Brittle Star losing legs

mirosh · 12-27-2004, 07:49 AM

Hello,

I recently purchased 2 brittle stars from saltwaterfish.com and so far so good for one of them at least...the other, however, is losing limbs and is continually out when the light is on (i thought they were supposed to be nocturnal). *He doesn't look too good, he has white areas (looks like disintegration) on his limbs where the legs tend to fall off...any ideas why and what I can do differently to make him healthy?

Thanks, Mike

mirosh · 12-28-2004, 04:19 AM

OK...brittle star died...had to flush him this morning...poor guy lost all of his legs in a matter of 1 day and was just lying at the bottom of the tank not moving.

The other brittle doesn't look so hot either...starting to get white spots on his legs and is walking around during the day (just like the now-dead one used to do)!

What is the problem here?

amcarrig · 12-28-2004, 08:57 AM

What are your water parameters at? How did you acclimate the animals?

mirosh · 12-28-2004, 09:29 AM

water params:

pH : 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
SG: 1.026
(using Salifert and Aquarium Pharmacuticals)

I acclimated both of them using the drip method. *They have been in the tank now for about 2 weeks...this is the first sign of trouble.

amcarrig · 12-28-2004, 10:45 AM

Your nitrates are probably what did it

What other critters are in the tank?

allaboutfish37 · 12-28-2004, 10:55 AM

hey there,do you have that lion fish in your tank?I have 3 really big brittle stars they are really hardy,so I was thinking if you do have that lion fish he might be trying to get at them..seen a show about brittle stars they are like lizards if attacked they lose a leg or two .

mirosh · 12-28-2004, 01:34 PM

HAHA...no the lion fish is not in the tank...I WISH! Still a newbie to the hobby, found that picture, and thought it was pretty cool!

Could 10 ppm nitrate really have killed the stars? That seems nuts since I can't seem to get my nitrates lower than that...even with 2 water changes a month!

I have 2 3-strips, a few blue-legs, scarlets, nass's, turbos, coral banded shrimp, and 2 emeralds. Everyone else seems to be doing fine (except the turbos...they are not very active at all...might be dead...but are just chillin at the bottom of the tank and/or on the walls not moving)

Anyway, thanks for the help? Any other reasons the stars might be dieing?

-Mike

Ice · 12-28-2004, 02:09 PM

hi there this might be a dumb question but do feed the stars at all and if so what do you feed them

i feed mine mysis shrimp every other day he goes nuts over them

good luck

Peter

mirosh · 12-28-2004, 02:19 PM

I feed all of my fish Formula Two (and mysis every once in a while). *I also bought some dried sea-weed from the local asian market and attached pieces to rock work for them to munch on...they didn't munch that often though...the emerald crabs seem to love the stuff!

As far as feeding the stars directly, I never did that because they used to not come out of the rockwork until i went to bed.

amcarrig · 12-29-2004, 04:23 AM

[quote author=mirosh link=board=Inverts;num=1104169773;start=0#6 date=12/28/04 at 15:34:16]Could 10 ppm nitrate really have killed the stars? *That seems nuts since I can't seem to get my nitrates lower than that...even with 2 water changes a month!
-Mike[/quote]
10 ppm nitrates could have easily killed the stars. *A starfish dropping legs is a sign of stress and nitrates can and do stress starfish out. *

How often are you feeding the Formula one? That might be the source of your nitrates. If it's not, you need to find a way to drop your nitrates be it a refugium, nitrate coil or other methods. *Good luck to ya!