serpant star

[toddwess]

Yesterday morning, my serpant star that I have had for about two months, slowly crawled across the front of the tank (which is odd since I rarely see him out in the light) and I noticed pieces of his legs were missing.

Then later that morning (still sitting in the light and not hiding under rock like he usually does) he crawled to the other side of the tank, and some pieces of his legs were left where he was sitting.

This morning, his legs were all significantly shorter. Only about 2 inches long each.

Is he dying? Is there a fix for this? Is there something I can do?

All other inverts are fine. I also have a brittle star, and he is doing just fine. I have about 10 blue hermits - no other crabs of any kind.

Thoughts?

Todd

 

[reefrunner69]

Not sure, have you changed the SG of the water recently??

 

[toddwess]

I have slowly raised the SG from 1.022 to 1.023 over the past two weeks. I made sure to go very slowly.

Also, about two weeks ago, I dosed the tank with Maracyn which killed off most of my corals (its almost too embarassing to mention out loud, but yes I did it) but it had no effect on the bristle star, only the serpant star.

 

[goldy]

the medicine probably has something to do with it . you might end up loseing him. we had a chocolate chip and he was ok with the medicine but we had to then dose with coppersafe and he passed away.

 

[ReefLady]

Todd,

Don't be embarassed - I'm sure we ALL have something we've done to our tanks at some point that we're less than proud of.

I'd agree that the medicine is likely the culprit. In terms of "sensitivity" - mobile inverts seem to be the most sensitive critters in our tanks, corals next, then fish. That's definitely generalizing, and isn't always true, but I'd say 80% of the time, it is.

Keep an eye on the star, make sure the water conditions stay good - and stable. There's always a chance for recovery.

Good luck!

 

[toddwess]

Thanks, Teri

Todd