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cmbspd

My serpent star lost its top!

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9 Comments
by
cmbspd
, 03-18-2010 at 05:27 PM (3092 Views)
I was very excited to add my first serpent star to my tank last week, which promptly hid under the rocks. Two days later I was shocked to see it hanging on my rock wall just after the lights went out - missing the entire top of its carapace. It looked like a neat dissection with all of the top central disk gone, exposing gonads and stomach - the legs looked fine and tube feet were extended. I was even more shocked to see it moving, and I assumed this was just reflexes until it died. But I found it again today (after 3 days), hiding under a rock. It moved fast when I lifted the rock, so it acted healthy even though its guts are exposed to the world. I know that fragments of echinoderms can sometimes regenerate from their central disks.

Anyone have experience with this? Did your brittle star survive?

Second, who is the most likely culprit? I have two small ocellaris clowns (1.5"), a foxface (4"), a hippo tang (8"), and a falco's hawkfish (2.5"). I also have cleaner and peppermint shrimp and smaller fish that shouldn't be aggressive (goby, firefish, etc). I assume that the hawkfish is the most likely culprit but the legspan on the brittle star is 8" so it shouldn't have been easy. I'm also wondering why any fish would rip it open but not devour the stomach and gonads...

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Updated 03-18-2010 at 07:46 PM by melev

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‎ Tank Entry

Comments

  1. bleachandvomit's Avatar
    Hawkfish is the obvious culprit, but I have a hard time believing it pulled an 8" brittle from the rockwork. It should be fine, I smash mine with rocks on accident all the time.
  2. melev's Avatar
    The shrimp too can be picking at the damaged area. If anything, I would try to put it in an isolated area in hopes of it healing. I had a Harlequin Starfish (looks like a serpent starfish) that had the same thing happen a couple of times. It didn't survive the second incident, but it was 100% healed up before that and looked fine. It's a very strange phenomenon to observe.
  3. kmjoen230's Avatar
    This sounds pretty nasty and interesting!
    U have never seen or heard of this before.
    Pics by any chance?!
  4. melev's Avatar
    The first time I saw it, I was in shock but a few days later it was completely healthy. I actually thought I must have dreamt it. However, the second time I grabbed my camera.





  5. cmbspd's Avatar
    Great pictures. My serpent star lost its ENTIRE top. If I see it again, I will try to catch it and put it in my refugium until it heals...It's good know that it might recover.
  6. kmjoen230's Avatar
    That is honestly one of the craziet things I have seen in this hobby!
    Thanks for the picutes.
    I love that there is always something cool going on our reefs!
  7. cmbspd's Avatar
    Time for a 3 month update. First, the good news. I finally saw my serpent star again after the "incident" and it is healing. Still really wounded looking, but at least its top appears to be closing:



    The bad news, I was only able to find the serpent star because I had to tear down my tank due to a leaking bottom seam. I've got critters stashed in small QT tanks, my sump etc. while I'm waiting on a replacement tank. My serpent star is now in the refugium and may be the only animal "happy" about the situation. Major bummer...
  8. melev's Avatar
    Are you getting the same sized tank, or upgrading?
  9. cmbspd's Avatar
    Major upgrade! I found a 2 yr old 250 gallon Marineland DD! I drove 2 hours to pick it up and brought it home in my Subaru Forester (Yeah, it fit in the back!). I worked my butt off this week to set it up and it is about 1/3 full of RODI water now.

    I've lost a cleaner shrimp that got sucked into a powerhead in a temporary tank and two of my biggest fish - a foxface and copperband. Don't know why they died because I housed them in the original tank's 100g sump with original water and liverock...maybe just the stress. So far all my corals and smaller fish are doing okay in their various hidey holes in small tanks throughout the house.