nickbuol
Member
We got a nice blue starfish from here a little more than a week ago. It was very pretty, and doing very well. I thought that he had gotten sick originally, but after closer examination, he has a cut by his mouth. This was early on in the "he doesn't look too good" stage. I move him into a small refugium in the tank to keep him by himself, and he only got worse. He hadn't been moving, and was all clumped together. Before he went into the refugium, he was looking like a semi-deflated baloon. All saggy, etc. I figured it was too late already, but wasn't sure. Anyhow, we never saw anything picking on him. The hermits, emerald crabs, etc, left him alone.
Yesterday, I figured it was time. He hadn't moved at all in over a day in the refugium, and about a day before he went in there. I picked him up (oh, and I always used a rubber glove as to not get oils on him) and the cut near his mouth was really, really bad looking. It was like his guts were hanging out, and there were stringy strands of flesh (his) hanging out of the cut.
So. What would have inflicted this wound?
We have blue and scarlet hermits (again, they never seemed to bug him at all), 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 1 coral banded shrimp, and possibly some pepermint shrimp (I haven't seen them in months, so who knows if they are still in there).
Of course there are fish too, but I don't see how they could put a 1/2 - 3/4 inch slice into him. But they include 2 percula clownfish, a cleaner wrasse, royal dottyback, a purple tang, and a pacific blue tang. Both tangs are quite small. We have some coral frags that just went in as well, but they went in after he already was acting sick, and were place in the tank where he would not have easily gotten to in his sick condition.
Please help. My wife, after I told her so many times that I didn't want a starfish, was devistated when the starfish died, and she has always thought that they were more insteresting to watch than the fish sometimes (in other tanks, as this was our first starfish). I would love to solve this mystery, or at least better understand the possibilities, and hopefully be able to get another one in the future.
Yesterday, I figured it was time. He hadn't moved at all in over a day in the refugium, and about a day before he went in there. I picked him up (oh, and I always used a rubber glove as to not get oils on him) and the cut near his mouth was really, really bad looking. It was like his guts were hanging out, and there were stringy strands of flesh (his) hanging out of the cut.
So. What would have inflicted this wound?
We have blue and scarlet hermits (again, they never seemed to bug him at all), 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 1 coral banded shrimp, and possibly some pepermint shrimp (I haven't seen them in months, so who knows if they are still in there).
Of course there are fish too, but I don't see how they could put a 1/2 - 3/4 inch slice into him. But they include 2 percula clownfish, a cleaner wrasse, royal dottyback, a purple tang, and a pacific blue tang. Both tangs are quite small. We have some coral frags that just went in as well, but they went in after he already was acting sick, and were place in the tank where he would not have easily gotten to in his sick condition.
Please help. My wife, after I told her so many times that I didn't want a starfish, was devistated when the starfish died, and she has always thought that they were more insteresting to watch than the fish sometimes (in other tanks, as this was our first starfish). I would love to solve this mystery, or at least better understand the possibilities, and hopefully be able to get another one in the future.
