Serpent Sea Star vs. ???

[elfloyd]

Yesterday I added 3 serpent sea stars. This morning one is out in the open, barely alive, and probably down for the count. Four legs are totally missing, about a inch of one leg remains. (Didn't see the other two stars.)

I was careful to acclimate and figured he died because of the new surroundings, transport, etc... but, his one partial leg is still moving so he is still alive.

Residences include:
<ul>
<li>Pair of clowns</li>
<li>Purple tang</li>
<li>Walker Gobie</li>
<li>Royal Gamma</li>
<li>Cleaner shrimp</li>
<li>2 emerald crabs (Haven\'t seen in months)</li>
<li>3 peppermint shrimp (haven\'t seen in months)</li>
<li>Sea cucumbers</li>
<li>Many snails</li>
<li>Mandarin</li>
<li>A few small hermits</li>
</ul>

Temp - 79.0
pH - 8.26
NH4 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 10
SPG - 1.024
ALK - 10.9
Ca - 450
PO4 - 0


Should I just chalk this one up to stress or do I have something more sinister lurking around? (Tank has been setup for 7 months.)

 

[jennm]

That's odd... they are usually pretty tough, but they can and will drop legs if attacked/stressed.

I brought one home once from the shop I used to work at, that arrived having dropped all it's legs - had 5 "stumps" and a wound on its body disc. I used some Kent Tech D and a q-tip to disinfect the wound, placed it in my refugium and crossed my fingers. It recovered completely, and grew all its legs back.

Maybe yours might bounce back.

Jenn

 

[elfloyd]

Second star found... five stubs... entire top of his center disk looks eaten away, but still alive. What preys on these?

 

[jennm]

It's possible a crab or something is having a go at them... but did you check the parameters of the water they arrived in? If the difference was significant, even a careful acclimation may have been too much.

Jenn

 

[elfloyd]

Jenn, I only checked salinity (1.020 vs. 1.024) and pH (7.97 vs. 8.26). I floated 15 minutes to equalize the temperature then dripped for an hour, removing half the water at 15 minute intervals. Perhaps should have acclimated longer.

Both are in the fuge. I can see them now but will loose them in the rocks when/if they start moving around.

 

[jennm]

That's a pretty significant shift... in both pH and specific gravity. Hard to say. It could definitely be a factor - along with how they were acclimated *into* the water that you acclimated them out of, and how long in between acclimations (ie length of time they were in that other water).

You could have a predator, but I'd expect it would have gone after the goby and gramma first as they like to hide in holes in the rock: easy prey at night.

Jenn