Brittle Star

[saltycrab]

Ive had my black brittle star in my tank for less than a week and Ive noticed there are pieces of him on the sand bed. He is alive but I first noticed a half inch piece of him the other day and this morning there is a inch piece of him. He lives in the same cave as two coral banded shrimp. Could they be attacking him or is he disintigrating from some disease?

 

[miaheatlvr]

Originally Posted by SaltyCrab
Ive had my black brittle star in my tank for less than a week and Ive noticed there are pieces of him on the sand bed. He is alive but I first noticed a half inch piece of him the other day and this morning there is a inch piece of him. He lives in the same cave as two coral banded shrimp. Could they be attacking him or is he disintigrating from some disease?
Hows you water quality and acclimation process, If your water quality is good I wouldnt expect a disease. BUT those coral bandeds can get very agressive and I wouldn't put it past them to snippet a piece of your B.S. off.. It Should regenerate.

 

[saltycrab]

Water quality is always good. I just put in a big bio load and for some reason all of the Turbos SWF sent me died in my tank but my levels are all good. Nitrates started to go up alittle to like 15 ppm but Im doing a 25% water change right now. I did 3 hr acclimation

 

[ophiura]

It is imperative to know your SPECIFIC tank parameters and history. What is perfect for fish can be fatal for these stars. Please post them.
IMO a water change may be a bad thing to do, depending on the cause of this problem.

 

[saltycrab]

My water quality is really good. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phos are all 0. Calcium is like 380 righ now and dKH is 8 degrees. Salinity is 1.025 and pH is 8.4. Anyways I just saw my Star come out for the first time tonight in a few days when I turned off my lights and come to the front of my tank. I just took a nap for 2 hours and I get and up and look at my tank and low and behold a piece of my brittle star laying where he was chillen when I went to sleep. Hes hiding now and my pair of coral bandeds are hovering around the spot. I think these shrimp are taking the star apart. What should I do?

 

[saltycrab]

I think Im going to bring him to the LFS because I just saw him and hes missing most of the arms he had. Those shrimp are nasty I feel like using my left over 4th of July noisemakers of them.