Reef Discussion

[gtrxu1]

I have had a Serpent Star in my tank for years, until recently it was one of my favorite animals. I caught it picking off my nass snails violently. I believe it has been through 12 nass in about 8 weeks, its doubled in size with a huge thick disc.

Have also recently been losing fish at a fast rate, everything just disappears except for my Flame Angel which I found dead on the weekend with damage to its face. In 3 weeks I have lost 2 mandarins, a Flame Angel, Firefish and a Royal Gramma. Also lost my Yellow Assessor a few months ago. Some of these animals I had for over 4 years so I am devastated.

Have also been crazy with work and being sick so it's all happening when I don't have time to work on the tank.

So could it be this Serpent Star? a few people have thought I'm crazy to think it's the SS but I have evidence and proof.

I have spent the week trying to catch the fucker as well.....

 

[ezza]

I found this account on serpent stars on 3reef...

http://www.3reef.com/threads/serpent-star-dangerous.135107/#ath

 

[Agent M]

I have two in my tank, one I didn't even know it was there for months, so I know how difficult it is to puzzle these things out. What I know about mine is they are most active at night. One of them will go through many snails in one go if they have congregated together and it happens to be close by, but other than that it paces itself nicely.

I don't believe if its eating my snails that it is likely to be interested in my fish too, unless you have a green serpent star. I think catching it is the right move - keep it confined in isolation from the fish and see what happens and you will have your answer. I would take the tank apart if I had to - fresh water dip the rocks to locate the brittle star, you never know what else you might find in the process.

 

[gtrxu1]

I made a small video of it eating a snail, this is part of longer more violent video.

Trying to catch it, I have noticed the way it grabs hold of the bait is insane, and it cuts through the mussel and nicks off with large chunks of the meat. I had it coiled around a stick at one stage but could not get it to come free.

This weekend i'll have time to catch it properly I'm really trying to avoid pulling out rocks though.

 

[lukusis]

Cripes.

Id sleep with both eyes open were I you. . . Or move house and leave the tank there "/

 

[suta42]

Hi Andrew,

I think I have the same star as you, but don't think it's the culprit in your fish deaths.

I keep some really small fish that would be a perfect snack for these guys eg less than 2cm total length and very narrow. These guys are fine because the star prefers different food sources.

Before I bought it from the LFS, they allowed me to try feeding the assorted stars with various foods. only one star, a brilliant red brittle, showed any interest in fish and 'ran' from the other end of the tank to grab the fish from the tongs. The various serpent stars preferred chopped mussel, prawn or squid. As a precaution, I periodically feed mine DIY mix since it's about 16" across and prefer to keep it fed.

JMO, but you may need to consider other causes for the fish deaths. :(

HTH and GL

 

[Agent M]

Wow, thats full on, it can really move. Have to admit I would be wanting it gone if it was doing that all the time, you'd lose too many snails.

 

[Trash]

I had one of those big green serpent stars and man it was creepy. It was lightning fast when the smell of food was in the water and I had a mandarin go missing in the short time I had the star. Apparently with the serpent stars, the size of the central disc gives you an indication of its predatory nature. The green one I had was massive, it also had small thick arms (in comparison to other serpent stars).

In one of the books I was reading about them it said that these beasts create an artificial hidey hole at night and wait for small fish to take shelter, and then bam the star has its dinner delivered straight to it.

It was actually quite easy to catch, I lured it out with some prawn and it was too bold for its own good. I grabbed it with my hand and it was one of the freakiest feelings I have had! The LFS gave me a full refund and an apology because I did ask them if the star was likely to eat fish, which they emphatically said no. Another impulse purchase gone awry.

 

[gtrxu1]

Thanks for the reply Trash yeah my experience with this banded serpent star has been very similar to your green one. I have read other nasty things about the green ones.
Mine wasn't as easy to catch, I spent the week trying to lure him with food, finally caught him today I found I could lift quite a large portion of my rock work without disturbing much.
I lifted up the rocks and he was absolutely massive, way bigger than what I had thought.

Picking it up was absolutely creepy :eek

I can't believe how big it has gotten for a tiny hitchhiker, I believe it's gotten too big to sustain itself in my tank without picking off snails and fish.

 

[ReeferRob]

ANY Serpent star is a predator, I won't have any in my tanks other than the micro stars. The Caribbean ones with the thorny arms are even worse than the thin armed ones from the Pacific.