Serpent Star Turning White???

[BayouBeard]

So...just added the Harlequin Serpent Star from the reeftopia.com order yesterday afternoon. 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 pale white. It looks as if he may have eaten one of my peppermint shrimp while I was away, as I found the head and legs of the shrimp next to his cave. All of his arms still have normal coloration and he seems to be moving around and eating just fine. No noticeable deterioration anywhere that I can see as well. Is this anything to worry about, or is it a normal occurrence?

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
4 Peppermint Shrimp Minus 1

 

[markkazdad]

I'm just a novice, but I don't keep my temperatures quite that high. Liveaquaria shows a range of 72-78 for serpent stars and peppermint shrimp.

When you acclimated him, did you float the bag in the tank or did you do the acclimation in another container? I didn't have the patience to acclimate for 4 hours when I got mine from liveaquaria.com (the one in their build your own cleaner package -- it was much bigger than yours).

I'd probably just watch him. Not much you can do anyway. Things get stressed during shipping.

I'd say the evidence it ate the peppermint is only circumstantial. That might have just been all that was left after the CUC finished with it. Or I suppose there is a slim chance it molted and went into hiding and you could just be seeing the remnants of the shell.

Let's see what others say.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I agree with Mark. I'd leave it alone and see what happens. It was probably scavenging and found a peppermint exoskeleton like he suggested.

I noticed that the center disk of a Harlequin Serpent Star comes in a variety of patterns and colors. Your Serpent Star might have looked darker than its normal color due to the stress of shipping or because of his camouflage color. If it is moving around and eating, it may be just fine.

 

[BayouBeard]

I drip acclimated him for 4 hours to match the water parameters, and then floated the bag for another 20 minutes to match the temperature.

As far as the shrimp goes...I literally saw him ingest the legs and what appeared to be a meaty portion as well. It was crazy watching it as his body looked like it stretched as he he pulled it in. Could this be why his color and pattern changed? Can the central disk stretch after a large feeding to the point of fading the color and skewing the pattern?

 

[BayouBeard]

This a picture of him in the bag he arrived in taken after the drip acclimation.

 

[BayouBeard]

Here is a picture of him this afternoon. You can see the enlarged central disk and how the color and pattern has changed.

 

[markkazdad]

I think it's OK. It's hard to tell the colors in the photos since the lighting conditions are different. Even in the second photo, some parts of the legs are bright white and some are more tan, but I think it's just lighting.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

He may be engorged if he had eaten a big peppermint shrimp. I thought Harlequin Serpent Star was reef safe unlike its green cousin. If he is active and not turned over on his back, I would not worry about it.

 

[JSB]

Over the years, I have never seen any of my stars (except a green brittle) eat anything that was not already dead or dying. Stress and shock often manifest itself with jettisoned arms or just simply a dissolving animal. Like Tomoko says, I would not worry about it.

 

[bct15]

I have a feeling what you see is the peppermint shrimp molt, your description fits exactly...otherwise the peppermint shrimp was already dead when he got it. Harlequin serpents are not active hunters. All that Beiing said, I think your harlequin star looks fine. I'm pretty sure that is its normal coloration, if anything the darker color was it's stressed color from shipping.

 

[BayouBeard]

Tomoko...I think you're correct in that he may be engorged. That would explain why the pattern on the central disk is literally stretched out.

As far as the shrimp already being dead...I can neither confirm nor deny. If it was in fact dead that would make sense as to why the star ate him...he'd have just been doing his job. However, if it was in fact just the molted exoskeleton, would that be something he would normally eat and digest?

I've only been able to account for 3 out of the 4 peppermint shrimp since then.

 

[TrishW]

I have never seen a peppermint in my tank after releasing them and there should be 10 in there. I moved my shrimp eating wrasse to a different tank so I am sure they are there, they just hide well.

 

[H@rry]

Look for them at night with a flashlight. That's when I'd see mine.

 

[markkazdad]

Look for antennae. That's about all I can see of mine.