FeatherDuster eaten.........

So I added a cool looking featherduster to my tank last night. It was looking good in there for a few hours until the lights went off. I happened to walk by the tank and there were a few shells by the feather duster. I took a closer look and much to my dismay there was a large nassarius snail and a bristleworm treating this feather duster like a lunch buffett .

Has anyone ever heard of this happening? I would like another but I'm not dropping $10 on another of these only to have it mauled by the snails .

 

That's a real bummer- but it is possible your feather duster didn't survive acclimation to his new home-

 

He seemed to be doing fine until the lights went out, that's when the attack began.

 

Ditto. Looks like you shocked it. Your params were obviously not close enough to the LFS you bought it at. Check them and have them in close specification. 1.022 gravity, 76-82 dF, etc, etc.

Just because the feather duster opens it's crown doesn't mean he's home free. It might have gotten to him an hour or two later.

 

Also nassarius don't generally attack. They are scavengers. If something is on it's way out a nassarius and a bristleworm will start to eat it. It's not like the snail commonly hunts and takes down live, healthy animals.

 

Hermit crab attacks feather duster

We just started my reef tank after Christmas. We've had a small feather duster for about 3 weeks now. At first, we thought we lost him because he lost all his feathers. Then he opened up one day and was full of feathers again. We noticed our largest hermit crab (only in a shell about the size of a dime) continued to get on him and we'd keep taking him off, which was difficult since he really grabbed and wouldn't let go. We thought maybe it was just a natural process for him to eat some of the dead skin on the feather duster's head. Then I read where they can feast on feather dusters. He doesn't do this at night - only when the lights come on. About 45 minutes after the lights came on this morning, he was at it again. We removed him and gave him to our son who has a 55 gallon tank and no feather dusters.

 

Welcome to 3reef, thank you for your post, i never keep feather dusters, but sound like theirs a couple of hermits and snails that have a bad habit!!!