm has been there since yesterday morning (when I realized the crown was dropped) up until right now as I make this post. Could this be the duster?

I dont have many things in my tank that disturbs him. Although, I have found that my hermit crab will from time to time pick around him and hang off him, but the duster doesnt seem to mid and will keep his crown out while the hermit does this.

Let me know you thoughts...


Parameters as of 30 mins ago:
Temp:24C
Salinity: 1.024
pH:8.0
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Calcium: 400

Last water change was 1/6/23 so it is due for a one but I'm not going to pretend as if this tank hasnt gone more than a month without one.

First image: Feather duster on 12/21/23
Second image: Crown I found 1/10/24 AM
Third and fourth image: little worm found after duster dropped the crown (not related but look at the mushroom growth from just a few weeks ago from the first pic )))))))))))
Fifth image: my tank (ignore bleached acropora in the center, I'm using it for my college capstone but it wasn't doing well so I took it home to try to save it)
Sixth and seventh image: I took the crown to my lab and threw it under a microscope...pretty neat!

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

If I remember correctly, featherdusters may drop their crown in a spawning event, though I'm not sure, @ISpeakForTheSeas? Also the worm is a bristle/fireworm

 

[Savanna’sReefAndFish]

If I remember correctly, featherdusters may drop their crown in a spawning event, though I'm not sure, @ISpeakForTheSeas? Also the worm is a bristle/fireworm

Thats what I had thought but I remmeber reading somewhere that the actual worm looks similar to a bristel. Just thought it was odd that that one worm has been in the same spot since the duster dropped the crown.

Interesting about the spawning event - could just be horny...

 

[kevgib67]

I had one do that after putting it in the tank, they often do it as a response to stress. Maybe the worms were stressing it. I know for you the crown can’t grow back fast enough.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I woke up yesterday morning to my feather duster without a crown. Ive had him for little less then a year and has been doing great. Its in my 15g invert tank that I perform 10% water changes every 7-10 days and dose with marine snow weekly. The tank is stocked with hard and soft coral, a sexy anemone shrimp, a hermit crab, the duster and various little critters like bristle worms, asterina, planaria and other crustaceans that I cannot ID (see pic down below).

From my understanding, they can drop their crown for various reasons? I would like to try to understand why he decided to drop it, but I also want to make sure its still alive and can regrow the crown. I added some pics below but I believe the the worm has just been hanging out next to his old tube? This could just be a polychaetae in my tank but this worm has been there since yesterday morning (when I realized the crown was dropped) up until right now as I make this post. Could this be the duster?

I dont have many things in my tank that disturbs him. Although, I have found that my hermit crab will from time to time pick around him and hang off him, but the duster doesnt seem to mid and will keep his crown out while the hermit does this.

Let me know you thoughts...


Parameters as of 30 mins ago:
Temp:24C
Salinity: 1.024
pH:8.0
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Calcium: 400

Last water change was 1/6/23 so it is due for a one but I'm not going to pretend as if this tank hasnt gone more than a month without one.

First image: Feather duster on 12/21/23
Second image: Crown I found 1/10/24 AM
Third and fourth image: little worm found after duster dropped the crown (not related but look at the mushroom growth from just a few weeks ago from the first pic )))))))))))
Fifth image: my tank (ignore bleached acropora in the center, I'm using it for my college capstone but it wasn't doing well so I took it home to try to save it)
Sixth and seventh image: I took the crown to my lab and threw it under a microscope...pretty neat!

Often this is stress related with a fish picking on it, starvation or excessive flow. I had one about 4 years ago that left its tube and i tried to stick it back it but no luck. About5 weeks later, a new head emerged from the tube and I was shocked yet elated

 

[Savanna’sReefAndFish]

I had one do that after putting it in the tank, they often do it as a response to stress. Maybe the worms were stressing it. I know for you the crown can’t grow back fast enough.

hahaha yes true. If you look in one of the images, you an see a folded thing in the tube...is this the worm?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

If I remember correctly, featherdusters may drop their crown in a spawning event, though I'm not sure, @ISpeakForTheSeas? Also the worm is a bristle/fireworm

To my current understanding, featherdusters generally drop their crowns from stress, predation, and/or starvation.

