Is my serpent star a killer?

I went to bed last night with a healthy, active yellow tang in my tank...and woke up to find him dead and in the clutches of my serpent star. I've suspected the star was behind the disappearance of my gobie...but I can't believe he could get something as big as the tang. My water quality all tests normal and the tang showed no sign of disease and ate normally last night.

Thoughts?

 

No, the serpent star wasn't the culprit. They're scavengers and just feed off what they can get. Most likely, your tang died during the night and the star was just doing its job. I can't speak for what happened to your tang (or goby). Can you give us more information about your tank? - how big it is, how long it's been set up, what water parameters you've actually been checking, etc.

 

I agree with triplemom, Serpents are just scavenger feeder's and it is doing it job and that why they are called clean up crew. It is sad to hear your loosing fish and with a updated spec's on your tank i hope 3reef can help you out so you loose no more fish...


BEst of luck...

 

Are you definitely sure its a serpent? Some brittle stars are capable of catching and killing fish, for ex:

Animal Library: Invertebrates: Echinoderms: Brittlestars: Green Brittle Star

 

The green serpent stars, AKA "Green Death," are widely known to be occasional killers. I also had a red one that looked similar and was a killer, although I never knew its scientific name or if it was simply a color form of the green species.

Cheers,



Don

 

In that case then i would remove the starfish!

 

I have a brown one. Are they also possible killers? I have shrimp and fish and have never had any problem's yet.
Ghost

 

Everything I've read says only the green serpents linked above are the risky ones. I would look at other potential causes for the tang's death.

 

My water parems were (I tested the night of the Tang's death): 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 15 nitrate (I cannot seem to get my nitrate values lower, even after a 30 percent water change). Ph 8.4.

I was away for a week; my house/dog/fish sitter followed my instructions to "better underfeed than overfeed" while I was away, I could tell from the food supply in the freezer and the Tang's pinched stomach that she was definitely underfed...though as I said her color was vivid, eyes bright and her behavior the same as it always was. She ate well.

I still think it was the star...he was feeding on her at the spot where she sleeps at night.

I usually feed the star cooked shrimp 2-3 times a week (he'll eat out of my hand). This didn't happen while I was away. He got really hungry and went hunting.

I do think it's possible its a brittle star and not a serpent, both from its apparent behavior and the description of a brittle.

 

+1 to it being a scavenger and doing its job, sorry for the loss