Feather Duster

The crowns do grow back. After a few weeks you really cant even tell, the crown on mine is as big as it ever was. And they grow really quick.

 

does the duster have to be completely burried other than the crown? mine is mostly burried, the end is still out of the sand some. will it find its way down under the substrate or where ever its comfortable. will it grow longer , bigger ?

 

just put it somewhere and leave it be. it will attach itself.

they do not handle being constantly messed with very well. It doesn't really matter if you bury it or stick it in rock. Just somewhere it won't tumble around in the flow.

 

there's a lot of info on care for them in this thread

http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/soft-tube-feather-duster-62614.html

 

The crown fell off mine. Is that from moving it around so much? or is it dead?

 

I added my worm to my tank yesterday and i moved it around my tank a few times trying to get it in a good spot, Finally got it where i wanted it and burried in the substrate and the cap was out and looked great all night. In the morning it still looked good and when i returned home this afternoon i found the cap on the other side of the tank as it had shed it. Does that mean its stressed or dead. how do i know if it is still doing ok without the feathers

 

It is stressed, you should see it out in a couple of days. Leave it be and will be fine.

 

Dusters can handle a little bit more stress than people admit lol. I moved both of mine around a whole lot when I first got them, and they never shed a crown or anything. The bigger one also got touched by the tang constantly (every 5 minutes?), and still never had issues. The crown shedding might also be because of the particle size of food in the tank; if there's not enough for them to eat at a given size, they can shed and make a new crown of slightly different sized cilia.

 

I cant seem to locate the crown, How important is it to get it out quickly. will it give off any toxins??

 

not very, and no.