Brittle star question

[beth13eaw]

First do brittle stars eat shrimp? I have had a cleaner shrimp and a coral banded shrimp disappear....just legs and some exoskeleton left. The inhabitants of my tank are 2 urchins, 2 brittlestars, lots of snails, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 coral beauty angel, 4 damsels, 1 royal gramma, 2 clowns, 1 sally lightfoot crab, 1 very tiny arrow crab, 2 emerald crabs, 10 hermits, 1 very sad lettuce nudibranch. Had a sailfin blennie but he died last night. I think that is it. :thinking:
Second, if a brittle star looses a leg I know that he can grow it back, but does the leg grow into another star fish? He lost his leg about 18 hours ago and it is still wiggling around the tank.

 

[bigarn]

Sounds to me like your shrimp may have molted and thats what you see now. ("the exoskeleton)

 

[beth13eaw]

Where are the shrimp then......I cleaned the tank and moved some stuff around and couldn't find them anywhere?

 

[ophiura]

No, the leg will not regrow, but why did it drop off? Before condemning the brittlestar, I think a review of specific water quality and the history of the shrimp are important...I am especially concerned with the fish death and the leg of the brittlestar - these can indicate water quality issues.
For one, it would need to be a relatively large brittlestar (what color do you have?) And its disk would be HUGELY distended. Quite possibly it would result in a large whole in the disk of the brittlestar. But it would be pretty obvious for some time. Additionally what and how often do you feed your brittlestar?

 

[beth13eaw]

Well, I just got the brittlestar a couple of days ago.....He is pretty big...disk is about an inch in diameter....legs are about 5 inches long each. I was moving some of the live rock around and I think I must have pinched his leg. I feel awful. I didn't think I had got him but then a couple of hours later I noticed the leg wandering around by itself. I thought maybe it was just the current moving the leg, so I picked it up and it indeed was moving on its own. Other than missing a leg, brittlestar looks good. I don't really know what happened to the shrimp.....all I know is they are GONE. I was just wondering if it was possible that the brittle star ate them....I am new at this, Moved into a new house and it came with 55g saltwater tank. I don't care if he did, I just won't bother buying anymore shrimp if they are going to get eaten.
I feed the tank 2x day, with brine shrimp and flakes, and just bought some algae sheets to start feeding.
Please feel free to give any advise you think I need, I NEED HELP.
Tank also came with a good case of ich. Today I moved all fish to a QT with copper treatment. Just have inverts in main tank. Will inverts get ich? How long do I need to keep fish out of main tank so that ich will die without a host?
Water quality is. SG 1.023, pH 8.2, Nitrates 20, Nitrites 0.

 

[ophiura]

What about ammonia and pH?
Things definitely don't sound real good in there - ick is the result primarily of something that has stressed the fish which could be a number of things but water quality is always the first thing to rule out.
The brittlestar should be spot fed meaty foods at least a couple of times a week. Your specific gravity is also low for inverts, and this could be why the brittlestar lost an arm. That would be characteristic but with all the rock being moved it is hard to know. How long did you have the shrimp? Where they new additions? If so how did you acclimate them?
I would also look into a significantly more diverse diet. Brine is virtually "junk food" and flake isn't particularly good for certain fish (the angel) as a staple diet. The algae sheets are a good idea. But also look into additional frozen formulations for herbivores and omnivores as well as angel diets. Lots of choices out there :yes:

 

[beth13eaw]

ammonia is 0, pH 8.2, I can raise the SG...What should I raise it to? I will look for better foods. :needhelp:
I only had the cleaner 2 days, coral banded 1 day. They never appeared to be stressed. I drip acclimated them over 2 hours. I have been using this as my standard acclimation process, seems to work well.

 

[snipe]

Rais the SG a few points every water change to 1.026. Meaty food would be best. I feed my serpent once every other day if that he is fine. Though as ophuira asked what color is your star?

 

[beth13eaw]

he is a brownish color. I will raise the SG a little. Thanks.
So, another question.......About ick, so I took all the fish out of the main tank and put them in the QT and added copper to the water yesterday. All fish are doing well. My coral beauty still has the white spots....little tiny spots that look like grains of salt. How long does it take for the copper to kill it. And how long will I have to keep them out of the main tank so that the ick in the main tank will die? :help:
Will the inverts get the ick if there are no fish to host it or will it just die?

 

[beth13eaw]

How do you feed a brittlestar and what type of "meaty" food?

 

[snipe]

Most would reccomend 3 weeks min in the QT but for the ich in the main tank to die I would say no short of a month. It isnt a green brittle is it? I know alot of the green brittles look brown or black and there known predators and (will) eat stuff. They had one (huge one) at the LFS for $20 but I wouldnt take it because I knew the problems it would cause.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, your shrimp were NOT killed by the brittlestar as it really could not eat two sizeable shrimp in such a short period. They may have died from acclimation shock as they would be susceptible to stress from lower salinities. The brittlestar may also be having issues with this but it is hard to tell.
I also would warn against keeping too many different types of shrimp, especially in smaller tanks, 55g and smaller. Sometimes they do not get along well.
NOT all brittlestars, or even all green brittlestars, will be predatory. And the green brittlestar Ophiarachna incrassata, IME, is always olive green to possibly yellow. But not brown or black IME.
Shrimp pellets, shrimp, krill, squid, silversides etc are all "meaty" foods that are suitable to feed the brittlestar.

 

[snipe]

But some green brittles are so green they look dark is that not true?

 

[ophiura]

I have not seen any of these...that are so dark as to be brown or black. But I do know that most LFS wouldn't be able to distinguish most species of brittlestars anyway. :yes:

 

[snipe]

The one I saw at my LFS was big I say it was near full grown it was around 10 inches from tip to tip. It had a green center "barely anyway" the arms were black.

 

[beth13eaw]

I noticed that even though the fish have been in the QT for 3 days now with copper in the water, the coral bueaty still has saltlike white spots on her. How long does it take for the copper to kill the ick.....or could this be something else.....she doesn't seem sickly.
I am getting so frustrated with this tank. I hope it gets easier once the tank is healthy and well established.

 

[mytwoboys]

Boy,
I just added a cleaning crew about 3 days ago, and went downstairs last night and noticed that he was going around the tank fast! And he was all in the crevices in the rocks looking like he was trying to get my peppermint shrimp, who by the way, were smart enough to move. Then when I turned on the lights he ran and hid, and the shrimp came out again. I think I shall take him to the lfs as I really need my cleaners and he is def. predatory. And I feed him meaty food 1x day and green herbivore mix he loves 1x day. And he is a big size and olive green.

 

[beth13eaw]

:notsure: I have not seen mine try to attack anything.....in fact I even drip acclimated the starfish and the shrimp in the same bucket and he didn't seem the least bit interested......I thought my shrimp had molted at first...since I saw some empty exoskeleton but I now realize 3 days later that they are flat out gone. I don't think he ate them, but something killed them and then maybe the hermits ate them????? I don't know. I still have my 2 peppermints....however they are bigger than the cleaner or the coral banded were....who knows maybe the peppermints killed them???

 

[sweetdawn]

i have black brittlestars in two of my tanks one in my ten gallon and two in my thirty gallon reef tank. they are a scavanger that feed on detritus, feces, and food remains if you see them eating a shrimp it was already dead. only thing they might hurt is tiny tubeworms. excellent member of any clean up crew. stay in the rockwork during the day and come out after lights out.

 

[misslaina]

I am relitively new but aren't Arrow crabs kinda questionable in their behavior. Not sure but that could be it. someone please tell me if I am wrong, case they are cute and I wouln't mind having one.