Feather Duster Threw his crown

Well, I bought a Hawaiian feather duster about 2 weeks ago. It was doing good for a week, then I left town for the weekend with my wife in charge of the tanks. When I got back, he didn't come out for 2 day, then he started coming out a few times a day, but I could tell that some of his feathers were broken off. I don't know exactly what stressed him out. I notice that my hermit crabs keep bothering him and he will shoot back in his tube. I thought he was getting better but today I found his crown at the back of the tank. Has anyone else had a feather duster loose his crown? Will it grow back? And how long should it take.

 

Hi Blue Falcon

Yes and Yes to both the questions
Its happened to a few I have had in various set ups and various times
how long it takes - well a shorter version of the crown appeared on mine within 2 - 4 weeks
( I did not time it exactly, seen it before so paid no real attention to it, knew it was going to come back)
it was about 1cm long and grew over the course of the next 6 weeks or so back to how it was originally

need to find out the reason otherwise it may keep occuring and the worm eventually starves through inadequate time netting for food

could be the crab - Im not sure as the reaction time is faster than most Hermits can move IME

possibibility is flow - to much flow can crease and damage feathers so the worm recognises the net is not as an effective trap anymore and discards it and grows a new perfect one

this feather damage may have occured in transit also.

Another possibility is spawning - when they spawn they ditch the crown so they dont consume their future offspring


Steve

 

well, he died today, the tube was laying over and the worm was exposed and my crabs were doing their job on the remains. I took it out. I'll get another one when I upgrade.

 

Sorry to hear that. This is just one way we learn.