Starfish from the beach

matasw

New member
I'm in Ocean City, MD and whatever's going on here there are dozens and dozens of starfish coming up on shore. Most of them are alive. If I were to fill a bucket with ocean water and put a star fish in it would it live 18 hours until I got home? Any idea why they would all be washing up on shore like this, there are also hundreds of dead jellyfish on the beach. Ernesto maybe, I know they had bad storms here on friday night.
 
i know large storms can push large sections of "de-oxygenated" ocean water to shore that wrecks havoc on any shore life... i seen it on the news a couple days ago..... maybe its what your seeing.... but from what i remeber its was everything not just star/jelly fish....
 
ahh okay makes sense, so if i grab one and put it in a bucket would it survive to live in my tank?
 
Aww, I wish I went down there now. I was going to leave Friday and spend the day down there then drive back Saturday and hit up Pacific East Coast on the way home. Rain, thunder and wind scared me off though.
 
MD... Maryland... how.... tropical.

I had a friend in colege that had a "local" tank full of stuff he caught himself from the local Santa Barbara area. He had to keep it at 55-60 degrees F. It lasted about a year before the electricity bill almost bankrupted him.
 
md, yeah, i think the water temp ranges around the high 60's to the 70s so I think you could keep them if you know what to feed them. also when you are there take salinity readings (not after a rain shower) and bring a battery powered airpump, yes, an AIR PUMP to be sure! and some prime or other liquid chemical to helkp with any nitrogen stuff. I keep a James River (richmond VA) "local" tank and I dont use a heater so i think the mid atlantic should be fine. also check the weather station for water temps, they do that alot around beach areas
 
I dont have a portable air pump though and its labor day so I can't find a LFS this time of night. I grapped three of them and put them in a one gallon bucket. I have a 3 gallon trash can full of saltwater and am gonna throw a few cups of it in every few hours to keep up airation. I'm leaving in about 12 hours. Will be at my tank in about 15 hours. Think they're is a chance. Any reccomendations? They're crawling all around the bucket and seem to be active. They seem to be going for the top though? Suggestions are appreciated I would love to get them all back to the house alive.
 
You can pickup an inexpensive battery opperated air pump at a wally-world, in the sporting goods department, by the bait and tackle.
 
It's free as long as it doesn't eat something that cost a lot... Or die and nuke the tank. Personally, I wouldn't do it, but the risk level might be reasonably low.
 
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