feather duster wont open

notpennysboat

notpennysboat

New member
as the title says, this is my question.
I have had my duster for about 2 weeks now and it still wont open, (or come out) nor have i seen any signs of it. When i bought it from my LFS it looked great and closed up during there feeding times and everything. What is going on? do i need to do anything?
 
jas8943 said:
no i wouldnt think so it not that low are u feeding it phtoplankon they love that suff
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a feather dust is a filter feeder. Right?
It hasn't came out for two weeks to eat anything that might be floating in the water?
Are you suppose to target fees them?
 
jas8943 said:
no i wouldnt think so it not that low are u feeding it phtoplankon they love that suff
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a feather dust is a filter feeder. Right?
It hasn't came out for two weeks to eat anything that might be floating in the water?
Are you suppose to target fees them?
 
My Hawaiian did not open for a couple of days, found out that it was opening at night with lights out. Was being picked on by a keyhole angel and a black stripe damsel. Needless to say angel and damsel removed and violia the duster has resumed opening. Noticed that the angel would swim up and pick at the tube with it closed. This action caused it to stay closed.
 
What are the perimeters? SG, dkh, ph, Nitrate, temp, and so forth. Not an expert, but will try to narrow down your problem. Took me a couple days to catch the pickers in the act. Noticed at first only about half inch of crown out of the tube at night, fish are sneaky when you aren't looking that's when they strike. Target feeding is recommended, but not necessary, but if you want it to grow ya gotta feed it. All corals, inverts, and so on will grow faster if fed, rather than letting them catch what ever. What I mean is when you feed your fish they swimm around and eat like crazy, inverts will come out and grab food that gets within reach, stationary animals(corals, dusters, anemones, etc.) catch what ever passes through. Target feeding is the prefered way to feed. Post your perims and let's take a look.
 
Seawizard said:
What are the perimeters? SG, dkh, ph, Nitrate, temp, and so forth. Not an expert, but will try to narrow down your problem. Took me a couple days to catch the pickers in the act. Noticed at first only about half inch of crown out of the tube at night, fish are sneaky when you aren't looking that's when they strike. Target feeding is recommended, but not necessary, but if you want it to grow ya gotta feed it. All corals, inverts, and so on will grow faster if fed, rather than letting them catch what ever. What I mean is when you feed your fish they swimm around and eat like crazy, inverts will come out and grab food that gets within reach, stationary animals(corals, dusters, anemones, etc.) catch what ever passes through. Target feeding is the prefered way to feed. Post your perims and let's take a look.
Click to expand...

Thanks for helping me through this

SG 1.025
pH 8.0 ( I know that's low)
Nitri 0.0
Nitra.20
Ammonia 0.0
Cal 375( I know that's low)
Dkh 15.0 :(
Water temp 75-78
 
Your Nitrate is a bit high, ideally below .05 inverts don't like it that high. Also your dkh is high, should be around 10. When have you done a water change? Do you use ro/di? What kind of salt? Supplements(trace, buffer, iodine, mag)? One great all around supplement is PurpleUp. I know sounds crazy, but has alot of additives that is needed without having a lot of different bottles. Vitamins, such as Reef Plus is good, Reef Trace also, both are by SeaChem. How are the rest of your inverts? Corals? Fish? Are you using any type of macroalgae(cheato, caulerpra, will help lowering nitrates, and phosphates).
 
I am using instant ocean sand. Any better segestions? My last chance water change was on Sunday. Did a 5g change. And before that a 5g change Thursday. I currently am using tap water but It tests good. I do have a buddy who is going to be giving me ro water since he got his system up. My livestock is doing good. The two corals I have look great too. My snails and crabs are doing good too. My seabe nem has moved around a couple times lately, but noting serious.
I add coral-vite once a week.
Would thos additives you mentioned help balance my alk and ph?
 
Personally, I use Red Sea Coral Pro, I have tried several different salt mixes and Have found that it produces better results. Mixing a batch right now. Sg is fairly high if you use the recommended amount of salt per gal of water. To me it keeps the ph, dkh, mag, calcium, in the correct perimeters as they should be. I ran out for a while and used a different salt and the results were not as favorable, or not as I wanted them to be. The additives mentioned will help the growth and vitality of your tank. If i had to choose 1 it would be PurpleUp. Local LFS experimented with PurpleUp and the results were impressive to say the least. Owner used it in several tanks and the difference in the coraline and vitality of the corals were clearly visable. But don't take my word for it, try it and see for youself. Spouse asked me last night if I had aquired some more as I am out right now. Some people like it, some don't. It's a matter of preference. Cal, Alk, Mag are all tied together, if you can get these 3 within perimeters everything will come to order. Calcium and Alk work hand in hand your cal is low, but your alk(dkh) is high, you may need to check your test kits for experation date(bad kits=wrong results). Use ro/di water to do your changes(lived in Calcium NY once and the water was full of calcium so much that it would settle a half inch on the bottom of a glass. There are many tings to bring your perimeters into check, but first I would recommend a larger water change(maybe 10 to 12 gal). One other thing about using ro/di water it is pure, no minerals, nothing! Some reefers use additives to condition the water, before mixing salt, I use it as it is.
 
Consider placement. Make sure the opening area is clear of any other corals or rock. Make sure the head opening is not in the direct line of water flow. Possibly its trying to come out but doesn't like what it finds?

Use a flashlight during the night cycle and see if it's coming out then.

But if it hasn't fed in two weeks? It's probably dead.
 
seawizard, thanks so much for your help. I appriciate it all. ill do some research on the purpleup. My first test for cal and alk was with those kits. Maybe it was something i was doing wrong. I havent tested since but will tomorrow. ill post my results when i get a chance. Hopefully they will change for the better.

Bud reeferman, thanks for your help as well. I have been doing a little scaping, and hopfully that could change something.. And i very much hope it is not dead.. :(
is there a tell tale sign for a dead feather duster?
 
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