Star Fish Wars

[rickswika]

A few weeks back, I noticed a sea star freaking out and fleeing at the front of my reef tank. I ran over to see what was up. There was my 18” Tiger-striped Fancy Serpent Sea Star split in half. The poor star was cut right across the disc, into a three-legged part and a two-legged part. The two halfs took off in opposite directions.

Today, both halves still survive as neighbors under the same rock where they lived before “the incident". They get around fine, albeit clumsily, but seem to have adapted and are starting to grow tiny new legs.

The main question is what happened?

Besides a lots of corals, I’ve got two tangs, two clowns, two neons, several other large sea stars, a banded coral shrimp, and a 12" to 18" Bristol warm in that tank. I don’t really see how any of them could be responsible.

I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences with sea stars in their tanks?

I’ve had one other star lose a single limb a while back in my tank, so something could be attacking them.