Disappearing Starfish
- Thread starter rroberts
- Start date
A
alti
Guest
starfish can fit into really small cracks and sometimes you wont see them for a while. thats the problem when they die too. they crawl in a rock and theres no way to get them out. how long did you acclimate the star. the first time i got one i didn't acclimate mine long enough and a couple of days later i found one of his legs that had dropped and there was no sign of him. i never saw him again.
ophiura
Active Member
Yes, how about some tank specs?
Size
How old
How long have you had the star
What is the specific gravity, pH, ammonia, nitrite, etc levels
How much live rock do you have
How long was the star acclimated
This is a particularly delicate star, and needs to be acclimated over 4+ hours. It can not be spot fed, and must have lots of LR in a large mature tank (100g+, IMO). They are well known for dying of starvation at the 1 year mark. They will die within a month (often a week) after introduction if not acclimated.
They will virtually dissolve, and with lots of crabs etc, it will be gone fast.
Size
How old
How long have you had the star
What is the specific gravity, pH, ammonia, nitrite, etc levels
How much live rock do you have
How long was the star acclimated
This is a particularly delicate star, and needs to be acclimated over 4+ hours. It can not be spot fed, and must have lots of LR in a large mature tank (100g+, IMO). They are well known for dying of starvation at the 1 year mark. They will die within a month (often a week) after introduction if not acclimated.
They will virtually dissolve, and with lots of crabs etc, it will be gone fast.
krishj39
Active Member
you could always add a harlequin shrimp, he'd find it for you real fast.
jk of course, sorry to hear you lost him already. I tried a starfish a while ago, definitely long before i should have. it died within a day, didn't disappear though. mine was a serpent star, and linkias are much much less hardy. I want to get a red linkia, but I'm not going to add any more stars until quite a bit more time has passed. i'll probably get it about the same time as i get a mandarin, in about 4 months when the tank is 6 months old, or wait longer if I can handle it.
jk of course, sorry to hear you lost him already. I tried a starfish a while ago, definitely long before i should have. it died within a day, didn't disappear though. mine was a serpent star, and linkias are much much less hardy. I want to get a red linkia, but I'm not going to add any more stars until quite a bit more time has passed. i'll probably get it about the same time as i get a mandarin, in about 4 months when the tank is 6 months old, or wait longer if I can handle it.
ophiura
Active Member
The question still is "how long did you acclimate it?" Because it is just as likely, in one week, to die from acclimation stress. That is the typicaly time frame that we're looking at for that type of death. This is an important question, because, if it isn't addressed, you will probably continue to lose any of these stars that you add. Acclimation should be at least a 4 hour process with these guys.