Starfish missing legs!!! HELP!!

[D.S.]

I have a serpent star that is missing all of it's legs. It only has about 1
inch left of all five. I have other stars in the tank and they are all
fine. I have checked my prams and all are with in limits. Could a hermit
crab be sniping them off? What should I do? Will the legs regrow? Is it
hopeless?

Help!!

zandiver

[Billy]

"D.S." > wrote in message
...
|I have a serpent star that is missing all of it's legs. It only has
about 1
| inch left of all five. I have other stars in the tank and they are
all
| fine. I have checked my prams and all are with in limits. Could a
hermit
| crab be sniping them off? What should I do? Will the legs regrow?
Is it
| hopeless?
|

Quarantine the damaged star. He may live, and provided this, the legs
will regrow. Under current conditions, he will not be able to compete
for food, and will continue to be hazed, and will die, IMO. Get him
out of there. You will likely have to target feed him for quite a
while, then find him or the aggressor a new home, provided you can
determine said aggressor. How large is the star and the hermits you
suspect? I'd think a hermit would have to be quite a bit larger than
the star to be snipping off legs. What other critters do you have? I
would be looking to the other serpents, myself, in the absence of
more info.

billy

[D.S.]

The injured star is/was about 9" across. I have 3 pretty big hermits in
there at the moment. The largest is in a shell larger than a golf ball and
is hanging out of it. I have had the tank set up for well over a year and
the stars have been in there most of that time with no ill effects. I will
setup a Q-tank for him and see how he does.

Thanks

Darin

"Billy" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> "D.S." > wrote in message
> ...
> |I have a serpent star that is missing all of it's legs. It only has
> about 1
> | inch left of all five. I have other stars in the tank and they are
> all
> | fine. I have checked my prams and all are with in limits. Could a
> hermit
> | crab be sniping them off? What should I do? Will the legs regrow?
> Is it
> | hopeless?
> |
>
> Quarantine the damaged star. He may live, and provided this, the legs
> will regrow. Under current conditions, he will not be able to compete
> for food, and will continue to be hazed, and will die, IMO. Get him
> out of there. You will likely have to target feed him for quite a
> while, then find him or the aggressor a new home, provided you can
> determine said aggressor. How large is the star and the hermits you
> suspect? I'd think a hermit would have to be quite a bit larger than
> the star to be snipping off legs. What other critters do you have? I
> would be looking to the other serpents, myself, in the absence of
> more info.
>
> billy
>
>

[Kevin & Donna Sanders, M.D.]

I have heard salinity changes will cause that. Starfish are very sensitive
to changes


"D.S." > wrote in message
...
>I have a serpent star that is missing all of it's legs. It only has about
>1 inch left of all five. I have other stars in the tank and they are all
>fine. I have checked my prams and all are with in limits. Could a hermit
>crab be sniping them off? What should I do? Will the legs regrow? Is it
>hopeless?
>
> Help!!
>
> zandiver
>