Acclimation of Starfish?

[chipper]

Hello,
I know this might be a stupid question. I am getting a starfish online and had a question about acclimation. Everything that I have read about acclimation says that you should never introduce shipping water into a aquarium. When I was reading on how to acclimate starfish it says not to exposure the animal to air. How do you then acclimate a starfish without exposing it to air and not inrtoduce the shipping water into a aquarium?

 

[therock0861]

First of all welcome to the board!!! Secondly I think that you can expose the starfish to air for short periods of time without harming the animal that way you don't have to introduce the nasty water to your tank. HTH

 

[ophiura]

Exposure to air for a brief period is not a problem.
But hopefully I can spare you some other issues.
Seastars have very specific needs and not all are appropriate for young tanks (actually, none are appropriate, IMO, for any tank under 6 months old). Some can not be spot fed and will almost certainly die in certain tanks.
To help out, could you give your tank age, size, amount of LR and specific water parameters, especially specific gravity, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?
What type of star are you interested in? Things like chocolate chip, red african and general stars are not reef safe. Others, like Linckia and Fromia are safe but need very large systems- most will die.
Above all, the acclimation really must be 4+ hours using a drip acclimation and being sure to keep temperature constant with the tank. This is very important, and best to learn all you can about these delicate animals rather than after purchase!
We'll be happy to help!

 

[ophiura]

5 minutes out of water would be bad. A few seconds to transfer the animal is not a real concern. Green brittle/serpentstars are known predators of many animals including small fish but rarely corals. Few seastars are known to catch fish, but may eat corals and snails, etc. Other seastars will not touch such meaty things, and are very difficult to feed at all.

 

[ophiura]

The green brittle/serpentstar (I use the slash since there is no biological difference between brittle and serpentstars) is, in fact, a known predator in the wild and in captivity. It is Ophiarachna incrassata. Many people have problems with it, many people, including myself, do not.
Other species of brittle/serpent are not a problematic, but many people still report issues from time to time and I do not doubt them.
I have never had a problem, but would not say that they are not a risk to keep. They are not likely at all to touch corals or bivalves which are not a natural part of their diet, but small fish, shrimp and snails are a potential meal for brittle and serpentstars. Most will never touch them, but a few mights, and many people have issues with green brittle/serpent (they are known under both names) stars.

 

[chipper]

Ophiura,
Thanks for your reply. My tank is a 29gal that has been completely cycled for about 14 months. I have a two to three inch live sand bed. I have 30 lbs of live rock. It is set up for a fish only tank. The ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates are all at 0. The ph is 8.3, the salinty is around 1.022 and the temp between 75 to 78 degrees. I have a protein skimmer, powerhead, and mechanical filtration. Since my post I have recieved the marble strafish and have accilmated it accordingly. I read in the Concientious Marine Aquarist that these types of stars are harder to keep than others because of the lack of food. I have ahd previous success with a chocolate chip starfish and linckia, but they died when we had a power outage and the temp dropped to much. Amazingly the chocolate chip never ate the other starfish that was before I new not to mix a CC star with other stars.
How would you suggest I make sure that the starfish is getting enough food? With the CC star and the Linckia they would grab on to pieces of brine shrimp as they passed them.
One last question what is your view on Kent Marine Zoe or GArlic Extract?