Red serpent star dropping legs

[dizzy]

I have seen red serpent stars from the Caribbean drop there arms and die many times. I also have some of them in tanks that I have had for years that do extremely well. What wrong condition causes them to start shedding body parts. Has anyone had one live after dropping several arm segments? I have heard these are deep water starfish but I don't think that would be a reason.

 

[reefland]

I had a red star do something just like that. I felt it was being attacked by something. I assumed one of the rock crabs I never got out. I often saw the rock crabs in the general area where the star liked to stay.

I never did see any of my other stars get attacked though. One day I found the red star with 5 little stubs where legs used to be. Was no longer mobile. Currents pushed him under the rock structure never to be seen again.

Perhaps it never was attacked and its something more common. It ate well while it had arms.

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
It is common for starfish to loss legs when it decomposes from the outside toward the center... a goner.

 

[Anemone]

IME, the leg-drop usually occurs within a few weeks of purchase, and is a result of poor acclimation (either hobbyist or at the wholesale/retail level).

I had one drop 4 legs completely, and all but 1" of the fifth leg. It didn't get around real well (almost no mobility), so I hand fed it krill a couple of times a week for a couple of months until it started to grow leg nubs back, then I still hand fed it every couple of weeks for the next few months. By then, it had over an inch of growth on each of the dropped portions, so it was getting around well enough to scrounge its own food, so I stopped hand-feeding it. That was about 3 years ago, and the red serpent is still doing well.....

BTW, it's a Ophioderma squamosissimum.

Kevin

 

[Mike King]

Starfish in general are very susceptible to salinity changes. Many Brittle and serpent stars will drop parts of their legs if the salinity is changed fast. If your aquarium is loosing a lot of water to evaporation and your rapidly refilling this could be causing the stars problem. Top off your tank slowly or better yet add a top off valve and water reservoir to keep salinity stable.


Mike

 

[dizzy]

Thanks for the responces. This particular star came in with a small piece of an arm broken off, so it was already stressed. It dropped off two more large pices of arm last night. I don't usually have problems with serpents or brittle stars, but O. squamossimum seem more delicate than most. I thinking paying attention to salinity like Mike suggested is important. My guess is that the Caribbean wholesaler :evil: is rough handling these beautiful creatures. Once acclimated they are usually quite hardy, but more probably die than necessary. I also had a few royal gramma and yellowhead jawfish deaths in that shipment. If any dealers want advice on who to possibly avoid PM.

 

[scooterr]

My red star lost an arm in a tank move about a year ago. It now is about 5"(still 2" short). They do grow but fairly slowly.
HTH

 

[goavs21]

My linkia lost a couple of arms recently, while I was on vaction. I came home to a tank that had not been topped off as instructed. Although the increase would not have been that quick, do you think salinity was the culprit in my friend's loss??

 

[ophiuroid]

Salinity shock is a definite problem with these guys. They are the Linckia's of the brittlestars. Without many hours of acclimation, they usually do not survive. They are not, BTW, considered to be 'deep water' brittlestars, though they can range into a few hundred feet.

However, they are considered by scientists to be quite rare. Adults are typically only found under large coral heads, like brain corals, which makes one wonder how they are caught, and what damage is done to get these profitable animals.

All echinoderms are extremely intolerant of salinity change, either going too high, or too low. Famous stories include mass mortalities of echinoderms living in bays, after heavy rain. So the mortality can occur quickly, or slowly if salinities drop too low or get too high over time.

How high did your salinity get, goavs21?

Keep in mind, however, that Linckia will also reproduce by dropping arms. The sort of stress we are talking about tends to kill the animal. It tends to disintegrate over time, and show white slimy areas. If your Linckia is happy and moving around, and the arms are moving around, then it might have been a reproductive event.

 

[goavs21]

I keep my reef round 1.024SG. I did not measure the SG when I returned home, but I added ~ 10-15% H2O of my total tanks volume. And with little or no creep / spillage, I would guess the SG would have increased about the same, right??

The three-legged guy is moving around pretty good, I think.

No sighting of the MIA limbs.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Any chance you got that red star from Steve? Mine came in missing a few parts too.....every thing else came in perfect though!
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