Bristle worm harmful to serpent stars?

[Tennyson]

I recently bought a large serpent star. It was very healthy and found a hole in a rock to live in. But since Monday, it hasn't left that hole. A bristle worm lives very close to that hole, probably inside it. Could this large bristle worm be the cause of my serpents strange behavior? And I have another serpent that doing great so nothing is wrong with my params.

Can bristle worms be harmful to serpents. If not, why is my serpent not moving. I haven't seen it do anything since Mon except move its arms when I shine light on it.

Thanks

 

[greenbean36191]

Brittle/serpent stars are naturally shy and spent almost all day hidden. Unless they've been trained to do otherwise, it's not unusual for them to hide except occasionally venturing out to feed at night. It doesn't sound like anything weird is going on.

Some species of bristleworm feed on echinoderms, but they aren't the ones that typically show up in the hobby. I don't think I've heard even a single case of someone accidentally getting one.

 

[LeslieH]

What species are you thinking of Mike?

 

[greenbean36191]

I was thinking of Phericardia. I know they've been reported to feed on true stars, but I've never seen anything about whether they're specialists. I would assume you know.

 

[LeslieH]

They're scavengers, detritivores, and occasionally predators. I haven't seen reports of them eating any stars other than Crown-of-Thorns (which doesn't mean that they won't!) and that's in association with Hymenocera shrimp. the shrimp attack first and open up the star's body. The Pherecardia is attracted to the injured flesh & crawl into the star's body eating as they go.

 

[greenbean36191]

Well then I guess it doesn't pose much of threat to serpent stars, eh?

 

[LeslieH]

Nope!