Eating my Sand Sifting Sea Star

[Brian5000]

Something is eating off the arms of my sand sifting sea star. It's been living in my tank for a couple years. I bought a purple dotty a little while ago. Would that go after a sea star (it hasn't touched anything else apart from defending it's hole)? Or maybe a hitchhiker that has finally grown big enough? What would eat it?
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[Anonymous]

Instead of thinking something was eating the star I would look more towards disease. Has it run out of food? Has something in the tank changed?

I'm willing to bet it's on it's way out and that's why the arms are disappearing rather than something eating them.

Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a sure sign the critter is dying I am afraid. IME they tend to loose arms and then dissolve sorry!

 

[ChrisRD]

Check your salinity too. They don't generally tolerate a drop in salinity well...

 

[Brian5000]

No, nothing has really changed in recent history. I guess I shouldn't be too disapointed if it's just dying. It has still lived quite a bit longer than most people have said in a tank my size (2 years 3 months).
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[Vasces]

I've heard that some species of shrimps like to munch on starfish legs.

 

[Anonymous]

Harlequin shrimp live on them exclusively, but I'm sure the poster didn't have them in the same tank. The star would not have lasted 6 hours, much less over 2 years!

 

[DCskins]

Purple Dotty will eat any worm, but will also destroy stars. Mine killed my serpant in a matter of hours.