Featherduster boom

[Baytib13]

So, I have a 36g bowfront, all parameters are stable, sg is around 1.026(i plan on gettin into coral soon). and temp is around 78-79.

My first liverock I got, had a couple little tiny featherdusters on it, well now about 2-3 months later, the rock is being overtaken with them, and they're actually budding off into my sand where a fair amount have made home.

Is this a problem? I've read that theyre simply filter feeders so I don't see how it could be, and has anyone else had this happen? I also have a large amount of diatoms on my rocks/sand/glass. could this be contributing?

[Original Fin]

I had the same experience. It really took off between months 3-6, to the point where 1/2 of my sand bed was completely covered with them. They've since been mostly picked off by my fish. As filter feeders, they are absolutely beneficial.

One thing I've always wondered about is that just prior to their numbers exploding, I had a large hawaiian feather duster that had spawned a couple times. There were always micro dusters too, but when the Hawaiian spawned, little ones started popping up everywhere...so I don't know if the new ones were young Hawaiians, or micros.

[Baytib13]

Ahh, well I will miss them haha, there's a good sized one in a little "cave"..a hole..in one of my rocks, ive been watchin it and its grown to about 3x the size, and now theres like 5 others around it .

As far as whether it was your hawaiian or others, all I can say is I've never put bought featherduster in mine. They're all little bitty with white/clear feathers, with red spots on the tips.

[Original Fin]

Mine have mostly white plumes with purple rings.

[reeferbill]

Welcome to Reefland Baytib15 . That is so cool thats why I love this hobby!!! Happy Reefing!!!

[Baytib13]

Thanks! It's a great hobby, unfortunately though today one of my clowns passed away . I think it had ich, and after giving it a freshwater dip, he became very stressed and had swimbladder problems, then passed away while i was on my way home from the store with some stress coat. He was mine and my gf's favorite fish. He would actually come up and rub on you and peck at your fingers.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Sorry about your loss. It sucks loosing fish.
was the clown your only fish? If it wasn't, and it was ich, the rest of your fish are infected with the parasite and all of them require treatment in a hospital tank.
If it was you're only fish, you must leave the display tank fishless for at least 8 weeks to allow the ich parasites to die off. If you don't leave the tank fishless, the parasite will infect the remaining or new fish and you know the rest. Good luck and let us know.

[Baytib13]

It wasnt my only fish, I have another clown, 3 green chromis, a yellow tailed damsel, and a 4 striped damsel. It's weird though, the two clowns had gotten ich before, and I quarantined them, but I couldnt quarantine the tank, and none of the other fish were displaying any symptoms at all. Same thing this time, only the two clownfish displayed symptoms and all my others seem perfectly fine.

Edit: I'm going to be setting up a QT soon, and was thinking about pulling my HOB filter off of my DT, and putting it on the 10g QT, as I have a fluval 205 and the aqueon 40g filters on my 36g DT. My thoughts would be that using the aqueon on the 10g would speed up the cycle considerably. Input?