Serpent Star trouble???

[relish]

Hi. It's been awhile since I have been on here. I wish I had more time. Here's my story:
I have had TBS for about a year now. Everything has been going well. We've had our ups and downs, but then I guess all new tanks do. When we got the package for our 44 gallon we had a few serpent and brittle star hitchhikers besides the one included in the package. They have remained hidden under the rocks until today. They would even scurry to find shelter when a rock was moved.
All of a sudden today they are ALL out laying on the rocks. They are huge (bodies about the size of a nickel) and I have counted more than 20 of them!!!
My question is why now and all at once, and is something going to go majorly wrong??????
I did have a jewel box clam and a cucumber die the other day, but I cleaned them up quickly and there wasn't much damage ( at least I thought from water tests) They had been in the tank about 11 months. All of my fish seem fine and have been eating well.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I am very worried that something major is about to go wrong!

 

[tuck64]

This is a sign that the world is coming to an end. Starfish have the ability to sense when large objects in space are approaching Earth. They have laid themselves out so that death is quick and painless. The only way this disaster can be avoided is if the weather in Florida clears up and TBS can dive to fill the backlog of orders. Then all the Serpents in our tanks can use their special powers together to change the direction of the meteorite.

Sorry bout that, just a little delirious. That sure does sound creepy though. My serpent only comes out to eat.

 

[patsan]

This is a sign that the world is coming to an end. Starfish have the ability to sense when large objects in space are approaching Earth. They have laid themselves out so that death is quick and painless. The only way this disaster can be avoided is if the weather in Florida clears up and TBS can dive to fill the backlog of orders. Then all the Serpents in our tanks can use their special powers together to change the direction of the meteorite.

Sorry bout that, just a little delirious. That sure does sound creepy though. My serpent only comes out to eat.

Tucker...you made my day with that post!

 

[H2OLUVSME]

Tucker...you made my day with that post!

mine too :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: too too funny.





relish it sounds like there is an abundance of food for them to reproduce like that. how much do you feed the tank? the only problem i see is when they run out of food and start to die off. however, you may have the perfect tank for a harlequin shrimp. they are real cool and will keep your star numbers down.

 

[relish]

Thanks for responding... It made my day too. :lol:


So After two days of them being out on the rocks I tried a few things. (Probably too many at once actually, but I was very worried.)
I unplugged the heater after a friend said he had a heater go bad.
I increased the oxygen after reading that brittle/serpent stars are sensitive to oxygen levels.
Then I brought a water sample to the LFS to be tested, which is where I found out my levels were way off from what I was getting at home. ( Time for new test kits.)
So I changed out 10 gallons and everything seems to be on its way back to normal. All I see now are bunches of little wiggling arms sticking out from beneath the rocks. And what's funny is a friend of mine was going to come and get some of them from me because I have so many, and before he could come over they all disappeared.
I am not sure what caused the change in levels. Three weeks ago the LFS said my water was perfect... That clam could have caused it I guess. At least I will know next time when they all come out again. I've got good warning sensors I guess??? I hope there is no next time though.