Brittle star missing arm.

[abbeyspal]

Hey I had to remove all of my rock today and found a small black brittle star I had added about a month ago. He was shy fro the get go but I haden't seen him for about two weeks. When I spotted him today he was missing about half of one of his arms. What could cuase this. Do these fellows die quickly or do they slowly disinegrate? He was moving around pretty good and even took a small piece of shrimp to eat before I put the rock back in. Any ideas as to what may be going on?

 

[brandon4291]

Nah, they don't disintegrate. They can starve and die completely, however this animal would be the last to die in a reeftank in my opinion. If your tank has fish and is being fed, that's all it takes for them to survive because they are master foragers and when hungry enough will come out and steal food aggressively that may fall on the floor or in rock crevices. They can also steal a small fish, opportunistic these guys are, but they are not notoriously mean. It is natural for them to hide well enough that you hardly see them, and I think his arm could have been lost in a fight, or wedged between rocks that were moved somehow. It will grow back in time.

B

 

[abbeyspal]

Cool some good news. He is really cool even though I hardly ever see him. I want him to be healthy all the same though.

 

[eight2178]

my brittle star actually lost all 5 arms....he's doing good...all 5 are re-generating....like brandon said, no worries...

 

[jsbradbury]

I have a Chocolate Chip Starfish
"Protoreastor nodosus" that recently got two opposite arms stuck in the intake of a powerhead. I cut both arms off up near the body in hopes that they will regenerate. I felt really bad about doing it, but they looked dead and I heard they could do this without problems, is this true? From the second I finished cutting them off, he has been cruising around the tank, eats daily and seems to be ok. About how long should I expect them to take to regrow, if ever?

 

[Anonymous]

I have a really large Brittle star that is always wrapped around and under my rocks. I would be afraid to move any of those rocks as I think it would damage him.

Bryan

 

[attempt]

if you have a new star, i understand that they will seem to melt away or loose arms if the were not acclimated properly. (i speak from experience)
I asked everyone i knew and they all gave me that same answer. adnd it can take weeks to happen, also if you are adding "cold" water when doing water changes rather than warming it up to your tank temp, this will cause stars to loose arms/disentigrate
Also it is my understanding that some stars (particularly the thick bodied stars (with relativly unflexable legs) cannot regenerate new legs. if they loose one, it is gone for good.
just my 2 cents

 

[psiico]

I read that they can generate new legs, but not usually in aquaria. The big ones, that is, like linkia and stuff. I think I read that, lol. I could be wrong.

I have a brittle and a serpent. The serpent I noticed 4 days ago is torn on his central disc. The disc is about an inch across and the tear is about 1/4 of the way through, between two arms. He seems to be fine otherwise, nothing leaking and the edges seem "dry". He's orange colored but like a dog seems to have white flesh underneath, all the flesh visible in the tear is white, doesn't look infected, but what do I know? I was worried but after 4 days of watching him behave as though nothing is wrong I'm not anymore. I figure he'll heal.

 

[abbeyspal]

Mine is also white in the injured area. He appears to be in good health. Hopefully he was just injured and isn't dying. I have another brittle star that is a little bigger and I know is in perfect health. Very active little guy. I had spotted a hitchhiker crab about month ago, it looked like an emerald crab to me. Is it possible that the crab took a bite out of the star?

 

[Anonymous]

Crabs are oportunistic feeders and will usually pick at anything edible when they are hungry. Serpent stars are on the menu if they are found when hungry, plus you don't know if it is actually an emerald crab.

Losing an arm or a part of one can be attributed to a few things.

1. predator

2. poor water quality

3. injury(from falling rock(s)...etc.)

4. bacterial infections(which can get worse due to injuries or poor water quality)

Brittle stars are usually a good indicator of water quality issues. If they are wasting away slowly you should get your water up to par. I have also heard of that acclimation theory as well.

If it was an injury and your water quality is good, it's arm should grow back in time.