starfish poo poo?

farmerbob

farmerbob

Member
Some of you may remember me telling that a few weeks ago some kid at the LFS told me it was OK to put a brittle star and a bubble-tip anemone in a 10 gallon when it had only been set up a few days.
Well, of course, they both started to look fairly poor for a while, but they're on the uprise now - tentacles are fattening back up and starfish legs stopped shriveling.
Part of it is I've been cheating - doses of Amquel in addition to Cycle and a canister filter of Seachem Denitrate. I know this is counter-active to the cycle establishment, but I'm not about to have two martyrs in the name of establishing a cycle. It'll come along eventually, my primary objective is not killing these lil' ones.
Tonight I noticed several balls of what appeared to be mysis shrimp matter sitting calmly on the bottom. I know inverts have a limited digestion system, so could this be where the starfish has eaten some shrimp, digested it and spit it back out? What can I do to get rid of this? Also, what does anemone dookie look like?
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
That is kind of a weird way to start a thread....
But I had a similar experiance with my Green Brittle Star...When I first brought him home he didn't eat for a day or so then I found a pile of Poo/Vomit and then he started to eat regularly...
I'm just guessing but I figured it was constipation from the minimal food intake at the LFS (he admited to minmal feeding to keep system clean/cost) combined with stress induced from a change in water parameters and meaty foods offered compared to his regular fare.
Again, after that first "pile" he became regular in his consumption and evacuation of food...
:cool:
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
This may be more detail then you care to know, but brittlestars, like anemones, have no anus and what goes in (and can't be digested, eg shells) is pooped out through the mouth. But they definitely do produce poo.
 
S

slofish

Guest

Originally posted by ophiura
This may be more detail then you care to know, but brittlestars, like anemones, have no anus and what goes in (and can't be digested, eg shells) is pooped out through the mouth. But they definitely do produce poo.
HAHA, definitely more detail than i wanted to know. Just glad i ate a good while ago..... oh and that we have an anus:D
 
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