Chocolate Chip Starfish

jensweston

jensweston

New Member
After much research and contemplation, we purchased a chocolate chip starfish yesterday. We checked our water parameters and all seemed ideal for the new addition according to our research. We did a drip acclimation over 4 hours and put him into the quarantine tank. He moved around a little last night but this morning we woke to find him hanging at the top of the water line with one leg bent back at the surface. I've read that this is stress behavior or that water conditions are bad. I rechecked and our parameters are dead on (temp 78, pH 8.2, 0 nitrates/nitrites/ammonia, sg 1.022). I went called the LFS and asked their water conditions and they kept their tanks at 1.015 sg. Now I'm concerned that even after 4 hours, we changed too much too fast for the little guy. Its the first time I've gone to that store (although they come highly recommended) but I was shocked at the low sg.
Is there anything I can do to help out the star or has the damage been done already putting him in the tank that was supposed to be ideal for him?
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Even your specific gravity is a tad too low. Ideally, you should have stars at 1.025 or 1.026.
Nonetheless, CC's are extremely hardy. My chocolate chip used to always hang at the top with an arm out of the water or bent back. Mine did this when he was ready to feed.
I think your star may be okay, as long as he was not too stressed at the pet store with that HORRIBLY low SG. If I were you, I would not go back there if they think keep their inverts at 1.015 is healthy for the animals.
 
jthomas0385

jthomas0385

Member
I had a CC star for over a year, I gave him away when I was ready to buy an anemone. Anyways, he would always go to the top of the tank when he was ready to feed. I would slip him some krill, and he would be good to go.
 
N

nihoa

Guest
yeah, ditto here. our chip heads to the top when he is hungry. we had an ammonia spike after we got ours and he sat on the bottom and curled his legs up. they always have them curled a little bit to smell but when you see them really peel back you know there is trouble. i wouldnt worry over activity level either. ours eats and sits still for a day then goes on a crazy rip around the tank for another day. they seem to have spurts.
 
jensweston

jensweston

New Member
Thank you so much for the response. I feel better now. Apparently he's moving around the top of the tank in this position so that's something. I'm going to work on slowly increasing my sg in the display and qt so he can be happier down the road. And I'm definitely avoiding that LFS from now on!
 
jensweston

jensweston

New Member
Well I took everyone's advice and fed the little guy some shrimp. He's had 3 pcs so far over the past couple of days and he's now finally moved down off of the glass and onto the rock. I think maybe he was just really really hungry.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Please do note that your specific gravity is very low for seastars - and it is entirely possible significant damage was done at your LFS. I would not suggest buying inverts from them if the future if the actually keep them at 1.015. It is possible their inverts are actually on a different tank system with a higher specific gravity.
 
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