what is wrong with my starfish

[StephNewman]

I added all my fish and inverts to my 180 this morning and due to an emergency only had time to acclimate them for an hour. Aftergetting home tonight I found my orage starfish ith a limb off and some wouds to the body. What is the most likely cause of this? Could lack of proper acclimation cause this or is something in the tank attacking it?

 

[Im Lon 2]

Yes, proper acclimation is very important for star fish. What type is that, a Linckia?

 

[drgabe]

Make sure your salinity is in the proper range as well.

 

[StephNewman]

All parimeters are in the proper range. Im not sure what kind it is besides it being orange. None of the other inverts seemed to have suffered ill effects from just the hour acclimation. feel bad about having to cut it short but I had to leave so had no choice but to put them in the tank. Hopefully it will recover from it. I just ant to make sure it wa due to the acclimtion and that idon't have a pedator in my tank that I am unaware of.

 

[StephNewman]

he only thing I amhaving trouble keeping stable at his time i the temperature. It goes anywhere from 80 to 85 degree through out the day. Most the time it is at the 82 degree mark. I plan on buyng some fans to add to my canopy to hlp stabilize he temp more bu not sure if that will be e solution or not Anyone know wre I can get some fans in this area or a good place onine to buy them?

 

[Reeferhead]

I looks like a Fromia to me but its hard to tell it could be a Linkia. Regardless, I'm afraid that I can say, with confidence, that it's a gonner. All starfish are extremely sensitive to changes in salinity particularly the Fromias and Linkias. When they start losing limbs they're done.

Fans will help alot to keep the temp down alot. I run the expensive Icecap fans above my tank but use good quality computer fans in my stand and they can last just as long if you can keep the salt off them.

 

[Nanook]

Nick hit the nail on the head:thumbsup: Starfish are extremely sensitive to changes in specific gravity. Make sure you have enough time to give it a several hour long drip acclimation in the future. Also important to have a system with auto-topoff to avoid salinity shifts.

As far as temperature goes, a lot of people here favor higher temps because they have read that the reefs are in the low 80's. I, however, do not agree with this line of thinking in our small, over-stocked closed systems. I would keep a tank at 79-80 with a maximum ever of 82....also shoot for limiting the number of degrees your system fluctuates during a 24hr period to just 3-4 degrees tops.

 

[StephNewman]

I had planed on a several hour acclimation, as I said I had an emergency so didn't have the chance to acclimate it correctly. I originally had enough time but I had to help my sistewith her dog who had ranaway for two weeks and was spottd by some neighors. We hadto go look for her beause she was in very poor condition. She is an italian greyhound originally weighin a whole ten pounds. Luckily we did find her that day about three miles from where she had ran away two weeks earlier. When found she was skin and bones, weigh half her normal weight at only 5 pounds and obviously was very weak. took her to themergency clinic and they kept er for two nights giing her fluids. They were ery surprised that none of her organs had shut down yet. It wil take her awhile o gain her weght back but lucky she othewise seems healthy andis back home.
Back to the tank. The salinity however was the same in both tanks so there really shouldn't have been much of a salinity shift. would love uto top off but I n't think I have th room under my tank to put another container. I fill the lost water everyday when I get home from work.

 

[capncapo]

A large majority of seastars are already on their way out by the time the LFS receives them. Most experts recommend that stars other than brittle or serpent not be purchased because of their dismal success rate.

The diets of most stars is unknown as well as many other facts that would be helpful to us. They also don't handle shipping well.

 

[StupidsReef]

I agree indeed with Reeferhead, Nooky the wooky, Nair cheecks Im Lon 2 and the old crusty CapO. I've wanted a star for quite sometime but find the same Info on just about all of them. it is.

 

[Reeferhead]

I have four starfish in my 60. Two serpents, one sand sifting star, and one Blue Linkia.