From my understanding, they can drop their crown for various reasons? I would like to try to understand why he decided to drop it, but I also want to make sure its still alive and can regrow the crown. I added some pics below but I believe the the worm has just been hanging out next to his old tube? This could just be a polychaetae in my tank but this worm has been there since yesterday morning (when I realized the crown was dropped) up until right now as I make this post. Could this be the duster?

OP, have you been feeding the worm any phyto? If not, I'd assume it dropped the crown from starvation. I know they can do alright without it in some tanks, but if you're not actively dosing phyto, then I'd imagine it's probably not getting enough to eat/enough nutrition in a 15 gallon invert tank.

With regards to the worm at the base of the tube there: feather duster worms (taxonomic order Sabellida) are technically a type of bristleworm (taxonomic class Polychaeta) - so yes, it looks similar to a bristleworm because it is a bristleworm. That said, they generally are pretty readily distinguished from other bristleworms by the bristles and parapodia (the "feet" where the bristles come out of the worm). I am very confident that the worm you have pictured at the bottom of the tube there isn't your feather duster.

I'm not sure what kind of bristleworm the worm you have is, but I've done some light searching at this point for polychaetes with two pairs of parapodia on each side (i.e. worms with four points on each body segment where bristles leave the body - top and bottom on both the left and right), and I've only found a few types (such as Nephtyids) that have them. I'd need to look up their diet on my computer (I'm on phone at the moment), but some bristleworms may prey on other (particularly smaller, tube-dwelling worms), so I can't rule predation out at this point.


If the feather duster gets enough good food and good water quality, and if it isn't being harassed by something in the tank or dying for some reason (like old age), then it should regrow the crown in time.

 

[kevgib67]

hahaha yes true. If you look in one of the images, you an see a folded thing in the tube...is this the worm?

Sorry I can’t make it out from the picture but my money is on it is still alive and in there.

 

[Savanna’sReefAndFish]

To my current understanding, featherdusters generally drop their crowns from stress, predation, and/or starvation.

OP, have you been feeding the worm any phyto? If not, I'd assume it dropped the crown from starvation. I know they can do alright without it in some tanks, but if you're not actively dosing phyto, then I'd imagine it's probably not getting enough to eat/enough nutrition in a 15 gallon invert tank.

With regards to the worm at the base of the tube there: feather duster worms (taxonomic order Sabellida) are technically a type of bristleworm (taxonomic class Polychaeta) - so yes, it looks similar to a bristleworm because it is a bristleworm. That said, they generally are pretty readily distinguished from other bristleworms by the bristles and parapodia (the "feet" where the bristles come out of the worm). I am very confident that the worm you have pictured at the bottom of the tube there isn't your feather duster.

I'm not sure what kind of bristleworm the worm you have is, but I've done some light searching at this point for polychaetes with two pairs of parapodia on each side (i.e. worms with four points on each body segment where bristles leave the body - top and bottom on both the left and right), and I've only found a few types (such as Nephtyids) that have them. I'd need to look up their diet on my computer (I'm on phone at the moment), but some bristleworms may prey on other (particularly smaller, tube-dwelling worms), so I can't rule predation out at this point.


If the feather duster gets enough good food and good water quality, and if it isn't being harassed by something in the tank or dying for some reason (like old age), then it should regrow the crown in time.

Understood. I dose the tank weekly with "Marine Snow". It has Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Isochrisis, Spirulina and Schyzochitrium in it. I also place seaweed, vegetables, shrimp and mysis shrimp in the tank every week for my other inverts. Most of it just dissolves into some for of organic matter that is able to be eaten by the duster.

If it is starvation, I will increase the dosings. However, how would I be able to feed it without the crown?

I was also thinking old age. Like I said earlier, Ive had it for a little less than a year (I purchased it 1/27/2023) and it was already full grown. Ive read their life expectancy is somewhere around 1.5-2 years...

