Need Help With Serpent Star

[BayouBeard]

I just added a small (3" - 4") Harlequin Serpent Star to my 75 gallon tank. I drip acclimated him for 4 hours with a drip rate of one drop per second. I checked at the end of the acclimation and pH, S.G., and temperature all matched up. I didn't expose it at all to air when I introduced it to the tank, and the color was normal at the time of introduction. I get home tonight to find it's entire central disk a sort of pale white. It looks as if he may have eaten one of my peppermint shrimp while I was away, as I found the head of the shrimp next to his cave. All of his arms still have normal coloration and he seems to be moving around just fine. No noticeable deterioration anywhere that I can see as well. Is this anything to worry about, or is it a normal occurrence? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Water Parameters


Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm (not sure if this is ok or not)
S.G. 1.024
Temperature 80.2


Livestock


3 Blue Green Chromis
3 Pajama Cardinals
2 Ocellaris Clownfish
6 Dwarf Red Leg Hermit Crabs
3 Peppermint Shrimp

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

Well, I know very little about serpent stars, but if the white centered spot keeps spreading I would imagine something is wrong. If it stays the same, I would be cautious but it might be fine. If it goes away, great! :)

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

Nitrate might be a little high, but I don't think that would be a big problem. Some times water is fine at 20 ppm nitrate. Then again I could be wrong I am a beginner. ;)

 

[mcarroll]

Could be a side-effect of the extreme acclimation procedure, just a big difference between his old water and yours, or just a symptom of having a full belly.

If you see any tissue degradation, you can rule out the belly option. (Not a good prognosis.)

-Matt

 

[fletch999]

Mine did this and then it opened up and you could see into it's belly(kinda gross). It eventually died.:ooh: