Star, Death, legs everywhere RIP

[Ba19Ma88]

I woke up on Sunday am and all around the bottom of my tank was my sand shifting star legs. They were taken off pretty cleanly I still have no idea where the body is (still looking though). Not sure what caused the death there have been no new addidtions to the tank rock or livestock. Tank has been running for over 2 years (never had mantis problem no clicks no damage ever seen on any fish) the clean up crew needs to be replaced every no and then (6mo's or so)

Live stock
1 Flame Angel
1 Coral Beauty
1 Yellow Tang
1 Puple Firefish
1 Scooter Blenny
2 Maroon Clowns
1 red BTA
1 Green Bta

As for clean up crew
4 Peppermints
1-2 Emerald crab. (one is the size of your thumb) a Green Thumb ;-)
various snails and small red leg and blue leg hermits.

Thoughts??
Thanks
Bruce

 

[NateHanson]

I'd think if it were an act of predation the culprit wouldn't have left all those nice meaty legs lying around.

My guess would be starvation. I think Sand Sifting stars are hard to sustain in a small tank because they run out of live food in the sand. Might be for the best anyways, since I've heard a numer of reefers say that sand-sifting stars do too good a job of cleaning the sand, and actually sort of sterilize the live sand bed, removing all the beneficial creatures.

 

[Ba19Ma88]

Thanks for your input Nate
Apprecitated and Ill think twice before getting another one.
Bruce

 

[NateHanson]

I looked into these last year because I wanted cleaner sand, and I generally got the impression that they're not the best choice except in large tanks. Check with Dennis Vigliote though. I think I remember he's been keeping one quite happily for a while in his 110.

Nate

 

[Greg Hiller]

I never had luck long term with the sand sifting stars, FWIW. Maybe I just didn't have enough life in my sand, don't know.

 

[Liam]

I too have read recently that sand sifting stars are not such a good choice for the reasons Nate stated.