Feather duster's gone.

[igadget56]

Tank 125 gallon, 200 pounds live rock, 2 inches of sand.
Three months old.
2 damsels, 2 clowns, 1 red fire Angel,1 brittle star.
2 Anemones.
No sump Yet
coralife 125g skimmer
calcium 400
phosphates 0.25
kh 8
ph 8.4
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20 ppm
250 Watts k10000 actinic.

I had a feather duster for about six weeks. A couple of days ago
I put in another one, within an hour it crawled out of its tube
and the brittle star ate it. The other crawled out and I cannot find it.
A week before I tested the water and everything was fine nitrates at
20 ppm. After they disappeared check again and phosphate was.025
would that have something to do with it? And how can I get my phosphates dates back to 0.

[Original Fin]

All inverts are sensitive to phosphates, some more than others, so you might want to figure out what the source is and do something about it. It's not crazy high, but it's more than you'd want with SPS corals, and Nems may not do well either. Especially in an unseasoned tank like that.

Dusters will eject their crowns when stressed. They can grow back, but it's not a sure thing. The presence of a predatory starfish will certainly do that. I don't think you'll be able to keep both.


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[Original Fin]

BTW, what method are you using to test phosphates? Liquid test kits have a pretty wide margin of error and low resolution. They can give you a good general idea, but electronic colorometric analyzers are needed for low end, high res reliability.


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[igadget56]

Cheap liquid test.