Lawn Mower Blenny Chewing Sea Star

[fppf]

Ok, here is a good one :shock:

I have a Red African Sea Star, he is great!
I also have a Thread Fin Butterfly, when I put the two together I was a little worried about the butterfly nipping the sea star. He does a little but nothing that hurts the sea star. They have been in the tank together for about 6 months with nothing major.

I added another lawn mower blenny about a month ago. He replaced one that died, he was almost 6 inches long and I beleave died of old age. Well all was good until a week ago. I noticed the new blenny chewing on the sea star. It was a little funny at first, there was no visable damage being done and the sea star did not even close up. Well now he keeps doing it and the sea star is showing signs of wear. The brite red has spots missing and his gray tones look a little dull. He also has not eaten at all this week.

I love my sea star and the blenny for there unique personality. I would like to keep both but how do I get him to leave the sea star alone?

Anyone want a mower blenny? :roll:

[MikeS]

I love my sea star and the blenny for there unique personality. I would like to keep both but how do I get him to leave the sea star alone?

Anyone want a mower blenny? :roll:

Well, you kind of answered your own question.... :-D Unfortuately, fish don't seem to respond well to behavior modification... :roll:

You'll probably have to seperate them...you can try to keep the blenny from temptation by making sure he has plenty of food, but this most likely will not work, since he's already nipping at the starfish...

Mike

[Sugar Magnolia]

That's such a shame! Question for you - did the star happen to have a sore or open wound at all before the blenny started nipping at him? I ask because last year when I introduced a gorgonian into the tank, one of the tips was damaged, tissue was receeding a bit. My bicolor blenny would constantly pick at the damaged area of the coral until there was no dead flesh left, then he simply left the coral alone. No problems since then, other than him occasionally doing a random "swim by" attack on my watchman goby.

Blennies are known to nip at corals and clam mantles, maybe yours has just developed a taste for starfish. Is there any way you can isolate the star until it has a chance to heal? Maybe if the blenny doesn't have access to the star for a while, it'll forget how tasty starfish is.

[OceanMaster]

Wow thats strange....and I can't get mine to take mysis....he's been looking a little skinny since he finished off most of my algae. I'm getting worried about mine myself.

[fppf]

Nope, the star was in PERFECT health until he started chewing on him.

I can try to put the star in my QT tank but I'm a little worried about water quality in there. I was also thinking about putting him in a breeder net but I don't know how well he would like that. He likes to rome the tank.

[fppf]

I put the Star in a home made QT box in the main tank.

I hope its not too small for him.
We will see if he starts healing up. After that I will try to let him free and see if the Blenny leaves him alone.

[Sugar Magnolia]

That's a very good idea. The star should be fine in there for a while, just be sure to feed it. ;)