Sand Sifting Starfish

[Sherri]

Any ideas what/who would mess with a sand sifting starfish? He's missing 1 1/2 legs...I don't have any peppermint shrimp which previously I had caught eating my last one (in my 100 gal)...which has recovered and regrown his 2 legs in my 30 gal. Took this one out of the 180 last night after I saw his leg missing & put him in my 30 also to recover.

Thanks. <_<

[brieman]

We have two sand sifting stars in are's and several different fish and inverts, nothing ever messes with them

[alton]

Some Blue Leg Crabs will peck away on sand stars when they get low on food

[Bill S]

I can tell you from our recent trip to Belize, when you pick up a rock and there's a starfish (or 5) under it, ALL of the fish come running. If they get exposed during daylight hours, they quickly assume a bottom rung on the food chain...

[garagebrian]

Any ideas what/who would mess with a sand sifting starfish? He's missing 1 1/2 legs...I don't have any peppermint shrimp which previously I had caught eating my last one (in my 100 gal)...which has recovered and regrown his 2 legs in my 30 gal. Took this one out of the 180 last night after I saw his leg missing & put him in my 30 also to recover.

Thanks. <_<

Some people will say that the dropping of arms is a sign of starvation. I had a sand sifting star in my 55 and it died of starvation, before it did it dropped 3 of its 5 arms. These things need HUGE tanks to have any chance of long term survival in aquariums, 180 is too small. Dr Ron on RC would say that any aquarium is too small. I personally think they shouldn't even be sold in the hobby.

Here is a thread that has a some additional info:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=644639

I'm sorry to hear about your star, sounds like mine :(

B.

[CD]

Sherri - you might want to consider a Fighting Conch. We got one for our sandbed, and I'll have to say I am very impressed with their cleaning abilities. They stay on the SB (not on rocks or glass) or burrow into the SB, and keep it CLEAN! Within a week of adding it to the tank, there was a noticible difference. We have nassarius snails also, but with a larger tank, we would've had to buy either a massive amount more of the nassarius, a SSS (which I was worried about putting in the 210G after reading about their feeding needs) OR the conch...I'm glad we settled on the conch. ;)

W. :)

[garagebrian]

Sherri - you might want to consider a Fighting Conch. We got one for our sandbed, and I'll have to say I am very impressed with their cleaning abilities. They stay on the SB (not on rocks or glass) or burrow into the SB, and keep it CLEAN! Within a week of adding it to the tank, there was a noticible difference. We have nassarius snails also, but with a larger tank, we would've had to buy either a massive amount more of the nassarius, a SSS (which I was worried about putting in the 210G after reading about their feeding needs) OR the conch...I'm glad we settled on the conch. ;)

W. :)

I agree with Wendy, fighting conches are cool, although you need about 3 square feet of open sandbed to sustain one long term. I'm planning on one for my 75.

As a side note nassarius snails don't do anything to clean the sand, they are strictly carnivores. They will eat any meaty foods that fall to the sand bed, so that is a useful function, but they do not ingest or clean sand or rocks.

B.

[Darth-Tater]

Are you sure he's not diabetic? :o I did not know star fish can be diabetics. :P I can tell you from experience that lower body parts are lost real fast if you don't watch out. :w00t

D

[Sherri]

I have had one in my 30 gal for almost a year & he looks great. The SSS that I just had the problem with was added last week and he didn't look that great when I got him, but after a few days in my tank, his colored looked better & he had "plumped" up. Didn't really look like it "fell off," looks like it was eaten off - he looks good right now in the 30...even tho he's missing a leg... <_<

Would a "hijacker" pistol shrimp possibly mess with him? <_<

And thanks for all the info... :)

[NaCl_H2O]

So, did you call him "stumpy" :P

I've had this happen too, and also to my little red reef stars - no clue what does it :unsure I agree they aren't "falling off", they are being "Eaten Off" (ragged edges).