Micro brittle starfish dying water red?

[Frogspon]

I was cleaning out a sponge with RO water and a few micro brittle stars came out, they quickly started dying the water around them red.

I know they don't like changes in chemistry, so the RO was no good, but does any know what exactly the red coloring was? The starfish were black before hitting RO water.

 

[TnFishwater98]

I was cleaning out a sponge with RO water and a few micro brittle stars came out, they quickly started dying the water around them red.

I know they don't like changes in chemistry, so the RO was no good, but does any know what exactly the red coloring was? The starfish were black before hitting RO water.

I’ve never seen this… When put a power head or something in RO water they just fall off. I grab it and toss back in the tank.

 

[Frogspon]

I’ve never seen this… When put a power head or something in RO water they just fall off. I grab it and toss back in the tank.

Yeah these were just washed off into the sink and as they sat there they released a red dye.. They weren't really in much water at all so it was very easy to see.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Yeah these were just washed off into the sink and as they sat there they released a red dye.. They weren't really in much water at all so it was very easy to see.

Never heard of it, but I hear new stuff everyday. You got a pic of the micros you think caused this? Anything else if could of been?

 

[Frogspon]

Never heard of it, but I hear new stuff everyday. You got a pic of the micros you think caused this? Anything else if could of been?

Nope. it was just like if you set a skittle on a small amount of water and the coloring started to bleed off of it.

 

[iamchemicals]

The only time I've experience something similar, it was the sponge, not the inhabitants, that released a colored liquid upon handling. This was with a red ball sponge I grabbed from a beach in the gulf of Mexico. When a small amount of pressure was applied to it, it would release a red liquid and smell the same way live rock does after being exposed to chlorine or heat.
If the brittle stars were the true originators, that would be awfully strange, as the only echinoderm with a somewhat similar defense mechanism I know of are the slime stars, which produce gobbs of mucus in response to stress. Please do share any additional information if you have the chance.