PDA

View Full Version : What the heck is goin on with this starfish helpppp


jakesalk
07/05/2010, 01:08 PM
It looks like he's loosing his skin. Is this normal I do not have anything aggressive in my tank. What should I do and what is causing this

<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/jakeashley/?action=view&current=03d2f42b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v722/jakeashley/03d2f42b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

MyDogIsStill#1
07/05/2010, 01:53 PM
Serpent stars don't like of sudden changes in oxygen levels, ph and salintiy. They can't take copper-based medications either.

Do you have a harlaquin shrimp in the tank, or maybe a hitch hicking pistol or mantis cause he looks pretty shredded?

jakesalk
07/05/2010, 02:46 PM
No None of those do ya think my coral beauty angel did this?

Sitarangi
07/05/2010, 02:54 PM
Sea Stars are notorious for mysterious deaths and sensitivity to the slightest parameter change. You probably did everything right, it just died. Remove it from the tank immediately if you haven't and do a water change. Also stay away from the linkia stars, their the worst.

I have good luck keeping sea cucumbers and they are bulldozers. Try to find a tiger-tail sea cucumber, they come in awesome colors.

I doubt your Coral Beauty did it. I have a freakishly huge one (5") and keep it with all sorts of echinoderms. My LFS keeps them with a show size french angel with no problems.

jakesalk
07/05/2010, 04:36 PM
It's not dead its still moving around should I still pull him or let him tuff it out

Korrine
07/05/2010, 05:54 PM
probably necrosis

noahm
07/05/2010, 07:11 PM
I have several of those serpent stars and have never seen anything like that. It looks like physical damage caused by some critter that has turned into a diseased necrotic area. It may be bacterial or otherwise. No way to really know. Those guys are generally pretty bulletproof. If you have a sump area, you may try moving him there just to eliminate the possibility of a hidden crab or picking fish. Then it is just hope for the best and see if it recovers. Probably hand feed it a bit as well. Bits of shrimp or fish will do fine. I would not worry about removing it until it totally dies.

Sitarangi
07/05/2010, 10:11 PM
Honestly, the damage looks pretty severe, id just lose the starfish. If it is something bacterial you don't want it sitting in your tank.

AngelAddict
07/06/2010, 06:51 AM
The same thing happened to my starfish, except worse,he's down to two legs. He was in a reef holding tank, no changes and nothing harmful in the tank. He's been with me for years,very Hardy.

Jason S
07/06/2010, 07:50 AM
Can you post some more information about your tank?
parameters? Age? etc.

It is hard to tell what is causing this without more information.

jakesalk
07/06/2010, 08:45 AM
Every parameter is normal I woke up this morning and tossed him.Because All my other stars are doing fine

Allmost
07/06/2010, 08:46 AM
nothing has killed him,

sudden change in either PH, oxygen or salinity.

they also need food, which is algea on rock, not alot of systems can support that for a long time.

yes they are that sensitive !

phil519
07/06/2010, 08:55 AM
That is not a "starfish" aka Asteroidea.

Starfish are generally for mature tanks and are notorious for being sensitive to changes in parameters.

What you have there is a serpent star aka Ophiuroidea - and quite frankly that is a completely different story. I am not sure what happened to it but I would not be so quick to claim it was some water parameter change - especially if you have multiple other serpent stars in the tank.

Also - harlequin shrimp generally will NOT attack or eat an invert that doesn't have those "tube" feet that are starfish. Hence many people in the hobby successfully keep serpent/brittle stars with harlequin shrimp.

noahm
07/06/2010, 09:08 AM
That is not a "starfish" aka Asteroidea.

Starfish are generally for mature tanks and are notorious for being sensitive to changes in parameters.

What you have there is a serpent star aka Ophiuroidea - and quite frankly that is a completely different story. I am not sure what happened to it but I would not be so quick to claim it was some water parameter change - especially if you have multiple other serpent stars in the tank.

Also - harlequin shrimp generally will NOT attack or eat an invert that doesn't have those "tube" feet that are starfish. Hence many people in the hobby successfully keep serpent/brittle stars with harlequin shrimp.

This ^^

They are scavengers and do not live off of algae on the rocks. They are also quite hardy compared to regular stars. It seems like some kind of isolated disease like a person having leprosy, or a brown recluse spider bite or something. Animals have those kind of things (not exactly) too.