Serpent Sea Star Injured?

[alovely12]

I've had this sea star since last August. It's lived in the same spot since the second day in the 144 gal reef tank. I added an australian elegance coral on Saturday, and on Monday afternoon saw the sea star had moved completely across the tank and had this terrible u-shaped injury and a spot like injury opposite it. Is it possible a sting from the coral caused this?

I removed him from the large tank and put him in a 43 gal with only some zoas and one percula clown to try to let him recover, and be able to observe him. Is he a goner or will the leg fall off and grow a new one? The leg amazingly is still able to move around. It looks worse today than last night. It looks like it was bitten, but the only thing big enough in the tank are maybe emerald crabs.
Thanks

 

[ophiura]

It will almost certainly recover, ASSUMING some things about the injury.
Can you post your specific water parameters, and anything recent that happened with the tank?
What fish were in the tank with it?
If this is due to predation, it is likely to recover. If a water quality issue, it may be a problem. But parameters are key, and keep feeding it.
Otherwise in terms of overall size of damage, I've seen them recover from worse, and very quickly. Both of these are mine: