Disaster

[alexwolf]

I had thought IU was losing fish to ick, and in the last week i lost:

Flame Hawk
Powder brown tang
neon goby
flame angel
red lip blenny

I came homw yesterday and Sherri was nice enough to point out my green brittle star eating my flame angel, who was fine at lunch. ON top of that, my new neon gobies are gone. 2 are in the overflows, and one managed to fit through the slats of a MJ1200, and got sucked in. This has been a lousy week for my fish :(

[scuba_steveo]

well,it can only get better...you have so much potential in that new big bow front...very nice setup Alex

[dan]

i think it's time to move the star out if you have any fish left. unless you really love that guy? as for me i would never own one. love my fish to much.

[alexwolf]

as soon as i can get his he is a freebee to anyone that wants him.

[prof]

I have two large green brittle stars. They are really cool. On actually comes to the top of the 100g rubbermaid at feeding time and will let you pick him up. But I can't get him to eat the stupid damsels :)


The other is in my 150g and the only fish I am concerned with are very big (6 inches is the smallest) so it has been no problem.

[brewercm]

I've got a green and he's never bothered any of the fish, well except for cleanup. I'm guessing I just got lucky. I've had him since the begining 5 years ago along with a Coral Beauty that's been in there with him the whole time.

[Sherri]

Oh, did I hear GREEN are hunters????? Hmmmmm Alex?! Wasn't that a green wrapped around your Flame Angel yesterday? :scold: JK Still...I wouldn't take a chance, especially with a fairly new tank when there isn't much to clean up in the first place...I would think it would have to start to hunt to eat.

[z28pwr]

I've heard many stories of green brittle stars eating fish.

I was going to say if you lost a FlameHawk to ICK then you have some seriously bad water, those guys are tough little bottom dwellers.

Atleast now you know what's going on and can take care of the problem.

Good Luck.

[captexas]

I would say lose the green star and still keep an eye on everything. The green brittle star may have been hunting your fish or it may have simply been taking advantage of a fish that was already weakened by some other problem(s). I wouldn't imagine the green star taking all those fish in such a short time period, I don't care how hungry it is! :-)

[Sherri]

Alex...don't you have some other brittles?? Thought I heard you mention another....?

[alexwolf]

i have 2 smaller black brittles. He didnt actually eat all the fish. i managed to get the body of the flame hawk, and the powder brown out. I wateched 3 nassarius snails eat my little neon goby. and i never found the large neon goby, or the redlip blenny.

[Tim Marvin]

I would say get the green out so you can find out what is really killing the fish. Then you won't be able to blame the poor brittle star for something it hasn't done. I'll gladly take it if you are giving it away.

[Sherri]

LOL Tim...

[Tim Marvin]

Oh yeh, I forgot. You'll have to clean the dead fish out yourself also.... Gross if they sit too long...LOL......Sorry to hear you are having problems.

[alexwolf]

no. that was the big neon that i think he got, the miniature one from SWF was the one that the nassarius got. He got sucked into a maxijet slat.

[OrionN]

I know what was wrote by various experts on the Internet on how Green Brittle star hunts and eats fish. All I know is that I have not one but three of these stars in my tank. I never loose a fish to them. I have a friend who had one for 10 years and never loose a fish to him. They are scavenger, IMO, and not the cause of you fish's death.
Minh