Brittle Starfish ate my Torch

[AptasiaKilla]

I recently introduced a Torch to my tank, in which it was thriving with no problems for about 4 days… got home from work and noticed it was missing flesh and took a closer look when I saw a Brittle Starfish was consuming my torch. I removed THE pest but there are others in here.
13.5 gallon tank with lots of coral. I need advice as to the recovery process of a torch/ tips on how to nurture it within the healing stage. I as well am looking for something to get rid of these pest as I don’t have too much waste for them to consume and am timid that they may consume more of my Euphyllias. Looking for something that can consume Brittles and be non territorial towards my only fish in here (firefish). Any advice helps guys; throw me ideas and thoughts! Open to any suggestions

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@VintageReefer might be able to help you!

 

[VintageReefer]

What is meant by brittle starfish?

Is it possible it’s an asterina starfish? Was it white and star shaped?

 

[Tahoe61]

Was it a Serpent Star?

 

[AptasiaKilla]

What is meant by brittle starfish?

Is it possible it’s an asterina starfish? Was it white and star shaped?

Not too sure the exact name but I know for sure it’s not a asterina. this is the best picture i could get of one

 

[AptasiaKilla]

lost about 90% of it in a day. is this salvageable?

 

[I never finish anythi]

It was not the star .

 

[BryanM]

Looks like a bristleworm to me.

 

[AptasiaKilla]

Looks like a bristleworm to me.

very likely could have been, but have not had any problems with my hammer after i pulled the starfish off of the torch. updates on the torch above^

 

[BryanM]

If its a fireworm (if it has red spots where the bristles come out), then its bad, but otherwise bristleworms are good.

 

[OriginalUserName]

lost about 90% of it in a day. is this salvageable?

Can you move it to a frag rack or something in the meantime?

I've never seen a bristle star eat a coral myself.

 

[BryanM]

So I bought this product on a recommendation from @VintageReefer, who has used it successfully.

https://jokercorals.com/products/coral-infection-elimination

Do you have other fish in that tank? It has been my experience that "reef safe with caution" fish.... Well, they have not been reef safe in my tank.

 

[AptasiaKilla]

If its a fireworm (if it has red spots where the bristles come out), then its bad, but otherwise bristleworms are good.

I believe I only have bristleworms in here. would have to check tn to make sure but here is a picture of a tiny one in the meantime. there’s quite a few in this tank and it’s been a problem of mine since i started

 

[AptasiaKilla]

So I bought this product on a recommendation from @VintageReefer, who has used it successfully.

https://jokercorals.com/products/coral-infection-elimination

Do you have other fish in that tank? It has been my experience that "reef safe with caution" fish.... Well, they have not been reef safe in my tank.

Just the firefish, snails, and tiny blue legged hermits i haven’t seen since i purchased over a month ago. possibly dead due to lack of food

 

[AptasiaKilla]

video of a star going after “debris” of what once used to be my torch. i’ve had problems with keeping hammers and frogspawn in this tank before the starfish were accidentally introduced to my tank. was lead to believe it was a halloween crab but he’s been long gone since then. gave the Euphyllia another chance and then this happens. extremely frustrating when those are the only coral out of many placed in this tank that haven’t made the cut

 

[AptasiaKilla]

Can you move it to a frag rack or something in the meantime?

I've never seen a bristle star eat a coral myself.

no there’s not too many options for it that doesn’t include it being beat up by wind flow, or it being on the ground.

 

[IceNein]

I agree that is a brittle starfish. I disagree that it killed your torch. I'm not saying that it's impossible, just that nearly every tank has them, and they are not widely considered a pest.

Euphyllia are well known for getting bacterial infections that kill them off. It's possible that something else killed it, and the brittle star was picking up dying flesh to eat.

Like as an example, I had a peppermint shrimp that was behaving erratically, and sluggishly. A nassarius saw it, came out of the sand and killed and ate it, but it was going to die without the nassarius eating it.

 

[BryanM]

If it were in my tank I'd probably try and hide it inbetween some rocks to reduce the flow and give it a chance to heal.

I lost one head on a torch, and they other looked grim, and beyond inspecting it to see if I could find anything, I just left it alone, target fed some restor, and it is coming back nicely now. That 2nd head was almost gone as well.

 

[ReefED!]

That's 100% a micro brittle star - the little arms sticking out - and they don't hurt corals.