I wouldn't recommend anyone purchase a Blue Linkia. Their feeding requirements are virtually unknown and they have a miserable success rate in captivity. I actually ordered a Spotted or Mottled Linkia but they were out of stock and sent a Blue without asking me first. The Spotted Linkias are one of the few Linkias with a better track record in the hobby. Some have even sited reproduction. The Linkia drops an arm which eventually develops into a new star. I've had the blue for over a year now and I have noticed a decrease in size. I don't expect it, but I would claim lucky success if it lives another two years.

I think the sand sifting stars are great additions if your not trying to maintain a DSB. They will supposedly decimate anything living in it. The one I have does a great job of keeping my shallow sand bed turned over and is just plain cool to watch when it decides to move around.

 

[StephNewman]

I have had this starfish for over a year, it was fine in my other tank. i am unsure what is in the new tank that is causing it to deteriorate. as of now it is still alive and does not seem to be falling apart anymore than it had. From what I have checked my new tank has same parameters as the old one except that the nitrates are 0 in new tank and were very high in the 72, this should have made a better outcome for everything not worse, everythign else in the tank seems to be doing better than the were in the smaller tank. I have a large sandsifting starfish and two serpent starfish that are doing just fine, this orange star is the only thing that seemed to have suffered from the move so far. I won't buy another one if this dies incase there is somethign with the water or actually living in the tank that is causing the death of the star. Maybe it will survive, fingers are crossed!

 

[Reeferhead]

Small changes in salinity even ones small enough to not register on a hydrometer, when made quickly, can destroy a starfish's water vascular system.

 

[frenchie]

i've tried blue linkia, orange linkia, and purple, no luck with any even acclimating for 3 to 4 hours. But this yellow spotted star that nemo's pet store called a yellow linkia does great i had one before that i lost in power outage than nemo's got another one so i got it and does great its everywhere in tank not sure what it eats but it has to be eating something.

 

[frenchie]

whatever kind it is the hardiest starfish other than my black brittle and green brittle and striped serpent starfish i got. I had a big sandsifter starfish bigger than my hand but stephnewman got it.

 

[StephNewman]

The sandsifter is doing great. It likes its new tank, plenty of room for it to move.

 

[capncapo]

You can expect it to die when it cleans the sandbed of its critters. From everything I've read, they last only as long as they have something to eat. Once the sandbed is cleaned of the livestock living in it, they starve to death.

Many stars live until they have been deprived of food for 12 - 18 months and then they die. Your situation may be different6 but I would not expect them to live much longer than that.

 

[Reeferhead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9587500#post9587500 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capncapo
You can expect it to die when it cleans the sandbed of its critters. From everything I've read, they last only as long as they have something to eat. Once the sandbed is cleaned of the livestock living in it, they starve to death.

Many stars live until they have been deprived of food for 12 - 18 months and then they die. Your situation may be different but I would not expect them to live much longer than that.

This has not been my experience. However, I have read numerous threads on the subject and they tend to be split. I would say that many offer the same conclusion that you did Capncapo. However, I've also read several reports of SSS living in shallow sand beds and DSBs of various sizes for 3 years or more. I've had my current SSS for a little over a year in a limited shallow sand bed (only about a square foot of exposed sand.) I also had one in my first reef tank for almost three years before the DSB decimation thread scared me enough to take it back to the LFS.

I understand that SSS and many other starfish can live along time by slowly starving themselves however I believe mine has actually grown a little. I don't think enough is really known about these creatures to specify exactly what they eat or can survive on but that's the delima we face with most of the inhabitants in our tanks.

On a second look, I think I may have gone a little far in overtly recommending a SSS. There are definitely sand sifters and cleaners in the hobby with better track records such as Nassarius snails and Fighting conchs. However, in the end, it's up to the individual hobbyist to take the responsibly of doing the research and making his/her own conclusions.

 

[Letmegrow]

The sand sifting stars fate also depends on how healthy your LR is too.

Sand does not generate critters rather your LR does.

If you have good flow and healthy rock you can generate alot of worms, pods, bacteria, microstars, and various food for the stars.

 

[Reeferhead]

It would make a good gut content study. Sacrifice a few stars and see what they're really eating in our tanks, if anything. Maybe its already been done but I've never see one.