Feather dusters in the sump, out of control

[The Grizz]

I have them in my DT, there has to be thousands. My problem is they are in my sand. I know I am going to puck some out and give them to a few freinds but thee is so many ALL OVER the tank.

I would say a few are good but where to draw the line.

[DAVE]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

They are filter feeders.....the detritus would be there with or with out the feather dusters....the duster are there because there is high particlute matter to filter.

My vote is they are good.....leave them.

Darryl is correct.

In order to eliminate them (which I would NOT do) you have to control the amount of food they are feeding on. Stop the food source and you stop them from spreading. Taking them out doesn't solve the route of the problem (again, being excess food).

[badAZZlars]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah these are the small ones and he literally has sheets of them growing on previous sheets. Great wall of dusters.

I've never minded them in the sump but when they are that successful in a display they are unsightly I think.

I agree with this. I don't mind them in the sump but can get out of control in the DT and become unsightly.

[doch]

When I did my upgrade I switched position of all of my live rock (obvioously). When that happened, all the feather dusters that were growing on the unexposed portions of the rock became exposed. It seems like they like the dark spots.... no? I've been wondering the same thing... how do I get rid of these things? If they get any worse, I'm going to take action.... for now, I'm just hoping that they stay as is.

Copperband butterflies... reef safe? really?

[Skimmerking]

Tony i have a huge crap load of them too. My Sump is covered and the rocks too i like them actually

[badAZZlars]

Originally Posted by doch

When I did my upgrade I switched position of all of my live rock (obvioously). When that happened, all the feather dusters that were growing on the unexposed portions of the rock became exposed. It seems like they like the dark spots.... no? I've been wondering the same thing... how do I get rid of these things? If they get any worse, I'm going to take action.... for now, I'm just hoping that they stay as is.

Copperband butterflies... reef safe? really?

I think they can be hit or miss but mine has been well behaved. Aside from ridding my tank of dusters and a couple aiptasia I had it hasn't touched my corals.

[lastlight]

The annoying plague-like ones I've always had were the ones with hard white tubes. I used to go around my display every now and then and just shatter them all. They make the rock all sharp too and silly me thought the fish could even be scraping on them. I just don't like the way they look. If they're messing with your husbandry then axe'em =)