sea star losing his legs, help!

[javimarino]

I have a blue pink sea star ( a sand shifter) for 5 month. All of the sudden his losing his legs one by one. the only predator I can think of is a bunch of emareald crab. but they have live together this long. Is he dieing? What's happening to him? Is there something I can do?

parameters:
amonio, nitrate and nitrite are o
alk is in 10 dkh
ca 380 (bit low, working on it)
sga 1.025
ph 8.2

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

 

[olemiss reb]

It is starving to death, dropping the legs is a survival tactic. It's only hope is to give it to someone with a larger system.

 

[KeMo]

Most stars end up starving to death this is the sad truth. If you cant give him to someyone you should try feeding it. Place the food under him. The star I had would come across the tank when he could smell the food. I would start to feed him. But dont do it everyday. As over feeding a star fish is very bad. I would feed every 3 days a good amount. Let him sit on the food as long as he want as they are very slow eaters .
Good Luck.

 

[Koshmar]

Exact same thing happened to me. It will die. Even after feeding mine lost all it's arms and poof disappeared one day. Another cause that no one seems to mention is a viral infection which causes arm loss, you can amputate the arm to try to halt the infection but you need to know what you're doing. Even then it's a rough 50/50 chance. Sorry to bring you bad news... I'd still try to feed it as was suggested but I'm almost certain it will not lead to recovery.

 

[smokey377]

Is this common with brittle stars mine has lost the tips of all his arms and climed my wall and hanging out under a monti cap at the top of the tank?

 

[KeMo]

No it is not. If he is losing his tips I would say thats a bad sign. Most likely bad water parameters.

 

[javimarino]

Thanks everyone for all your help. Have been reading, starting with the info you have giving me and its true. It seem the faith of all these sand shifting star is the same, they'll starve to death. Mine was looking super good for more than 5 month. All of the sudden it started dieing. I think these critter is amazing in more than one way. Everybody in the office loved it.
RIP

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