help!!!! holey starfish
- Thread starter shortstop
- Start date
ophiura
Active Member
A few things.
How long have you had this star?
If less than one month, how long did you acclimate it?
Have you recently fed it, or noticed anything go missing?
Has it lost any arms?
What sort of fish, shrimp, crabs do you have?
If there is simply a big hole through the disk, and the arms are still intact, and the brittle is otherwise normal, just let it be. Make sure nothing will pick at it, like shrimp. If this is a problem, you may need to put it in a small critter cage or something in the tank. Do not remove it to another tank at this time. Moving it within the system, to a sump or refugium, is OK. Otherwise, the acclimation will stress it.
I had a brittle get a hole in the disk last week. Amazing. My current theory for sudden huge holes in the disk is called distended disk syndrome, in which the animal eats something that is too big or sharp, and it punches through the disk. This appears to be fairly common in certain species.
A healthy brittlestar will repair this damage, if it is not too bad, in remarkable speed. I would say that mine had a hole covering more than half the back of the disk. This was about 1 week ago. It is now closed, though he is still acting a bit shy.
It was really gross- you could see right through it and out the mouth, but from the inside. Yikes.
This should not be a problem at this time. Just make sure tank parameters are good and stable (what is the specific gravity, BTW?). Feed him if he wants it.
If the arms start to drop off, this is a more critical situation. Monitor closely, but I wouldn't do anything further at this time unless it is being bothered by other animals.
In this case, as mentioned, consider a plastic critter cage (put in the tank) or a hang on breeder trap with a small bit of rock.
How long have you had this star?
If less than one month, how long did you acclimate it?
Have you recently fed it, or noticed anything go missing?
Has it lost any arms?
What sort of fish, shrimp, crabs do you have?
If there is simply a big hole through the disk, and the arms are still intact, and the brittle is otherwise normal, just let it be. Make sure nothing will pick at it, like shrimp. If this is a problem, you may need to put it in a small critter cage or something in the tank. Do not remove it to another tank at this time. Moving it within the system, to a sump or refugium, is OK. Otherwise, the acclimation will stress it.
I had a brittle get a hole in the disk last week. Amazing. My current theory for sudden huge holes in the disk is called distended disk syndrome, in which the animal eats something that is too big or sharp, and it punches through the disk. This appears to be fairly common in certain species.
A healthy brittlestar will repair this damage, if it is not too bad, in remarkable speed. I would say that mine had a hole covering more than half the back of the disk. This was about 1 week ago. It is now closed, though he is still acting a bit shy.
It was really gross- you could see right through it and out the mouth, but from the inside. Yikes.
This should not be a problem at this time. Just make sure tank parameters are good and stable (what is the specific gravity, BTW?). Feed him if he wants it.
If the arms start to drop off, this is a more critical situation. Monitor closely, but I wouldn't do anything further at this time unless it is being bothered by other animals.
In this case, as mentioned, consider a plastic critter cage (put in the tank) or a hang on breeder trap with a small bit of rock.
wrassecal
Active Member
April, I posted this for you while you were out of town. Listen to ophiura's advise, she's an expert on starfish. FYI, Your clown was nipping at some white crusty stuff on the hole spot yesterday, only I thought it was the chocolate chip when I heard about it. Didn't know it was the serpent.
shortstop
Member
its still moving around like nothing ever happened to it. my clown was nipping at it. i have been out of town for a week and wasnt here when it happened. so this is going off of the what that familly said. but this morning it was moving around like normal. its huge tho. i need to go count my snails maybe. idont know. i have had this star for a long time, more than 3 months and the n the previous owner i got it from had it for a while. i have a tang, 2 clown, coral beauty, and a yeloow belly damsle, cleaner shrimp and variety of snails with pointy shells. oh and all arms accounted for.
ophiura
Active Member
Oops. Just posted to the thread with the photo also 
This hole should not be an issue, really. Always possible it will get worse, but, it is small compared to what I have seen (with one of my own brittles, just this week). I have seen some 'goners' make it through such an injury quite readily.
Keep in mind that your brittle could have been cleaning up something that died too, not necessarily ate something healthy.
Some photos from my website:
Here is one of mine, same species, similar injury (though stressful cause- ammonia and pH burns), taken over a period of about a week or so
Here is one with a eating injury (the animal survived quite nicely):
So you see, there is definitely hope. As long as we can keep things away from him, it should be good. If it is acting healthy, then it should be able to flee from the fish and into the rocks.
This hole should not be an issue, really. Always possible it will get worse, but, it is small compared to what I have seen (with one of my own brittles, just this week). I have seen some 'goners' make it through such an injury quite readily.
Keep in mind that your brittle could have been cleaning up something that died too, not necessarily ate something healthy.
Some photos from my website:
Here is one of mine, same species, similar injury (though stressful cause- ammonia and pH burns), taken over a period of about a week or so
Here is one with a eating injury (the animal survived quite nicely):
So you see, there is definitely hope. As long as we can keep things away from him, it should be good. If it is acting healthy, then it should be able to flee from the fish and into the rocks.
shortstop
Member
The hole seems to be getting smaller. But, I noticed a little hole by one of his arms. I dont know if it was there before or not, I just noticed it. You can tell where the hole started and has grown back. He is acting perfectly normal. So hopefully he has better luck than my parents star that just sadly had not such good luck.(Wrassecal, mom) One question: what are "gonads"
ophiura
Active Member
I've handled plenty of them, and while I don't recommend holding them by the arms, I really don't see any issue with it (so long as your hands are otherwise clean, of course). I think the correlation with Linckia is that so many die in shipment (which often involves handling). I really don't think this is a very major risk, though I avoid handling animals if possible.
Odd that the two brittlestar injuries this week are relatives!? I can only hope this one turns out better than the other
Gonads, BTW, are the organs that produce eggs and/or sperm
Odd that the two brittlestar injuries this week are relatives!? I can only hope this one turns out better than the other
Gonads, BTW, are the organs that produce eggs and/or sperm