Serpent Star with a ruptured disk

[Fountainhead]

Hey, I thought I'd post this photo here since we all get these serpent stars with our packages. Anyone had this happen to one of theirs? I posted this in Dr. Ron's forum, and he suggested leaving the poor guy be, as stands a reasonable chance of recovering from this.

When I noticed the wound, he was being hassled by a rather large gorilla crab, which makes me wonder whether the crab could have inflicted this injury. The crab is gone...I had to remove several large rocks to get him, but there was no way I was leaving him in there. There was a short trial during which he presented no defense. Guilty. Sentenced to the toilet.

Has anyone had a star with a ruptured disk like this guy? If so, did he make it?

 

[docklink]

I haven't had any experience with an injured serpent star (other than the odd missing limb that has grown/ is growing back). However, I remember seeing a thread here on RC of a serpent or brittle star whos disk was considerably worse that did survive with time. I'll see if I can find the thread. I believe the treatment was simply to watch and wait.

 

[ReefRob]

I had three serpent stars happily in the tank since March then a couple of weeks ago one was wandering the tank in the day (which was very unusual) but was missing an arm. I left him alone figuring he would recover but my gramma, shrimp, and crabs (I too have a few wily gorillas left) pestered him mercilessy. Soon he had only three legs when the disk wound was expanded.

I put him in my refugium for his sake to recover. I didn't do him any favor ... I have so many bristle worms in the refugium they set upon him and he had only two legs when I next saw him and half a disk ... I'll spare you a picture.

Some advice I hope you won't need: big serpent stars don't flush even with only two legs...they get stiff.

My working theory is that he got an arm chopped off when a clam clamped on him. I found it later unmolested. I've noticed that nothing healthy in my tank gets bothered but if I was a critter in there I wouldn't want to take a sick day. My two remaining stars are fine.

Good luck with your star. As long as nothing torments it I'll bet it will recover. They seem pretty tough.

 

[Fountainhead]

Well, he's still with me. He's been under the same rock for a couple of days now, but today he grabbed for a scap of food when I fed the fish. It's the first time he's shown any interest in food since his injury. I'm optimistic that he'll make it.

 

[tonyh67]

While we're talking about TBS serpent stars.

Last weekend I awoke to find a nickel sized red mithrax crab in the arms of my serpent star. The star was trying to get the crab in it's mouth...but the crab was fighting with all it had. After a half hour or so, the crab lost...it was quite the sight.

 

[Fountainhead]

Just an update...he came out from under his rock a couple of days ago, and grabbed a chunk of food. His disk looks like it's healing nicely. I guess he's going to make it.

 

[ReefRob]

That looks a lot better.

With a battle scar like that, nobody will mess with him in the future...still feel bad about mine.

 

[GinaSofia]

Great to hear it's doing better.I had one that had the same thing happen to onet(twice) and it recovered nicely both times even though the whole took up the entire top of his disk.