[passinetti2007]

I'm upset. I don't know what happened. I just bought it yesterday. I called my LFS and they had no clue. They said that it may have died and that the hermits or my N. Snail could have picked at it since they will only eat dead things, but the worm is still alive. About an inch and a half are gone and it was ripped in half. But it is still alive. What should I do. I don't know who did it because it happened over night. I tried burying it again but it just came up and is making its way accross my tank slowly very slowly and if it doesn't find a place to hide soon i'm sure it will be completely consumed tonight.

[crazygator]

gawd sorry to hear this. put it in a safe place and watch tonight or if you have a refigum place it in there until you have time to watch at night. sound like a mantis or the likes and will only be caught at night. don't know what exactly got it but need to take him out before more problems arise. again hope that it pulls through

[passinetti2007]

Well I placed it in a hole in the live rock and 4 hours later it burrowed into a cave in the live rock and is going south so I hope it doesn't die in there because there is no way for me to get to it, and its a 5 pound rock so I don't want to get rid of it. As for the culprit I think it is the snail. I saw him hunting tonight and decided to feed him before he killed anything else. The LFS thinks I don't feed enough. I'll give it a try.

[Brians125]

Snail ate your feather duster??????? Hmmmmmmmmm What kind of snail's you got.....I have snail's and feather duster's ........On the other hand i know star fish will kill feather duster's alive or dead if left on bottom

[passinetti2007]

I can't ever remember how it is pronounced but its white starts with an N and lives under the sand bed and comes out when I put food in the tank. To my knowledge I don't have any star fish that are visable. The featherduster did imbed itself in the LR, and hopefully will create a home for itself.

[volitan_fa]

nassarius snail....they are carnivores, but I've never heard of them eating featherdusters. I would keep the possibility of a mantis or other 'night pest' in mind.

[passinetti2007]

so I should do an all nighter and watch my tank?

[passinetti2007]

Ok I don't know what to do. I was hoping my little guy was just going into the rock and was going to start to make a tunnel and be ok. I found just the head in the back of the tank and he was gone. I decided to sit and watch after the moon lights went on and an hour later i saw movement. I shined my flashlight and there he was. I don't think he is a mantis, he was small and looked like a shrimp and was tan and a little see thru. He had long antena, and was very fast. I found a few holes in the rock that were hidden behind some dead spongy seaweed looking thing that almost looked like some kind of bush so I removed that and found the holes. Inside one hole was something that was pinkish and it wouldn't come out and would move away when I'd shine the light but the little tan thing and it were together in the same hole. I tried to catch the guy but he was too quick. I'd go in one hole and he'd stick his head out another and so on and so on until it was like that gopher game at the arcade. It was kinda amusing, but anyways. I don't know how to capture this guy. Any ideas? I'd take a picture but he is too small for that and my camera sucks it won't zoom in close enough and stay focused. Well I'm going to go try hunting once more.

[crazygator]

you may have to remove the rock whem you are sure that he's in there and remove him that way. they do make traps for different critters but not all work. if you remove the rock place it in a bucket with saltwater just over the rocks top then go on aseek and destroy mission. be careful though mantis didn't get their name "thumbsplitter shrimp" by hitting themselves with a hammer. it hurts like a @#%$$&%#.