Help my serpent star has a hole in his disk. What could be wrong?

[Crystal08]

Noticed yesterday my serpent star had a hole in his disk. Today it looks worse. Water conditions are normal. What could it be and can I help him?

 

[Garf]

Noticed yesterday my serpent star had a hole in his disk. Today it looks worse. Water conditions are normal. What could it be and can I help him?

Do you ever see him eat? They tend to fall to bits if starved or just old.

 

[Crystal08]

Do you ever see him eat? They tend to fall to bits if starved or just old.

Yes I spot feed him every week and I see him reach around and grab food sometimes

 

[Garf]

Yes I spot feed him every week and I see him reach around and grab food sometimes

I’ve not had this particular type but I’ve had a green monster and a black/brown one. They both ate larger items, like small fish. The green one would eat live fish. Perhaps try him on some bigger foods, shrimp or something.

 

[Crystal08]

I’ve not had this particular type but I’ve had a green monster and a black/brown one. They both ate larger items, like small fish. The green one would eat live fish. Perhaps try him on some bigger foods, shrimp or something.

Do you think I should leave him in the tank and hope for the best? I tried to feed him a little bit ago but he wouldn’t take it. Usually he does

 

[Garf]

Do you think I should leave him in the tank and hope for the best? I tried to feed him a little bit ago but he wouldn’t take it. Usually he does

Upto you, but I can say these things have an unbelievable ability to regenerate themselves if healthy. Mine were constantly chopping legs off in pumps, and growing them back. But eventually they fall to bits, like everything else. I wonder what @vetteguy53081 thinks? He must have had some.

 

[Rmckoy]

I can honestly say I’ve never saw this .
I have 3 in my tank .
One brown one . One with black and white stripes and the other has weird bumps ….

I’ll attach a picture of the weird one .

They are all cool and eat like pigs but rarely ever seen other than tentacles sticking out for food

 

[vetteguy53081]

Noticed yesterday my serpent star had a hole in his disk. Today it looks worse. Water conditions are normal. What could it be and can I help him?

I have seen this and I believe called distended disk syndrome and often does heal but seeing tissue falling apart expresses stress due to either water quality- starvation or both.
Its best chance of recovery/repair will be in an acclimation box as other fish pay pick at its exposed flesh. What youre seeing when i use the word flesh are individual plates reffered to as ossicles. These calcite ossicles are held together to form many armored plates that are covered by an outer skin covering.
Its a belief that they scavenge and eat detritus and waste but they need meats such as shrimp, clam, fish (non fatty), mussel, sinking pellets, and wafers.
If this is a newer tank, they often do not do well in newer systems similar to anemones. Water temp 75-78 with ph of 8.1-8.3 , salinity 1.024-1.025 and calcium 400-450

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Some good advice given above - it may or may not recover, but it’s worth a shot to offer it plenty of food and good water quality.

I can honestly say I’ve never saw this .
I have 3 in my tank .
One brown one . One with black and white stripes and the other has weird bumps ….

I’ll attach a picture of the weird one .

They are all cool and eat like pigs but rarely ever seen other than tentacles sticking out for food

The weird bumps are fun:

I have no idea why they have them, but it's normal and not disease/parasite caused. These are only found in specific rows of the arm spines in specific species/genera of brittle stars (sometimes only of certain ages, it seems), and one of the first researchers to describe them dissected these spines to check for parasites and found none. That said, they're called "claviform" (synonym for clavate - it simply means club-shaped) spines, and it seems no one (that I can find) has attempted to explain their purpose. Some species/specimens also have "furcated" (cleft/cloven) spines and/or "elongated" spines like this specimen in your picture has "claviform" ones. Again, to my knowledge, no one has attempted to describe the function of these spines. I'd be surprised if they didn't serve some sort of purpose, but I could only speculate on what that/those purpose(s) may be.

 

[Rmckoy]

Some good advice given above - it may or may not recover, but it’s worth a shot to offer it plenty of food and good water quality.

The weird bumps are fun:

No idea why but they have many of the same species when I bought it .
Different from the regular black brittle stars or brownish serpents .

 

[Crystal08]

I can honestly say I’ve never saw this .
I have 3 in my tank .
One brown one . One with black and white stripes and the other has weird bumps ….

I’ll attach a picture of the weird one .

