ammonia and starfish disinegrating

[alyssia]

I posted a few days ago about an unexplained ammonia spike in my tank. No new stock, no stirring up of the sand, nothing dead....anyway, today my orange linckia (which I have had for three months) is disinegrating. Can the ammonia be causing this? I've been doing daily water changes and the ammonia is down to .25 (was 1.00) Will ths star dying make my ammonia problem worse? Should I remove it now?
I loved that star!!

 

[shnabbles]

check your PH.. how big and established is your tank? Your Linkia is probally starving to death.

 

[oreo12]

If it is disinegrating maybe it has been dead a while and that is your hole problem.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by oreo12
If it is disinegrating maybe it has been dead a while and that is your hole problem.

It's not dead. It is still moving around.

 

[alyssia]

So, should I remove it? I don't want to, since it is still moving, but I also don't want it fouling up my water.
Ophiura!!!!

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by Shnabbles
check your PH.. how big and established is your tank? Your Linkia is probally starving to death.

ph is 8.2
nitrites 0
nitrates 20
sg 1.026
The tank is 8 months old, 75 gallon with 90+ lbs of LR
And yes, I know about linckias being hard to keep.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, the Linckia is dying because of water quality and or frequent water changes causing fluctuations in specific gravity, pH, alk, etc.
I don't think it is "soon" enough for it to be starving...it is a decent sized tank with enough LR. If this was after a year, I would say it might be starving. But right now I don't think it is.
However I do not think one dying seastar would cause a prolonged ammonia spike as you are experiencing. I'm not sure what is causing that :notsure:
As for whether it is contributing - maybe in some way it is, but I would not consider it the primary source. There is hope it might pull through if conditions can be stabilized.