EMERGENCY...Please help with feather star

[coralcruze]

I have a feather star that I purchased. every since I purchased it has been loosing arms. and now its gotten to the point it does not have any arms at all. I placed it in a low flow area and it moved to a moderate flow area by swiming there. it seemes to like it except arms fall off. I feed it live phytoplancton and at times do direct feeding. This does not seem to help. I also never notice that it eats at all. I did read up on the animal on wiki and this is what it stated which I found interesting.

"Generally speaking, crinoids living in environments with relatively little plankton have longer and more highly branched arms than those living in rich environments."

this statement seems to suggest that shorter arms means that there is plenty to eat and longer arms, very little to eat. However it does not mention why the arms fall off.

will the arms grow back?
is the animal doomed?
is there anything I can do to keep it alive?


even without arms it still looks ok and still attached to the rock. at for my params. they are prefect... only reason I can say this is because it is maintained by my apex reef computer system. Water changes and other basic maintennance is done anywhere from every other day to every couple weeks to once a month depending on the task needed. If there are specific params needed investigating. please let me know and I'll test or report. thanks

Please let me know soon. thanks

[mscarpena]

It is dying because almost all of them die in reef tanks for the same reason, they starve to death. They need a lot of food and should not even be kept in a tank. Sorry for your loss, but make sure you do more research before you buy things and circumstances like this will not happen. Good luck and enjoy the hobby. Just be sure to put your money and care into things that can survive and you will enjoy the hobby much more.

[Aquabacs]

Here is something for you to read...forget Wiki
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-magazine/79032-journey-crinoid-keeping-michael-lukaczyn.html


How long have you had the featherstar for?
Did this happen within 24 hours or after a few days?
Temp of your tank?
Salinity or your aquarium? and how was it tested (hydrometer or refractometer)?

The arms should grow back in time as long as you can get it to feed and kept in the proper conditions. If it is to far gone and cant feed at all, then expect the worst.

PM if you would like and I can help you better 1 on 1.

Thanks

Mike

[Bongo Shrimp]

The only problem with the arms falling off is that it makes it harder for it to feed. Hopefully it can survive somehow.

BTW is it an all red one? Those basically never live.

[curlykid]

yeah, only gray, yellow, and black ones have barely any record of captive life at all.

[Aquabacs]

The only problem with the arms falling off is that it makes it harder for it to feed. Hopefully it can survive somehow.

BTW is it an all red one? Those basically never live.


Mean like this kind ;) picked up 4 of them in February and they were about an inch across. Now they are close 2.5 inches. I believe with the red ones the trick is to get them tiny.

http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r332/Aquabacs/ARTISAN%2050%20G/IMG_0009.jpg

Mike

[Bongo Shrimp]

I mean this kind. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Vxu_tx5NynY/SLqOJh1jGXI/AAAAAAAAJ8U/7gf9BLCe03o/s400/n598910900_1717156_6722.jpg&imgrefurl=http://iyor08singapore.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html&h=366&w=400&sz=28&tbnid=IKw41CZ5G8IkwM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dred%2Bfeather%2Bstar&zoom=1&q=red+feather+star&hl=en&usg=__QQ_JIEVG-OaYw-DL8uAPAg_RrQI=&sa=X&ei=LvqCTIGfOIyInAeN4ISNAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQ9QEwAg

[Aquabacs]

Forget those I want these :)
http://www.meerwasserforum.info/attachment.php?attachmentid=36778
These belonged to Wolfgang Colsman in Germany

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8079631&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=1&amp;color=00AD EF&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8079631&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=1&amp;color=00AD EF&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/8079631">Tank W. Colsmann December 2009</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1163570">Peter Schmiedel</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

[coralcruze]

wow ... I have the red one. I did know that these were difficult and I did do the resurch before I purchased. However I guess there is alot of misleading info out there. thanks for all of the links.

What I can tell you is that this animal was a new arrival and looked awsome and healthy. I did my best with direct feeding of live phyto two times daily and reg tank feeding once. I think this thing is not feeding at all. since I had it, it has been deteriorating. I have excellet params maintained by a reef computer with alarms ect.

I will never buy another one... its sad. I thought I could kee p it alive but its obviouse these thing will not eat in captivity. all that is left is the body and I intend on feeding it but judging from what I'm hearing its on its way out. that sucks

[alexruegamer]

hi
i got a feather from c. schumacher. and what shout i say... i never seen these animals in such a good contition. i lost no arms and he eats all the time.
i think good food is the key to success.
alex

[uhuru]

Lucky you, Alex. I've seen pics of Claudes feather stars. Red ones in fact, and they looked awesome. According to Claude, different species have different food requirements.

[alexruegamer]

hi
he allready had a red one too but it was allready sold:(
next week i take another journey to claude´s shop:D

i dont know what they need but i feed all of claude´s products. it seems that ultramin f is a good choice.
alex

[coralcruze]

for those that aided and assisted me with this problemn... I thank you. The rest of you guys should get a room. I mean seriously, come on talking about picking a star up under the OP is inproper.

MOD please CLOSE THIS THREAD. non productive...

[Stottlemire]

Coralcruze,
When dealing with featherstars, there are two kinds, the one in the picture by bongo shimp, which comes from the pacific, and the the two pictures from Aqubacs that come from the carribean. The stars from the pacific are harder to keep, they require large amounts of phyto. and flow to survive. The stars from the carribean feel sticky to the touch, and are way easier to keep. If your star is from the pacific, and has lost his arms i'm afraid it's to late. They require high flow and high food densities to survive. If and when you try another star, check to see if, when you touch it, it sticks to your finger, it will do better for you hopefully. The pacifics stars are keepable, I had one, blue with yellow tips survive for about four years. They grow way larger then their carribean cousins