coral banded shrimp attack?

Question

i had a coral banded shrimp in my 55 gal tank for approx. 6 months with a large brittle star(im not sure wich kind... it was black) and one day out of the blue i saw that the shrimp was eating out the middle of the star... the star died shortly therafter.. if anyone has heard of things like that or knows why do tell me... also i have a problem with fish die off in my tank... i posted a question last night about it so go find it if you might be able to help(same saltwater tank)

Answer 1

the fishes probably were not killed by the shrimp but the star was considered food by the shrimp

Answer 2

Sounds like your nitrite level is very high. Brittle starts break apart when the water quality deteriorates. Arms may continue to move even though they are dead. That's what I've observed personally. Might explain why your fish are dieing too. More frequent water changes and feeding fish less should get the water quality back. I'd use a 4 stage reverse osmosis filter too. Bottle water is not good enough.

Answer 3

Don't know how much you know about keeping a marine tank, but I do know that water quality is way more important than with a freshwater tank. You need to be doing water changes weekly and testing for salinity, pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates just for starters. If any of those are out of the correct parameters for marine fish, you will have die off.

Marine lighting is also very important. Some marine animals need certain wave lengths of light to stay alive and healthy.

Answer 4

I would expect that the starfish was dead or dying when the coral banded shrimp began to eat it. I have never heard of a coral banded shrimp attacking and killing a starfish (or anything bigger than itself, for that matter), so I expect the starfish was sick.

Answer 5

It's what they do,quite possibly the brittle star was on its way out and the shrimp started early. PeeTee