Star fish killer!!!

[VBF]

Hi Guys,

I have a 3 feet DSB (7" depth) with LR, Cheatos.The DSB is setup about 4-5 months ago. I have cleaned the sand b4 setting up the DSB. Recently I added 2 starfish and they got eaten up!!! something is eating the starfish leg by leg... they managed to consume all 5 legs over night. I cannot see any predator at all. I also have a sea ###### that is doing ok.

Any idea what could be causing this??? or how i should solve the problem?

Please help

[neokn]

Do you have Harlequin Shrimp in there?

Did you find any remains of the leg?

Here is a good readup for you.

[VBF]

Thanks for the readup. I did not see any pieces of legs. All that is left is the middle part of the body. confirmed dead as rotting liao. The night before its still ok,next morning all legs gone and by afternoon, start to have rotting smell. dun think got Harlequin Shrimp in there. at least i did not intentionally introduce it in.

any ideas??

[Gouldian]

Hi bro,

Some Sea Stars are unable to cope with transportation and some just not suitable in our tank.

Its been written by several experts (even Julian Sprung) that their diet remains a mystery thus may slowly starve to death in our tank.

I have tried the so called reef-safe + hardy Fromia sp. several times only to have them slowly "disintergrating" in my tank.

I have ruled out transportation and acclimation as I have done the necessary by:

1) Proper selection

2) Ensure I do not expose them to air

3) Drip acclimation

At first I suspect its due to a crab but even after my removal the susequent fromia still start "melting" after 3 month in my tank.

Just my 2 cents.

[VBF]

Hi bro,

I understand that some starfishes are more prone to "wasting" especially if the tank condition is poor, however the legs disappeared over night. Within 6-8 hrs a healthy starfish which was still moving around had all its legs chopped off. its just too fast I think.

The starfish was quite a good sandbed assistant toegther with the sea cub. now scare to put another star in... but i cannot think of how to identify the predator or even what it can be. worms or crabs?

Help Help!!!!

[Gouldian]

Hi bro,

If you suspect its due to predator, the best time to catch them is 2-3 hours after lights-off.

Good luck!

[neokn]

It's "Open Season".

Happy hunting.

[reeftask]

It's "Open Season".

Happy hunting.

and get a shotgun ready.

I think a Harlequin Shrimp is introduced without your knowledge. Had that experience yrs ago.

[kareen]

how about setting a trap with one more star? I believe the star can survive for months in the trap with feeding....

[reeftask]

how about setting a trap with one more star? I believe the star can survive for months in the trap with feeding....

yeah, and install a camera, lets see what is the killer.

BTW harlequin will not survive without any starfish.

[Underwater]

It is indeed a mystery cos you said all legs disappeared overnight! Cannot be a predator like harlequin cos it be spotted easily and also cannot be possibly eating up all the legs in less than 12hrs. It has to be damn big or many of them hiding in yr LR to do that...this is weird.

What other LS you have in yr 3ft DSB? You mentioned a sea #####? What's that?

[Achilles Tang]

Hmmm... I wonder how that word got filtered! Could you spell it out with spaces in between?