Sand Sifting Sea Star

[cowboy87]

Ok, I've tried keep a Sand Sifting Sea Star twice and each time the day after I put him in the tank he dies. My ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and SG, are all in check. Is there something else I need to test for? Can my pH or SG slightly fluctuating affect the sea star? I've heard of some people throwing theirs in the tank while other's acclimate it very carefully. I let mine acclimate for the water temp for 15 minutes. Then I opened it up and used an eyedropper to put drops of my tank water in there periodically for 15 minutes. Then I put it in the tank, it went under the gravel, went on the glass a little while, and the next day it was dead. It turned white and had some green stuff coming out of it's mouth.

[Javeo]

Sea stars need hours of acclimatisation, no wonder yours are dying so quickly. Put it in a bucket and drip acclimate it over a period of 2 hours.

[cowboy87]

even if i don't have sand will i still be able to keep it? I have crushed coral.

[Javeo]

they eat sandbed infauna. The majority tend to starve anyway. Id go for a serpent or brittle star instead.

[cowboy87]

I have a serpent and he's doing fine. I just want something to clean the substrate. I mean I do water changes and siphon but i'm not going to take apart the tank so I wanted something that can get behind the rock and underneath it.

[Javeo]

How big is your tank?

[cowboy87]

29 gallon

[Javeo]

I wouldnt keep any sea star in that size tank. They need alot of food and you can not really feed them yourself. I have a edible sea cucumber for sand sifting duties, allong with cerith and nassarius snails. I started with crushed coral as well but changed to suger fine sand so i could keep certain creatures.

[smy168]

get a cuke, they have smaller ones that would work in a 29. I keep one in all four of my systems (120, 54, 26Bow, 24Pod), they do a great job cleaning the sand.

[cowboy87]

a what?

[smy168]

I use a tiger tail sea cucumber to clean and sift my sandbed.

[cowboy87]

but i don't have sand. Is that a problem?

[smy168]

crushed coral won't work to well, if you want to keep the bed clean, you're best option may be increased water flow.

[Javeo]

I agree, increased flow and gravel cleaning. Crushed coral is totally unsuitable for sand sifting species. You could get away with using a larger sand sifting goby, but then you will just have to feed it more in a tank that size to help it survive.