serpent star losing tips of legs

[keiferd]

Hello, I've noticed that 2 of the legs of my serpent star have lost their tips. Is this a sign of starvation? I have noticed it has been pretty active during the day as well lately. I've read they should be mostly nocturnal. Should I try target feeding it some chunks of raw shrimp or krill? It's only in a 10g nano, so I don't wan't to spike the tank too much.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Take a small bit of shrimp or fish (like silver sides) and put it on the end of a wooden BBQ skewer. Hold the food down next to the star. If it's hungry, it should wrap a leg or 2 around the food. Then gently rotate the skewer and try to pull it away from the star. The food should come loose and the star should carry it off under a rock and have a good meal.

My stars rarely come out when I'm feeding the tank, but if they do, I make a point of target feeding them.

 

[keiferd]

Take a small bit of shrimp or fish (like silver sides) and put it on the end of a wooden BBQ skewer. Hold the food down next to the star. If it's hungry, it should wrap a leg or 2 around the food. Then gently rotate the skewer and try to pull it away from the star. The food should come loose and the star should carry it off under a rock and have a good meal.

My stars rarely come out when I'm feeding the tank, but if they do, I make a point of target feeding them.

my serpent star always comes out to try an gather some scraps whenever I feed the tank. I'll make sure he gets a nice chunk next time. Do you think malnutrition was the cause of this ?

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's possible, but if it's coming out when you feed, I'd say I doubt it. Do you have anything in the tank that could be nipping at it? Or maybe it's putting a leg into a pump? The other thought might be stray electricity in the water?

 

[keiferd]

The only other inhabitants of the tank are a yellow clown goby and a royal gramma. The only pump it could maybe get it's leg stuck in is the intake to the Fluval canister filter, but I also have that on about half half flow. I'll use a multimeter on the tank tomorrow and see if it is getting volted too much. what is a safe level to have?

 

[keiferd]

I also just observed what looks to be Aiptasia growing under a mat of GSP. I was kind of dreading this, but I guess it was inevitable. Could this also be a culprit?

It's hard to get a good shot of it, but I'm pretty sure it's Aiptasia... :sad1:

a gif of it may be better..

http://vid61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/kvb2001/IMG_0378.mp4

http://vid61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/kvb2001/IMG_0379.mp4

 

[Fiver]

Gorilla crabs did that to my brittle stars. I saw it with my own eyes. They latch on, pull and off goes the tip. Check for crabs and set up a bottle trap!

 

[keiferd]

Gorilla crabs did that to my brittle stars. I saw it with my own eyes. They latch on, pull and off goes the tip. Check for crabs and set up a bottle trap!

lol thanks man, but my tank is only 10G. I notice everything going on. RIP Harambre.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The aiptasia shouldn't bother the star IMHO. They just don't have enough sting. They catch tiny stuff in the water, not big animals. I have rock flower anemones and a RBTA, the stars don't seem to be bothered at all by them and they are way more powerful than an aiptasia.

The only time I ever had a stray current in my tank, I could feel it and I found a bad wire on a pump. So I have no idea what level is acceptable. If it was me, I'd like no electrical current in the tank at all.

 

[keiferd]

The aiptasia shouldn't bother the star IMHO. They just don't have enough sting. They catch tiny stuff in the water, not big animals. I have rock flower anemones and a RBTA, the stars don't seem to be bothered at all by them and they are way more powerful than an aiptasia.

The only time I ever had a stray current in my tank, I could feel it and I found a bad wire on a pump. So I have no idea what level is acceptable. If it was me, I'd like no electrical current in the tank at all.

I don't feel any electricity when I stick my hand in the tank, but I gave him a huge chunk of squid and he ate it like candy today. hopefully he starts regenerating.

 

[keiferd]

well it looks like it is losing more of it's leg-tips. I'm still trying to troubleshoot. I have the salinity set pretty high. I read higher salinity was better for Invertebrates. It is around 40 and the specific gravity is 1.030. Could that be the issue?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Salinity that high could cause problems. The Dead Sea is dead because the salt content is 30x more salt than the oceans are.

Don't let your salt get over 1.026 or 35ppt.

Make sure you lower the salinity slowly over a day or two.