Starfish Amputee

MMAX · #1 01-03-2009, 03:26 PM

I dropped a 3 to 4" sand sifting star into my tank yesterday to see if it would take care of the detritus in my sand. Lsat night I noticed that it seemed to be pinned against a rock in the back. Checked again and it was loose but missing one leg. I'm almost positive I don't have a mantis in the tank, the cleaner shrimp, small clowns and snails would have been long gone and I've had them close to a year. I know there's a dime sized hairy crab that lives in the rock where the star was pinned but he always seemed peaceful and I find it hard to believe a crab that small would eat a 2" leg. Any thoughts? If the star pulls through how long would it take to regenerate the leg?

xtreme · #2 01-03-2009, 03:50 PM

Not sure what would have caused yours to lose a leg, I have a Nardoa sp. star that likes to stick his legs in my vortechs. He is also an amputee and regrowing his leg is a pretty slow process. I'd say maybe 1/2" has grown back in the last couple months. It has had a couple injuries so maybe the healing process is slowed down since he has a couple legs needing repair. Let me know how yours makes out as I'm curious how quick yours re-grows.

Ian · #3 01-03-2009, 05:40 PM

Don't know how long it will take but if the leg had a piece of the central disk atached to it you have a chance to have it live and grow a new starfish from it as well.....2 for 1

MMAX · #4 01-04-2009, 02:53 PM

Something got him again last night. He now has 2.5 legs left. Moved him to the other side of the tank. That's a pretty expensive food item for whoever's eating him.

tang daddy · #5 01-04-2009, 03:52 PM

either 1 of 2 scenarios sometimes and I am unsure with sand sifting but the red fromia stars they will melt and recently after an accident with my blue linkia has also melted, my understanding is if the tank is fairly new starfish dont do well. The second scenario is that you may have a harlequinn shrimp you're not aware of?

MMAX · #6 01-04-2009, 04:46 PM

The tank's 1 year old...just noticed one of my turbo snails is gone from his shell too. I may have a serial killer on the loose.

untamed · #7 01-04-2009, 05:37 PM

I've caught one of my tangs eating the legs off of my serpent star. I think it was the Naso unicornis, as I recall.

mike31154 · #8 01-04-2009, 06:26 PM

I lost my sandsifting star fish after introducing a White Spotted Hermit Crab. Herminator also ate one of my snails and I suspect a Brittle Starfish as well, since I haven't seen it for some time. I've been keeping an eye on the big hermit and he hasn't devoured any other livestock lately. It could be that the sandsifting star fish was sick or injured before the hermit started picking at it, but it's gone now and I kind of like the big hermit since he actually sifts around in the sand better than the starfish ever did. I have 4 to 5 inches of sand in some areas and the White Spotted Hermit can dig down several inches in no time. I suspect I will have to remove him at some point since he's growing quite large and being an opportunist, will become too destructive.

tlo · #9 01-04-2009, 07:37 PM

Sometimes losing a legs can be a sign of stress, they are very sensitive to any changes. What are your water parameters? How did you acclimatize it?
-On a side note, sand sifting stars don't eat detrius, they eat the microfauna in the sand. Unless you have a large tank, they will eat the sandbed clean of these and then starve.