Something Eating My Starfish

[Lynden]

Bristleworms are almost certainly NOT eating your starfish... remember bristleworms do not have true jaws, and they certainly cannot take "bites" out of a rigid starfish. They need to grasp the flesh and slowly work it loose, and any living motile animal is not going to let them do this. The star would at least curl up a leg or something.

Furthermore, I wouldn't be so sure they'd even eat a dead one. You need to look for other possibilities, diseases or other preds. More than likely your star is starving to death; slower movement is a sure sign of this. I'm afraid that killing your bristleworms will do nothing but land your tank in a heap of trouble in the future; they are important scavengers.

There is one (just one) predatory species of fireworm and this is Hermodice carunculata. It is very brightly coloured compared to other ones and is bold, often appearing during the day. This is the ONLY species of bristleworm that one should EVER attempt to eradicate.

And of course I've "heard" of bristleworms killing everything from fish to clams. The vast majority of those cases it was just the aquarist looking for something to blame when in reality the aquarist was at least partially at fault.

If you must, trap and remove the largest specimens, but try to give them a home instead of just killing them. Seems a bit wrong to take something from the wild then decide you want to kill it!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Watch the star if you dont believe it, watch him at night when bristles are most active, you'll see that they avoid him. Theyre probably terrified of the thing. It would be wise to SLOWLY quarantine him.

 

[Adrinal]

There are still people who use maggots to clean out wounds. The maggots eat all the necrotic flesh and stop it from consuming your whole body.

Bristle worms = maggots

Starfish = people


Starfish is likely sick and starving in the tank.


Best guess with the info provided.

 

[Stuart.Wiltshire]

Dont know if this helps, i have a blue star, i bought it from my LFS along with a sand sifter about 5 months ago. The blue stars ends of three legs were visibly fleshy like something was eating them. i suspected the dancing shrimps were having a munch on him, so I moved him into my sump, he was there about a month, the ends remained fleshy, then stared to heal, one leg was about an half inch shorter than the rest, i put him back in the main tank, he continued to hide for another month, then one day he appeared completely healed and flies around the tank so vigoursly he is obviously very healthy and happy.

i use a guy who works in the LFS i use, he is always there for help and advice, he didnt have clue what the cause was, we did nothing much, i did think i was going to lose him, then it did get better all on its own.

As i say i dont know if this helps, but my story has a happy ending.

 

[tat2life]

thanks for the replies.. i feed him everyday now instead of once a week and he seems much happier and is slowly healing up so things are looking up. could be a coincidence he was covering the worms hole and had bits mising.. im not sure lol

 

[chrissaysyes]

He could have fallen and scratched himself, or he could have been stung by something...that's a lot more feasible than bristleworms eating him.

 

[tat2life]

cant be from a fall cus it litrally looks bitten away its not small either its a big chunk missing in middle of his arm then 2 tiny ones on ends of 2 arms. he is moving around the tank though so looks ok now and the 2 on end of arms seem to be closing over.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Definitely not a worm, wouldnt happen to have any harlequin shrimp would ya?

 

[tat2life]

nope no shrimp at all lol

 

[chrissaysyes]

what fish are in the tank?

 

[tat2life]

at the time only a percula clown fish

 

[chrissaysyes]

Dunno then man

 

[tat2life]

me either lol im guessing its down to feeding or something bit him. so im going to try feeding him through a squeezer thing so i know for sure he is getting the food