chocolate chip star dying?

[saltysand]

I have had a chocolate chip star for a couple of months now. I had him in with a clown . I noticed that 4-5 days ago he looked like the clown had bit him in between his legs like in the curved area .I checked perameters , moved him to quarentine tank and the next day was the same , then the next day a little tiny piece looked like styrofoam was on the bottom of the quarentine tank but I couldn't tell a difference . He is eating and moving great but the next day 3 more little tiny pieces . Well now he has those open little sores in the curves between each leg and one of his chips. I asked lfs and they gave me melafix . I added it to the tank but what else can I do? ANy advice please !

 

[gexkko]

Pictures? Seastars (and echinoderms in general) have incredible regenerative abilities, meaning a bite on a leg would have little long-term effect unless there was some sort of infection (water quality, pathogens, or whatever). Pictures of what these sores could be most helpful.

 

[anonome]

Originally Posted by Gexkko
Pictures? Seastars (and echinoderms in general) have incredible regenerative abilities, meaning a bite on a leg would have little long-term effect unless there was some sort of infection (water quality, pathogens, or whatever). Pictures of what these sores could be most helpful.
Exactly, these creatures are incredible in the way they can regenerate themselves, however they can crash very quickly if not treated. Good to hear you put him in a qt.

A picture would really help.

 

[saltysand]

this is the best pic I could get . I took 4 and this was the best one.

 

[saltysand]

bump

 

[ophiura]

What are your SPECIFIC tank parameters?
What do you feed this star?
IMO, moving to a hospital tank was actually not a good plan unless you acclimated the star, and unless the parameters are the same as the main tank. This can cause acclimation problems if not.
Most of these issues with seastars are due to water quality problems and not typically disease problems. The best thing for them is to have them in ideal water parameters. Specific gravity, especially, should be 1.025-1.026. What are your parameters?

 

[saltysand]

sg 1.024
temp 80
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
ph 8.3
the perameters were exactly the same. I had done a water change 2 days before in my other tank so I just took the water from there and put him into the same water different tank. Nothing to bother him. I feed him fresh shrimp , scallop, shimp pellets .Feed him every other day. He is worse now then in pic , please hurry.

 

[saltysand]

thanks alot for the help. I read somewhere on this site it may take up to an hour for someone to help you well it takes way longer then that and unfortunately I didn't get any help in time.

I will remember that next time I have a problem. thanks again.

 

[sleasia]

saltysand...sorry if you did not get a quick response. In general people on this site do answer questions quickly...some of the moderators should really be paid they do such a great job....I had a problem with seastars recently because of my changing to using a different salt mix which had a very high calcium level...my tank calcium shot up above 600 and my seastars began to have the white patches everywhere. It sounds like your other parameters were ok,( but you could raise your salinity a bit to 1.025). You might want to check the calcium level...I don't know for sure if they are sensitive to high calcium concentrations, but when mine got sick that was the only thing which was abnormal at the time.

 

[reeffreak9]

Sorry about your star. I'm not shure what could have been wrong, but you probably would have gotten more response to a disease or ilness question in the disease threads. Just for future reference. I had a very sick princess parrotfish, and I posted my help thread in the new hobbyist threads. Big mistake. I got few responses, and when I finally did get posted in the disease threads, I got amazing help from a few intellegent people on here. Unfortunately by then it was too late. I guess we need to remember, that when it is an emergency, post it in the disease threads, and use HELP!!!! ASAP!!!! in your thread title. Again sorry for your loss.