Starfish Being Eaten Alive??????

[zues3026]

Can someone please let me know whats going on with my Brittle Star. He seems like he is getting eaten alive. At first the tops of his legs looked like they were getting nipped at, now almost the whole top of him is gone. All I have in that tank is a scarlet cleaner shrimp, lawnmower blenny, rainsford goby, and a few marine feeder shrimps, as well as an anenome, feather duster, and soft corals.

 

[psusocr1]

ophuira can chime in but the most important thing are levels with stars.. what are your parameters? you salinity especially? how long has the tank been setup..thats very important...

 

[ophiura]

Yes, please post ALL parameters and how long you have had it.
HEALTHY brittlestars do not get eaten alive like this. It is a sign of a significant problem, and we must start with details.

 

[zues3026]

Salinity is 1.025, ph is 8.0, nitrates are 5.0, nitrites and Ammonia are 0. temp is 79. I have had him in that tank for about a year and a half. The only thing I have seen was those marine feeder shrimp on him but that was a couple days ago, but he was fine then. I will try to post a pic.

He looks so awful, I tried to grab him and he seems strong, but today more than half his top is gone. He is looking pretty bad, but seems strong still.

 

[ophiura]

What and how often do you feed it? What color is it?

 

[zues3026]

It is still its same old red color. Not faded or different what-so-ever. I am so baffled. He is not eating now, hasn't for a couple days since I found him like that. I usually feed him pieces of krill, squid, and silversides. He also eats brine and mysid.

 

[sepulatian]

Have your parameters swung at all? Has the SG dropped or raised?

 

[zues3026]

No not really the difference may have been .002 at most when I added RO water, like I have done since first setting it up.

 

[sepulatian]

A star would react to that kind of swing. The ocean is remarkably stable. Stars need the same stability. They are very sensitive to water changes. That is why they need a 4hr+ acclimation. A swing of .002 is huge to them. Fish and most other inverts would not be effected by a .002 swing but a star most certainly could be. Stars take a month to show stress, this swing must have happened a month or more ago. Do you recall what happened back then?

 

[zues3026]

Ok, I would say it was that at most. I am sure it was a .001 swing. What is a good SG for a starfish in a reef tank?

 

[ophiura]

1.025-1.026

 

[zues3026]

Prior to the adding the water it was 1.026 then when I did a water change it dropped to 1.024. That was about a week before I noticed his arms with white near the top, and my little shrimps on top of his arms.

 

[crimzy]

A lot of times stars will start to lose their arms when they are ill. It does not necessarily mean that another creature is nipping at them. Unfortunately, from my experience, there are not a ton of treatments for sick stars. Others may disagree but I find that they seem to have a maximum lifespan at about 2 years or so. I think that this is a creature that very little is known about in the aquarium trade.

 

[ophiura]

I disagree, personally...or at least offer a clarification - brittlestars in my experience are quite long lived relative to seastars.
I've had several of the real common species for many years without issue, the advantage is most will readily take to spot feeding. But usually these problems are related to water quality issues. For brittlestars, getting the parameters back into ideal range is often what is required, as they have incredible powers of regeneration (even in the face of incredible injury). I have had green brittlestars virtually lifeless and having lost all their arms recover, and others with large holes in the disk. In good conditions, they can recover quite well.
The same is not always true - in fact not often true - for seastars.
Do you measure specific gravity with a refractometer or hydrometer? If a hydrometer, when did you last soak in vinegar to remove buildup, and have you had the reading double checked?

 

[texasmetal]

I had this happen to a red serpent star. Deteriorated over a period of about 3 days. Tank parameters checked out fine, nothing else in the tank showed signs of distress. On the second day I saw Hermits picking at the injured areas so I moved it to another tank. Crawled around like normal, but didn't hide at all. Checked on the 4th morning, and nothing but red crumbs remained.
Twas a really pretty, gigantic and expensive serpent star.

 

[aloysiusii]

I have also had the same problems with me serpent starfish. It looked like his arms or arm was been nipped at by something. Not sure what it is but was sens cleared up so far. Has you star rejuvenated its leg back?? Also I had no issues with the parameters in the water...

 

[zues3026]

This is the best pic I can get of him. I use a Hydrometer and never knew about soaking in vinegar. He is gone now all I found is parts of his legs looks like he just crumbled, like the previous reply above

 

[ophiura]

Injuries entirely to the disk are commonly caused by it eating something too large, but when the arms start to fall off it is most likely a water quality or related issue.

 

[chostarfish]

I have a Chocolate Chip Starfisht, Yesterday he was fine today it looks as if he has been chewd up I had him and my clown fish for over five months. I have no clue why my starfish looks like it does. Will he die? I hope there is some thing I can do for him. Can any one give me any advise? Thanks

 

[ophiura]

Can you please report your SPECIFIC water parameters (all, including pH, nitrite, alkalinity, calcium and specific gravity). We also need more specifics about your tank, inhabitants (including crabs), what and how often you feed this star, etc. Any recent water changes or other issue within the past month.
In general, however, that is a bad looking case.