Starfish are melting away?!?!?

Wrench

New member
I took a peek into my sump the other day and noticed that my brittle and serpent start weren't looking too good. The large serpent had dropped a couple legs and the brittle stars' body looks like it dissolved. The real creepy thing is that they're both still alive :fun5: Two sally lightfoot crabs are also dead in the same system but all hermits, snails and urchins seem fine. Fish and corals also look fine along with my shrimp. Any ideas as to what has happened?
 
for the starfish, sounds like starvation
idk if the crabs is just a quinkydink or maybe the starfish let out some bad chemicals when melting
 
Definitely not starvation. I make sure to feed them a few krill every other day or so.

Tonight I took a closer look at the remaining starfish. What I saw was disgusting. Small, light orange colored worms inside the body cavity and between the joints of the exoskeleton. Does anyone have a clue what they are? Perhaps my biggest concern is that they can harm my fish. I have mysteriously lost a couple wrasses in the last 8 months or so to what seemed to be parasitic.
 
Back
Top