Linkia starfish -- not doing well

[msduncan]

Well........

Bought an Orange Linkia from the LFS... and it's been rather sluggish. It does move around some... but then I just got back from a business trip yesterday to find it missing an arm.

Well.... The arm was there..... but it wasn't attached to the starfish. I picked up the Linkia from the rock to make sure it wasn't decaying or anything... and it was still alive. I then picked up the arm and it was also still alive.

I'm assuming this guy is dieing on me, right?

 

[Randall_James]

Yep

Linkia star fish are really not very good candidates for most tanks. Arms falling off is just the start of the end.

Acclimation and nutrition are the most commonly cited problems. I would not replace him

Sorry for the loss

 

[msduncan]

What should I do? Let him go ahead and die slowly or pull him and let him dry out or freeze him?

 

[Randall_James]

I do not know of any that have recovered (maybe someone else does)

It is surely up to debate whether they feel pain or not but as long as it wiggles, I would probably just leave it be.