disappearing linckia stars

[harry2463]

put one orange and one blue in my tank .within a week i found the blue one dead and stinking.havent seen the orange one/i have 3 serpent stars and one bristle and they are fine.

 

[mhills16]

what is the entire stock of your tank? that will be useful too!

 

[mhills16]

i just did some research, and here it is:

Parasites
The main parasite to enter the digestive tract or genitals are Protozoa. Crustaceans, nematodes, trematodes, and polychaete annelids, also serve as parasites. Algal parsites like Coccomyxa ophiurae cause spinal malformation. Unlike sea stars and sesa urchins, annelids are not a typical parasite.

If you just purchased them, we all know how responsible some lfs' are, also, we do not know the current health of them by looking at them and/or where they came from before if it was healthy or not, judging by them both/one being dead and one MIA, i think it could have been parasitic, but, pending your stock, maybe something ate/killed them?

 

[mhills16]

also, did they come from the same tank at the lfs? that too could be an indicator of them having bad health when you bought them and you never knew it...

 

[harry2463]

blue hippo tand,lawnmower blenny,mandarin,midas blenny,3 emerald crabs,niger trigger,3 clowns,neon gobie,cleaner shrimp

 

[harry2463]

they came from different stores

 

[mhills16]

well, the niger trigger could be the culprit, it wouldnt bother the other starfish because they are nocturnal, so while the trigger is sleeping they are out, but the other starfish are out during the day.

also, the blue linckia star are a VERY hard star to have!! according to many websites they are a very hard star to have and their diet is solely algae that is only in well established aquariums. they are the least hardy of the species, also the same for orange.

ALso , they are very sensitive to water changes, etc. , have you done any thing lately to your tank?

 

[harry2463]

no i havent changed anything.i just read somewhere else that the blues are hard to keep

 

[mhills16]

since they are so hard to keep, i dont think it was anything but it being starved in the lfs before you even bought it and then the stress of the new move just did it in. Thats my guess!

 

[mhills16]

one thing i have adapted because of many a trips to the lfs and a impulse buy i regret later. I bought a small marine invert and fishes guide, everytime i go to the lfs it goes with me. I can research anything i want to buy right there. Dont trust a stores employee, look it up yourself. the book i bought isnt big and i dont feel stupid carrying it in. it has saved me from buying some items that wouldnt have been a good choice for my tank needs!

 

[romunov]

We really don't know what linckias eat. They are also very prone to salinity stress, so slow drip acclimation is a must. And who knows what happens to them on their trip from the ocean... Also, they can live up to 18 months on their internal reserves, so that by the start of their demise, it may look like they were "doing fine", but were in fact not.

 

[mhills16]

good info.. didnt know that!