revjda
New Member
I have two brittle stars in my tank, purchased at the same time, nearly three years ago. They have been thriving and growing well until just a few days ago. I noticed yesterday that the largest one had lost a leg well into its central disc. Its color is good, dark green, except around the lost limb which is white. Orange "stuff" almost wormlike is coming out of the wound. I started to remove it from the tank when I noticed it was moving.
I called my LFS and talked to someone with lots of experience. He assured me that the leg will most likely regenerate. In fact, he had one that lost a leg well into the central part of the body and it still grew back. Today I noticed that the same brittle star had lost another leg. But what is even more disturbing is that the other brittle star I got at the same time is beginning to have the same problem.
The fish and corals in this tank are doing very well.
The only thing that I have done differently (about a week ago) was I used melafix to treat a fungus I noticed in the tank. Are brittle stars sensitive to melafix? I couldn't find any cautions about using this product with invertibrates. The other inverts in teh tank are doing well. And I have done the 25 percent water change recommended on the product label.
I called my LFS and talked to someone with lots of experience. He assured me that the leg will most likely regenerate. In fact, he had one that lost a leg well into the central part of the body and it still grew back. Today I noticed that the same brittle star had lost another leg. But what is even more disturbing is that the other brittle star I got at the same time is beginning to have the same problem.
The fish and corals in this tank are doing very well.
The only thing that I have done differently (about a week ago) was I used melafix to treat a fungus I noticed in the tank. Are brittle stars sensitive to melafix? I couldn't find any cautions about using this product with invertibrates. The other inverts in teh tank are doing well. And I have done the 25 percent water change recommended on the product label.
