feather dusters in new tank...

[Melina74]

I added 70lbs of live rock to my new 65g tank 5 days ago. I have no detectable ammonia, and only slight (.02) nitrite readings. Nitrate is around 10. Tank is cycling, so water quality is not super... and tonight we discovered 6 feather dusters on the rock, apparently doing well... feeding, retracting, etc.
Questions:
1. Will they survive the cycling process? Is there anything I should do to improve their chances? I've done one 20% water change and am planning to do another within the next couple days.
2. Should I feed them or are they getting everything they need from the water column?
Thanks.

 

[Tayler]

when i first added my live rock the first day there were tons of tubeworms now i have very few so some will prob survive. i do not feed mine anything they will get what they need from the water

 

[BigRedSpecial]

they should survive; mine did, and thrived. Three or four worms turned into 12, 20, 50, until every rock was covered.

Interestingly enough, most have since vanished, to be replaced by a different species - the originals were white, with soft tubes(leathery). Once their population exploded, my hermits developed a taste for them. Now, they are found only in tight spaces where the crabs can't reach. Everywhere else, I've seen an explosion of hard, calcareous-tubed worms, which I'm assuming the crabs can't get at.

On the plus side, these new worms are much nicer looking, with a vibrant red fan.

 

[lilreefer1975]

I have a couple pieces of LR that I got when I started my nano that had colnies of red dusters and a couple of white. They survived 2 cycles had to move a couple of times