Also, wiki says Nephtyids are active predators - maybe its been disturbing my duster??

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Understood. I dose the tank weekly with "Marine Snow". It has Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Isochrisis, Spirulina and Schyzochitrium in it. I also place seaweed, vegetables, shrimp and mysis shrimp in the tank every week for my other inverts. Most of it just dissolves into some for of organic matter that is able to be eaten by the duster.

If it is starvation, I will increase the dosings. However, how would I be able to feed it without the crown?

I was also thinking old age. Like I said earlier, Ive had it for a little less than a year (I purchased it 1/27/2023) and it was already full grown. Ive read their life expectancy is somewhere around 1.5-2 years...

Also, wiki says Nephtyids are active predators - maybe its been disturbing my duster??

If you're feeding all of that regularly, then I'd doubt it's starvation. To be safe, though, how much are you feeding with each dose?

It should be able to feed on it's own still - the crown helps them feed (and breathe), but they can feed (and breathe) without it.

I'm not sure what the actual life expectancy would be (I haven't looked into it yet, but for a lot of marine creatures, life expectancy at this point is usually either unstudied or a rough estimate).

Yeah, I made it back to my computer and Nephtyids are generally predators - feeding on clams, worms, pods, etc. It's possible the worm (which may or may not be a Nephtyid worm - as I mentioned, I haven't looked too deeply into other polychaetes with two pairs of parapodia on each segment yet; the only other family I know with some species with them - Nereididae - is omnivorous with occasional predation though) has been bothering it, but I doubt the feather duster would be a preferred prey for it. I can't rule it out, but it'd seem unlikely to me.

 

[Savanna’sReefAndFish]

Understood. I dose the tank weekly with "Marine Snow". It has Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Isochrisis, Spirulina and Schyzochitrium in it. I also place seaweed, vegetables, shrimp and mysis shrimp in the tank every week for my other inverts. Most of it just dissolves into some for of organic matter that is able to be eaten by the duster.

If it is starvation, I will increase the dosings. However, how would I be able to feed it without the crown?

Also, wiki says Nephtyids are active predators - maybe its been disturbing my duster??

If you're feeding all of that regularly, then I'd doubt it's starvation. To be safe, though, how much are you feeding with each dose?

It should be able to feed on it's own still - the crown helps them feed (and breathe), but they can feed (and breathe) without it.

I'm not sure what the actual life expectancy would be (I haven't looked into it yet, but for a lot of marine creatures, life expectancy at this point is usually either unstudied or a rough estimate).

Yeah, I made it back to my computer and Nephtyids are generally predators - feeding on clams, worms, pods, etc. It's possible the worm (which may or may not be a Nephtyid worm - as I mentioned, I haven't looked too deeply into other polychaetes with two pairs of parapodia on each segment yet; the only other family I know with some species with them - Nereididae - is omnivorous with occasional predation though) has been bothering it, but I doubt the feather duster would be a preferred prey for it. I can't rule it out, but it'd seem unlikely to me.

The bottle says 5mL per 20g. I will usually put a lot more in there though because I just kind dump it straight into the tank.

Good to hear about the Nephtyids. I was kind of thinking the same thing

Also, I can see the worm still in there. There's a white circle at the top of its head which is im assuming the trauma spot from the crown - pretty cool!

No matter why it decided to drop the crown, im probably just gonna increase dosing's anyway just to be safe. Thanks for your help

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The bottle says 5mL per 20g. I will usually put a lot more in there though because I just kind dump it straight into the tank.

Good to hear about the Nephtyids. I was kind of thinking the same thing

Also, I can see the worm still in there. There's a white circle at the top of its head which is im assuming the trauma spot from the crown - pretty cool!

No matter why it decided to drop the crown, im probably just gonna increase dosing's anyway just to be safe. Thanks for your help

Keep us updated on if it recovers or not!

 

[Savanna’sReefAndFish]

Look what I woke up to today ))