Starfish loosing legs

[aresgod]

hey my Fancy tiger striped star fish is missing the ends of two of its legs, it seems to be otherwise healthy and active, do you think my hermits could have snipped them, no of them are really large enough and they dont seem to be trying to eat the ends of the legs, my other star fish is fine and levels are a little off after the move but nothign too dangerous,
Salinity 1.024
Ph 8.1
Nitrate 10 ppm
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0.50 ppm

let me know if any of you have heard of this happening... maybe they shed i dont know
thanks
Brahm

 

[dbacksrat]

i think sea stars can regenerate their legs--i dont know if all of them can

 

[1979camaro]

this is usually a sign of unhealthyness i believe...that nitate is borderline dangerous for inverts, could be the culprit. i would do a waterchange to bring that down

it is possible that it shed the leg if it was attacked or something, but if your crabs are tiny i doubt that is it. my crabs run all over my sand sifting stars when they are on the substrate surface and dont bother them

what else have you got in there? any fish that might pick at it?

 

[wayne]

How long have you had it? What are you feeding it? That level of ammonia is not going to be liked by the starfish.
Is it a starfish or a brittlestar? Brittles are often pretty tough but starfish are not very hardy at all in general

 

[aresgod]

it is a Fancy Serpent Sea Star,Tiger-striped, i have had it for over a month now, i have been feeding it little bits of shrimp or squid and i am hatching some brine shrimp right now, there are no other fish in the tank, none of the hermits are large enough i think to do any damage, i also have a Sand Sifting Sea Star in the tank as well that seems to be doing just fine, hope this info helps, is there anything else you would suggest feeding them?
thanks
Brahm

 

[S.Reef]

If it isnt the water quality, there are are a few kinds of fish and inverts that sometimes pick at starfish. I had a lawnmower blenny consume 3 starfish before I found out he was the culprit.

 

[DSK]

I had the same problem they will grow there legs back it just takes time. but it will be fine missing the ends.

 

[dbacksrat]

the starfish that can regenerate can live with only one leg as long as the central disk is intact
wow--a carnivorous lawnmower blenny? i though they were herbivorous...