serpent star eating zoas?

[shadow]

I think my serpent star is eating my zoas. Could this be?

I had a large colony of healthy zoas, basically disappear overnight. The serpent star climbed up on top of the larger rock and positioned himself under the rock the zoas were on. It looked like he had been reaching around and picking zoa treats.

The only thing in the tank thats not reef safe is a banded cat shark (would he eat zoas?) Other zoas in the tank have not been affected

 

[seedless reefer]

Never heard of that.

Normally the stars just scavenge, of course ours do love chunks of meat.

Wow.

 

[mustangcaleb]

thats really strange, my serpent has never touched any corals. craziest thing i saw mine do was snatch up a snail and eat it out of its shell...

 

[drnecropolis]

Some types of asterina stars will eat zoas.. Don't think serpants will though

 

[FutureInterest]

I think the serpent being there was mere coincidence as well...

 

[shadow]

Ok. removed sperpent star. zoas still disappearing. New suspect is my "reef safe" sargassum trigger.

 

[reefhawke]

A "reef safe" trigger? Thats news to me. Cool!

I was looking at:

http://www.reefpedia.com/index.php/Zoanthus">http://www.reefpedia.com/index.php/Zoanthus</a>


[QUOTE=]
[B]Predators[/B]

Heliacus Snails

Wild zoanthid colonies are commonly collected with a predatory snail called "Heliacus." These snails specialize in eating zoanthids, and should be removed immediately.

Zoanthid-Eating Nudibranchs

Zoanthid colonies can also be afflicted by parasitic nudibranchs (sea slugs). These nudibranchs also contain the palytoxin from the zoanthids, so should be considered poisonous and handled with care.


"Fungus"
Whether or not it truly is a fungus is irrelevant, but certain Zoanthids, particularly pink Palythoa can get a fungus like infection. One treatment that works well is to dip the infected colony in a solution of 80% tank water, 20% Hydrogen Peroxide for UP TO 5 minutes. This dip is strong and irritates the colony along with killing the infection, so do not dip the colony too long. [/QUOTE]

 

[reefhawke]

Youre right!

The Sargassum Trigger is infrequently available, never plentiful and sells out in an instant. Act immediately when available!

Not often available, this is a one of the least aggressive of the triggerfishes, and one of the few triggers that can be kept in the reef aquarium. It will not bother corals and usually ignore sessile invertebrates. It can be kept with moderately-aggressive tankmates and can even be kept in groups in extra large aquariums. This trigger rarely bothers its tankmates. Like many triggers, it is often shy when first added to the aquarium, but becomes bolder as it learns to associate its caretaker with food. It prefers lots of open swimming space and brisk water movement. Juveniles associate with rafts of Sargassum weed (hence the common name). Also known as Red Tailed Triggerfish (large males have some red on the edge of the tail.)