Quintapalegic Starfish

[tweety]

I woke up this morning to find my pink starfish with only one half of one leg left. He is in a 10g with a firefish, a emerald crab and an urchin (rock boring we think). That's all that's in the tank besides the clean up crew, what could have eaten him? He's now in the 100g I'm hoping he'll find a nice solitary place and hide until he can grow back.

[J_G]

it might be he got to the top of your tank and air got to his legs

[Reef69]

I believe air isnt an issue. Some of my starfish like to hang out by the surface sticking one leg outside thee water. Whatever it was, it will grow back..

[bigdscobra]

So the starfish only has one leg and its missing half of that? :blink

[CD]

I doubt seriously any of the creature that you mentioned are munching on your star. What do you have for a clean up crew...just the normal snails and hermits? You may want to observe your tank at night to see what is going on. You would be surprised to see what goes on in a tank at night - a lot of creatures are nocturnal. It's fairly easy to get unwanted hitch hikers in LR. It could've also gotten caught up in some of your equipment - powerheads seem to frequently be the culprit. In any case, the leg will grow back, but I would definitely check out your tank for a couple of nights...at least an hour after "lights out". ;)
Keep us posted.

W. :)

[tweety]

Yes, it now only has one half of ONE leg... poor little guy. Yeah normal snails and small hermits. The only flow I have is from a filter and it has a screen on the end. Really no place for it to get it's legs sucked up in.

[Reef69]

Have you seen any of the other legs?..

[tweety]

Nope. What's left are just little white ended nubs. Like I said it's a 10g so it's not too hard to look through stuff. If there is something hiding in there it must be a really good hider.

[brewercm]

IF you had a mantis shrimp you may not know. I had one that lived deep down inside of a piece of rock. Had I not been told he was there when I bought the rock I would have never known.

[CD]

Yep, that's kinda what I thought too. I've never had a mantis, but I wouldn't imagine they would have to be all that big to do a whole lot of damage. :o

I can't think of anything else from what you're telling us :unsure

W.

[tweety]

Is there any reason it would just shed it's legs?

[thedude]

I had a small red starfish do the same thing as yours. It was hurt when I got mine but I thought I could save him. I have a suspicion that either my shrimp or my dwarf potter's picked on him but sadly, he melted away in 2 days.

[jaded]

Well... I'm surprised that reproduction hasnt been mentioned... Linkia's, as well as many other varieties shed a leg that will eventually become another starfish as a means of reproduction.

Can you find the lost piece? What kind of star is it?

[tweety]

I'm not sure what kind it is... I got it last month at finaddict. It's pink with lighter pink/white stripes. Might be a serpent it's long and skinny like that. I just thought it was pretty =). Can't find any of the other legs. If there is a mantis in my tank how would I lure it out to find it?

[jaded]

sorry... I didnt realize that your star was down to one half of one leg (although it clearly says that) I thought bigdscobra was just joking :blush Its not reproducing if its losing legs like that!!!

I've never tried to remove a mantis before so Im no help there

[Reef69]

I doubt its a mantis...more if your fish and inverts would be gone by now..

[jaded]

moving him to another tank is probably your best move... I did have an emerald that wiped out my red mushrooms in a couple of days. Once they run out of grazing they will eat whatever they can get there claws on and anyone that has ever tempted fate and allowed one to grab them (am i the only one to do that???) knows that they pack a pretty strong pinch!!!

[Sherri]

I have a hitch hiker pistol shrimp that I think messed with my sand sifting star - whatever it was took off 2 legs...put it in another tank & legs grew back.

[CD]

Once they run out of grazing they will eat whatever they can get there claws on

A good way to keep those emeralds (and any other crab) from going haywire on you is to drop a pinch of sinking pellets in there for them every once in awhile. I really love doing that at night after all the fishies are asleep....it's like a crab convention, except they're all dukin' it out over who gets which piece of food. :roll Of course, I only do this when they've run out of other stuff to eat...like ALGAE...LOL. Get them too full and they won't do their job!

tweety - if you do (by some strange twist of fate) have a mantis in there, you can make a trap for them with a piece of shrimp as bait and something as simple as a plastic tube - closed off on one end, and with a string tied around the other. You can build your own...add a trap door if you want - be as creative as you want to get. Once it goes in the tube and starts to eat - yank on the string fast - those little buggers can MOVE :P Remember though - you'll have better luck catching it at night if that's what's in there. Think like a hunter, and you'll catch it!
OH and if it is a mantis, don't touch it...there are two kinds - the type that spear their prey, and the type that "smash" their prey. Either one is not something you'd want splitting or smashing a thumb or finger.

W. :)

[Tim Marvin]

I have a feeling there is something going on in the water. Did you touch it with your hands when you added it to the tank? How long have you had it?

[tweety]

Nope I have never touched it until today. I got it the beginning of June, a little over a month ago. What could be going on with the water that it would lose legs?