I have or should I say had a brittle star. Now it's in about 4 pieces but all the parts are still moving. I know that they regenerate when damaged but is this too much damage. I don't know what happened to it. Icame home to find it in pieces in my tank. I guess what I need to know is should I leave it in the tank to see what happens or take them out? Has anyone had this happen to them.
starfish
- Thread starter reefkeeper8
- Start date
First of all, I know absolutely nothing definate about brittle stars. From my understanding of stars back in good ole high school. They can regenerate a leg or maybe two when damaged. The center of a star fish has a stomach and other organs. If these are damaged it will probably die. If not, they would be nearly indestructible. I would assume that if the center is damaged and seperated it would probably be best to remove it.
EDIT:
and then I went back to reading the artical on chocolate chip starfish in Marine Fish and Reef magazine........... It says that a chocolate chip starfish anyway..When it loses a leg, as long as the leg has a part of the oral disk can potentialy regenerate a whole new starfish thus creating two. They do not recomend this at home as starfish are not mushroom corals and should NOT be Fragged.
EDIT:
and then I went back to reading the artical on chocolate chip starfish in Marine Fish and Reef magazine........... It says that a chocolate chip starfish anyway..When it loses a leg, as long as the leg has a part of the oral disk can potentialy regenerate a whole new starfish thus creating two. They do not recomend this at home as starfish are not mushroom corals and should NOT be Fragged.
The laast test were 2 days ago
salinity 1.023
nirite less than .o3 ppm
nirite 20 ppm
cal 400 ppm
8kh
It is strange that all the parts are still moving around the tank. I trapped the parts in one small area so they wouldn't get ost in the live rock. I didn't want to lost them and not be able to find them.
salinity 1.023
nirite less than .o3 ppm
nirite 20 ppm
cal 400 ppm
8kh
It is strange that all the parts are still moving around the tank. I trapped the parts in one small area so they wouldn't get ost in the live rock. I didn't want to lost them and not be able to find them.
IMO those readings indicate that you're having some water quality issues. Many inverts don't tolerate high levels of nitrate or nitrite well. Is the tank new? If so, it sounds like it needs more time to stabilize. If not, it might be time to take a look at your husbandry practices and/or your setup to improve water quality.
Also, many inverts - particularly stars - don't tolerate low salinity levels. IMO an SG of 1.025 or 1.026 would be more natural. A commonly accepted average for NSW is S=35, SG=1.0264 @ 77 degrees F.
Also, many inverts - particularly stars - don't tolerate low salinity levels. IMO an SG of 1.025 or 1.026 would be more natural. A commonly accepted average for NSW is S=35, SG=1.0264 @ 77 degrees F.
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