HELP! something is eating my fish!?!?

[xrayharmony]

I came home from work this morning to find that something has eaten one arm off of my coral banded shrimp and to find my sand sifting starfish drawn and quartered!!! I can't imagine what is doing this... but it's disturbing! I have a red brittle star... could he be the culprit? any suggestions would be great... oh... all i can find of my starfish are his arms... no body? just all 5 arms ripped off!

 

[flydan]

Hey,
It would help to know what you have in your tank. I doubt it's the brittle star. (It would have a tough time catching a CBS and I've never heard of them going after star fish.) It is possible you got a very aggressive brittle star but I think it's unlikely.
Dan'l

 

[xrayharmony]

alright... i have a carpet anemone, 2 maroon gold stripe clowns, a yellow tang, a sea apple, 2 other sand sifting stars, 3 brittle stars-
2 black one red, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, many snails and hermits... that's it.. i hope it's not a hitchhiker. But there hasn't been anything added real recently, and the tank has been up for a year. There isn't anything disease wise that would make his arms look like they were ripped off would there?
thanks

 

[lesa]

I bet you have a unknown hitchhiker that has finally gotten big enough to do damage Speaking from experience of course

 

[xrayharmony]

That's what i was afraid of.... would the dreaded mantis possibly do this? or would it be something else?

 

[sugarman252000]

Sorry to hear about your losses...
I had a hairy crab or sometimes called a gorilla crab.
He was eating about the same as you describe, I felt the worst about the starfish.
Search on these forums for gorilla crab or hairy crab and you will find some info and some methods of catching the predator.
I know one method is putting some food at the bottom of a glass in the tank. The culprit goes in and then cant climb out. I had my tank setup for 6 months and never saw the crab even at night with the lights out.
Good luck!

 

[xrayharmony]

TY

 

[xrayharmony]

just had to bump to see if i could get anyone else to give me an opinion thanks!

 

[buzz]

Coral banded shrimp lose their claws regularly. It is a defense mechanism. When they are trying to get away from something that catches them, they will drop their claws.
It may have been holding on to something, gotten startled, and let an arm go trying to bolt.
Good news though. They grow back. Just wait until it molts.
The starfish is another story...Is it possible that the star was stressed anyway, possibly starting to fall apart, and one of the fish started picking at it?
How long have you had the sea apple? They can be quite toxic to your tank if stressed...

 

[ophiura]

I think Buzz iz on to something
How long have you had that sand sifter star?
What are your tank parameters esp pH, specific gravity and alk?
Have you done any recent water changes?
BTW, it was not any of the brittlestars....

 

[xrayharmony]

hmm... very interesting... i have learned many new things today... Well... for shortness since i have to leave for work... all of my water parameters are great. I've had the star for almost a year, and the sea apple does not look stressed at all and nothing else is stressed as far as i can tell. but hmm... could have been just anything... so hard to diagnose! but that's why i love my fish.. always a challenge! thanks for all your help everyone... time will tell in this instance.