I had a red fromia starfish in my tank. While I was watching it, I noticed my first little crab-like hitchhiker in my rock. The starfish was covering a hole in which the crab was living. It kept pushing out rocks and debris from the hole but I didn't think much of it. Tonight, I got home and my starfish had one of its legs half off. I picked it up assuming it is dead and the bottom is all fleshy and torn apart. How do I really know that it is dead? I am pretty certain that it is just by the way it looks all torn apart. Any specific way?
Something mauled my starfish!
- Thread starter WannaRace
- Start date
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Starfish will often come back from the legs, if part of the disk (body) is still attached to the leg. I had a serpent star lose all five legs once, and not only did the disk grow back all five legs, but all of the legs that had fallen off grew into new serpent stars too. If the leg was broken off halfway, then it probably won't turn into a new starfish. But the starfish should grow the missing leg back with no problem.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
That's what happened to my serpent star! It had a giant hole in the center of its body. It's guts were spilling out everywhere. It still survived...somehow...
Rcpilot
Reef enthusiast
Quarentine it. That will protect it from further attacks and it will also protect the rest of your tank if it does happen to die.
Doc
I don't work for anybody
yup. QT if you can. starfish are amazingly hardy and will overcome much munching before giving up the ghost. Good luck.
-Dr Marco :sfish:
-Dr Marco :sfish:
