Feather Duster dead or alive ?

[mling]

I’ve just purchased 2 Feather Duster from a LFS.  One has been displaying it’s crown within hours of being in the tank. The other is still in it’s tube and has yet to display it’s crown. I believe this one is also the one that did not display it’s crown when it was in the LFS.  It was hard to tell for sure since there were so many in the tank and they all retracted when a hand was put in the tank.  I know it is still alive because you can feel the strong vibrations when you touch it.   How do I know when a Feather Duster is dead ?  Obviously not showing it’s crown is not in clear indicator.  But is this an indicator of a sick Feather Duster ?  Should I remove it from the tank so that it was not infect other inhabitants ?

 

I read that Feather Dusters are light sensitive. Does this mean I should keep them in “caves” where they are not exposed to the 200 watt of lighting I have ?

[tree]

When the feather duster is dead, the tube will start to shrivel up.  Or at least that is what I've seen in the small dusters that came in on some LR.  I have a couple jumbo feather dusters as well.  One threw it's crown one day when I was cleaning the tank.  It took about 1 week for it to start growing back - you could just barely see the tips of the new feathers.  But they kept growing.  My tank uses two  175w MH & the light doesn't seem to bother them

[Grav]

how long has it been in the tank?  I wouldn't touch and feel it much and I wouldn't worry worry about it poluting the tank.  You didn't say how big or old the tank is, but unless it is very small, one dead feather duster won't fould a tank that is cycled.  Give it a chance