They are all cool and eat like pigs but rarely ever seen other than tentacles sticking out for food

I have a brittle star and sand star too. They both seem fine.

 

[Crystal08]

I have seen this and I believe called distended disk syndrome and often does heal but seeing tissue falling apart expresses stress due to either water quality- starvation or both.
Its best chance of recovery/repair will be in an acclimation box as other fish pay pick at its exposed flesh. What youre seeing when i use the word flesh are individual plates reffered to as ossicles. These calcite ossicles are held together to form many armored plates that are covered by an outer skin covering.
Its a belief that they scavenge and eat detritus and waste but they need meats such as shrimp, clam, fish (non fatty), mussel, sinking pellets, and wafers.
If this is a newer tank, they often do not do well in newer systems similar to anemones. Water temp 75-78 with ph of 8.1-8.3 , salinity 1.024-1.025 and calcium 400-450

I do feed him shrimp, clams and sinking pellets. I rotate those. I see him grab them from behind a rock or I make sure to put the food right next to him. I tested my water today. Salinity was 1. 025. Temp 78 only thing off was ph 7.5. But for months now I couldn’t get the ph over 7.8. Even dosing reef fusion every few days. Ammonia was 0 and alk was 10.8 I did not test calcium. Not sure what to do for that test. But I do have a multi meter Hanna checker that does it

 

[Crystal08]

I can honestly say I’ve never saw this .
I have 3 in my tank .
One brown one . One with black and white stripes and the other has weird bumps ….

I’ll attach a picture of the weird one .

They are all cool and eat like pigs but rarely ever seen other than tentacles sticking out for food

This is a brown striped serpent star I think the store said.

 

[Rmckoy]

I have a brittle star and sand star too. They both seem fine.

Curious what the difference between a serpent and brittle are

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Curious what the difference between a serpent and brittle are

It depends on who you ask, but the general difference I’ve seen is that they’re called serpent stars if they don’t have any of the spines sticking off the legs, and they’re called brittle stars if they do. Both terms are used pretty interchangeably, though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I do feed him shrimp, clams and sinking pellets. I rotate those. I see him grab them from behind a rock or I make sure to put the food right next to him. I tested my water today. Salinity was 1. 025. Temp 78 only thing off was ph 7.5. But for months now I couldn’t get the ph over 7.8. Even dosing reef fusion every few days. Ammonia was 0 and alk was 10.8 I did not test calcium. Not sure what to do for that test. But I do have a multi meter Hanna checker that does it

Ph possibility and alk if this high (range is 8-11) may suggest low calcium but multimeter should cover CA. Isolation in an acclimation box will offer it best chance for healing and do not remove by holding legs which may break off in this condition -- scoop it
How old is your tank?

 

[Rmckoy]

Ph possibility and alk if this high (range is 8-11) may suggest low calcium but multimeter should cover CA. Isolation in an acclimation box will offer it best chance for healing and do not remove by holding legs which may break off in this condition -- scoop it
How old is your tank?

I’d be worried about removing and adding to acclimation box. .
These are nocturnal creatures and will often hide under rocks .

Is this possible if in an acclimation box ?

They are clever creatures . It would also need to have a cover ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’d be worried about removing and adding to acclimation box. .
These are nocturnal creatures and will often hide under rocks .

Is this possible if in an acclimation box ?

They are clever creatures . It would also need to have a cover ?

acclimation boxes have covers (otherwise, fish would jump into tank from box LOL) and placement of cover like rocks would work. The reason is to prevent fish from picking at is wound. Acclimation box safest

 

[Crystal08]

Ph possibility and alk if this high (range is 8-11) may suggest low calcium but multimeter should cover CA. Isolation in an acclimation box will offer it best chance for healing and do not remove by holding legs which may break off in this condition -- scoop it
How old is your tank?

A little over 6 months old now. But it was an upgrade from a smaller tank that everything was moved from. So about a year total. I have a box my son had for his freshwater tank when they had babies. Could that work? Unfortunately one of the legs already came off but not because I picked it up or anything. I just saw it in the tank. I feel so bad for the poor thing.

 

[Crystal08]

I’d be worried about removing and adding to acclimation box. .
These are nocturnal creatures and will often hide under rocks .

Is this possible if in an acclimation box ?

They are clever creatures . It would also need to have a cover ?

I have a small rock i maybe move into the box but it’s pretty small. Not sure it would offer much