[Pszemol]

Yesterday I noticed that my feather duster lost its crown and released transparent, gooey substance into the water.

Is it spawning? Does it need a sexual partner to breed or is it self sufficient and I can expect offspring? Is it alive or is dying after spawning?

Are there any other reasons for it to lose its crown? When will it grow back, if at all?

I have skimmer/filter turned off from yesterday and water is cloudy today - when can I tell if I have offspring or not to turn filters back on?

[Penguin]

Featherdusters will also lose their crowns when unhappy with their conditions, as in the case of poor water quality, or a sudden change in temp, salinity, etc. If it lives, you should see a new crown starting to grow within a few weeks.

If yours did spawn, IMO it is not necessary to turn off filtration to preserve the offspring. Mine have produced many babies, and I've never turned filters off. I've also never noticed the release of a gooey substance like you mentioned, just noticed tiny new dusters popping up all over the tank, even on the glass, seemingly out of nowhere.

HTH

[Pszemol]

Originally posted by Penguin
Mine have produced many babies, and I've never turned filters off. I've also never noticed the release of a gooey substance like you mentioned, just noticed tiny new dusters popping up all over the tank, even on the glass, seemingly out of nowhere.

Could you please describe how it happened in your tank? Did he lose its crown, too? Did you notice any other change in behaviour of you feather duster before spawning? How these "tiny dusters" looked like and how big they were in the first day you have noticed them? Did you make any pictures of them?

Do you know any good book or internet site which describes life cycle of feather dusters and how they are built?

[Penguin]

There were no signs or changes in behavior beforehand that I could see. Just one day noticed lots of tiny (a few mm) white tubes appeared in different parts of the tank. Looking closely at them you can see a tiny feather crown too. I don't have any pictures. You may want to check www.wetwebmedia.com for more info.