impulse buy. did i make a mistake?

[trippingrunner]

okay so was at the lfs on saturday and they had the coolest green serpent star. was only 7 bucks so i bought it. this morning found my peppermint shrimp dead on the sand bed. is it possible that the star killed it? are they known to be reef safe or did i just sign the death notice for my inverts? any help would be great. thanks

 

[frank180reef]

Unless I am mixing up my star fish, they can be known to take down fish.......

 

[Reefried]

Are you sure that your not seeing a molt of your pep shrimp.......a serpent star would clean up an already dead shrimp but wouldn't kill one.........I currently have 2 serpent stars with a pep in a 37 gall with no problems

 

[kevinpratt823]

Are you sure that your not seeing a molt of your pep shrimp.......a serpent star would clean up an already dead shrimp but wouldn't kill one.........I currently have 2 serpent stars with a pep in a 37 gall with no problems

Yeah, what he said..... if the star killed him he'd be all over him going to town devouring him.

 

[JohnK]

I agree, if a star kills something it's because it ate it. If it's dead and the star isn't eating it, the star probably didn't kill it.

Also a big second on "are you sure it isn't a molt you're seeing"?

 

[Mini4x]

They are excellent detrivores, but can more surprisingly fast.. I'd be surprised if he took down your pep tho, they are fairly lazy I think and as long as they get food regularly I can't see one going after living things. I have one in my 30g, really pretty red bubble-tip that's probably too big to be in there, but he stays fairly still since his legs car reach almost the whole tank HAHA..

 

[trippingrunner]

thank you all for replying. this morning i got up and when the lights came on, there he was sitting on a rock. seems fine. must have been a molt. all my other inverts have been accounted for. and my sharknose goby is fine. target fed the star last night and he is ravenous. will continue to feed him regularly. thanks again.

 

[Reefried]

yeah i thought it was a molt, molting is actually a good sign (unless you overdosed on iodine and caused a premature molt) my kids usually run to find me and say "daddy the shrimp is in the wave thing" meaning that my vortech caught a molt and i take it out and show them that its just his skin and he's fine!!!!!!!!...........................and if you feed your fish with the powerheads on then i wouldnt worry about spot feeding as the star will get its share, and they are pretty lazy during the day but will go all over finding bits of food at night........i use a feed timer to feed my fish so less food is available for the serpent stars so i usually shoot a squirt of food down the back of the tank once or twice a week and they seem happy and fat!! and i have 2 of them both with disks the size of a half dollar and 4-5" legs, and i've had them for atleast 2 years