Fromia Star Damage

[FWC]

Hey everyone!

So for the past several months I have had a lovely fromia star in one of my tanks, and it has been doing extremely well. About 2-3 months ago, it started to show discolored patches on its legs, and shortly thereafter the flesh dissolved away, showing the radial canals in the affected legs. At this point I was thinking I was hooped and my starfish was dying, however fortunately things seem to have swung for the better, and the damaged patches are now all healed over and you would never know anything was wrong.

However about a month or so ago, it lost just over half of one of its legs (I'm assuming in part because of the aforementioned damage), so my question, is when will leg regeneration start, and how long should it take for it to regenerate fully ? The star is still healthy and active, and aside from the damaged leg is the picture of health!

Also FWIW, I believe the cause of the damage was either a heater or a large torch coral, both of which the star seems to enjoy spending large amounts of time around.

 

[Calappidae]

Fromias are more often than not doomed to eventual starvation in aquariums.

My theory is that what's going on, is it's running out of film, starving and slowly dying off, and you're doing something that's bringing the film back for it to live long enough to recover. Do you stir up the sandbed occasionally by chance?

Regeneration time varies based on several conditions such as temperature, food supply, and stress level (which is surprisingly unpredictable in echinoderms, mostly due to undetectable parameter swings.)

Testing your nitrates and ammonia would also be a good idea. Those and salinity swings would be the most drastic to it's health if you're looking for sudden changes.

 

[amber3k]

I have little experience, but my fromia got caught in the overflow roughly a year ago. All legs except for one and two halves were gone. He has all five legs back, but they still aren't normal size. I also feed him whenever he is near the surface of the tank, 3-5 times a week. He eats anything I offer.