Help! Red star has a lesion or two.

BlackTracet

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See pic. What is this and will it kill him and what can I do about it. Everything else in tank is healthy. He is in the tank 2 weeks but hasn't really moved around much. Please help.
 

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That star is excreting poo but if you say it has 2 lesions not only the center one then it could be a bad sign.These stars have poor survival rate in aquarium,they start to disintegrate and die in 90 percent of the cases and the lucky ones survive like a year in aquarium until they starve to death.
 
If you look closely at the pic, he has a small place on the lower right arm. Looks like a very small version of the center one. I would never have guessed it is poo. Now I am not as worried. But still worried nonetheless. Maybe I he will be one of the 10% that makes it. I hope so cause he sure is beautiful and adds a wonderful splash of color to the aquarium. Thanks for the response.
 
They are beautiful but these shouldnt be sold for aquarium.You have to drip aclimate them for at least 4 hours when you introduce them in aquarium and dont touch them on the upper part because thats where she breathe.I wish you that your star will be among the lucky ones .These fromia and also linkia are much more sensitive than the sandsifing stars.Serpent stars are most hardyer to keep in aquarium and thoose will live long time .
 
They are beautiful but these shouldnt be sold for aquarium.You have to drip aclimate them for at least 4 hours when you introduce them in aquarium and dont touch them on the upper part because thats where she breathe.I wish you that your star will be among the lucky ones .These fromia and also linkia are much more sensitive than the sandsifing stars.Serpent stars are most hardyer to keep in aquarium and thoose will live long time .

Drip acclimating anything for 30 minutes, much less 4 hours, will guarantee it dies.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959576

Otherwise I agree, best left in the ocean.
 
Drip acclimating anything for 30 minutes, much less 4 hours, will guarantee it dies.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959576

Otherwise I agree, best left in the ocean.

Somme are aclimating these stars for 8 hours but i think 4 hours is enough.Its a long time but these stars have to be long time aclimated because they die from osmotic shock.A sea star doesnt have blood but it uses salt water instead of blood thats why they are sensitive to osmotic shock.If they get shocked by osmotic pressure they dont die imediatly but after 2 weeks or after a month.After 2 months and its stil alive in the aquarium you could say the osmotic shock threat has passed and you have a seastar that was aclimated well.Sometimes you can aclimate the star well but if the LFS guy did it in just half an hour then it got shocked from there and will die a month later in your aquarium.
 
The acclimation risk/benefit is a big reason not to buy shipped stars, because of the accumulated ammonia.

Mine looked like that a few days before it died. I had it a few months and it never did that before so I doubt it's poo since that's a long time to wait to do your first poo. I think it's the guts coming out, and I don't think there's anything to be done.
 
Well this morning he is hanging by one arm off a ledge. Not looking good. I feel bad that I didn't do my homework on this guy. I apologize to mother nature.
 
Well... Sorry to hear that. My LFS said they had kept those same stars for over a year in there 300 gallon tank so I thought I would give one a try. I dripped it for about 2 hours and dropped it in the tank. It moved about 4 inches in 2 weeks and then fell apart. It started a chain reaction that bleached 3 of my birds nest.

I learned another lesson as to not listen to LFS and instead do the research.
 
Drip acclimating anything for 30 minutes, much less 4 hours, will guarantee it dies.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959576

Otherwise I agree, best left in the ocean.

I too drip everything I add to my tank.....I only buy from a LFS...never online though. Sea stars are very sensitive to changes in PH and salinity...so in my opinion should go through a much longer drip acclimation then you normally would fish or other inverts....
 
So I took him back to the lfs today and the owner credited me back the full price of him. Then I spent another $93 on salifert test kits and a hammer coral.
 
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