What ate my serpent star?

[Nlangan]

Added CUC this week which included 2 serpent stars. Right away I noticed a 1.5" part of one of the stars arms was lying in the sand. I didn't know what to make of that. This morning, 4 days later, the guy was in pieces, the big piece had about 40% of the disk with 2 arms, and the small piece was about 2" of an arm. The rest of him is gone, eaten I suppose. The other star is MIA. I'd like to find the culprit and Im asking where you point the icy finger of suspicion. I want a peaceful tank. For now I put the big piece which is still moving into the fuge.

Kole Tang, juvenile.
Blood shrimp, big one like 3" or so, was added after I found the first segment of arm.
Live rock had a couple of astrea snails.
The rest of the CUC which included
2 peppermint shrimp (wurdemanii type), small ones
snails including bumble bee, cerith, mexican turbo, fighting conch (has barely moved), nassarius

I skipped crabs when building my CUC to avoid this very type of thing.

Dang.

[Chiefsurfer]

you hear any clicking inside the tank? Could be a mantis I guess if you ever hear clicking.

Also, crabs may/can hitch-hike on LR. A larger gorilla or green crab can make quick work of a starfish.

[Nlangan]

Stock list update - I forgot to mention a yellow watchman/pistol shrimp also went into the tank. They were the first ones in and after I released them into the tank I never saw them again.

I do occasionally hear clicking, which I really hope is the pistol shrimp. Oh Man, I hope it isn't a Mantis. I have seen the occasional gorilla crab, though they tend to be smaller. Whatever did this managed to rip a good sized serpent star in half across the disk. And didn't leave much. Also, it struck within an hour of the CUC being added.

Mantis is pretty much a nighmare scenario isn't it? What do I do if I have a mantis?

[Jonny Roks]

nlangan, if you can find him and his hiding spot you can take that piece of rock out and use something to flush him out in a bucket.


i got this info below from:
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/124


Removal Methods

There are many different types of removal techniques. Here is a list of the most popular and successful methods.

Known Location:

If you know the location of the mantis shrimp you can use the technique of forcing a foreign liquid into the rock where it is living. First, isolate the rock in another container or sink. Next, choose your weapon. Freshwater, soda water, and boiling water are all good choices. Squirt your liquid of choice into a hole in the rock using a syringe or baster. The mantis shrimp will evacuate the rock when he is stressed.

If you are not too attached to the size or shape of the rock the mantis shrimp is living in, you can bust the rock into smaller pieces with a hammer. It will be easier to flush out the mantis shrimp when it does not have as many holes or tunnels to hide in.

Unknown Location:

A trap is the best bet when you know you have a mantis shrimp living in your tank, but its exact location is unknown. You can make a trap of your own quite easily, or can purchase a commercial trap. Both work in the same manner, by baiting the trap with food, then capturing the mantis shrimp after it enters the trap.

To make your own trap, you need sharp scissors or a knife, a 16 oz. clear plastic bottle, and a piece of seafood for bait. (1) Cut the bottle at the widest point (between the top of bottle and sides). This will leave the top part of the bottle that looks like a funnel. (2) Invert the funnel and place it inside the bottle. The drinking hole should now be facing the bottom of the bottle. (Please see the diagram link in “Further Reading” for an illustration.) (3) Place seafood bait in bottle. (4) Submerge the trap in your tank to fill with water. Place trap at bottom of your tank on top of the substrate. (5) Check back often to see when you’ve caught your mantis. Then, remove the trap with the mantis inside.

[budman0418]

if it is a mantis then you will know i a day or two when all your live stock is gone. You might have to stay up one night with the lights off and a flashlight in hand. when you here the clicking try to get an idea where its from and shine the light in the tank and see what you can see. a gorrilla crab can be deadly to a star over some time.

the worst case is take out all the rock and dip it in freshwater to see what pops out. im not sure the size of tank or how much rock you have, if its work it.

[orgtizz]

It might sound odd, but you have to watch those Pep shrimps... I brought home a run of the mill star to stir up the sub, and all 3 of my Pep's teamed up on him and ate him arm by arm... Finished him off everytime he surfaced.... I couldn't get to him to rescue!

[tahoe61]

If you want a peaceful tank then IMO get rid of the serpent stars. They are a great CUC, but they knock corals over, and when they get larger they will eat sleeping fish. The green and red ones are the most aggressive as they get large, especially in smaller tanks, anything 100 gal or less.

[megatsea]

I had my serpent star for 5 years with my clowns....one of the P shrimp would pick on him, had to quarantine the star for 2 months to heal-had a chunk of his back exposed....he healed 100%
Then a year later(shrimps gone) the star starting losing tips of his legs....he died within 6 months...I had always hand fed him every other day,really was attached to him....tap on the glass with tongs and out he would come.....anyways...
I am fishless now, only a few snails and blue leg hermits, and one emerald (all new additions). My reef tank looks lonely, not sure what I will get, need advice eventually as I want some thing different.
Good luck!

[bertoni]

The peppermint shrimp might have done something, but it's also possible that the serpent stars were injured in transportation or acclimation. Hard to say.

[Nlangan]

Thanks for all the info guys. This morning when the lights came up they startled a huge hairy gorilla crab. I didn't even think about it, just jammed my hand in the tank, cornered him in a crevasse, and crushed him with my index finger. I feel kinda bad about it now but I'm really hoping he was the culprit.

This should never have happened. I put all my live rock in the fuge, and used base rock in the display tank because I was worried some nasty hitchiker would get in the DT. Then, after 3 weeks my cycle hadn't finished so I thought that maybe I should put just one of the live rocks in the DT -- that maybe would accelerate the cycle. So I carefully inspected it from every angle, used a flashlight, to make sure there wasn't anything dangerous on it before I put it in. Fact is I really can't see those gorillas until they move.

Of course, I may also have a mantis. The Florida live rock I used is full of them. But the clicking I occasionally hear could also be the snapping shrimp I put in. I guess we'll see if the killings continue.