Humane way to kill star!! Please.

S

sinner's girl

Guest
I thought he was dead yesterday but he moved when I touched him. There is nothing left of him but small parts of 2 legs...What's the best way to kill him? Or should I just let him die in the tank? He's flipped over right now, but he was still alive about being flipping over for almost a day.
What's the best humane (fastest, painless) way to kill the star?
Thanks...
Never mind, "he's wiggly to be dead' he jumped out of Sinner's hand back into the water, so what can I do to help him? Is there anything I can feed him or add to the water?
I'd still like to know the best way to kill him, I really don't have any faith he can pull through this.
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
Place him in a bag with tank water, and place in fridge/freezer...
As a cold blooded animal the hypothermia will slow and then "shut down" bodily functions effectively putting him to "sleep" and then complete shut down...
 
C

civileng68

Guest
Should this method be used with other fish and or inverts as well?
I just hate to see a fish suffer and don't want to have to see it struggling if doing the same process will essentially kill it painlessly.
 
xjayx

xjayx

Member
are you sure there's no hope for him? If he's moving enough to actually jump out of someone's hands then he might still have a fighting chance...
When you say that all that's left of him are two arms... does that mean the other three were torn off or cut off somehow?
If so, what kind of sea star is it? Some starfish are very resiliant creatures and if parts of their bodies are damanged they will grow back. They can loose whole arms and with time it'll grow back.
If it flipped it self up side down before it started to fall apart then there might be something up with your water...
don't know about what to feed or add to the water to make him better but watch your PH, salt level, temperature and make sure it doesn't jump around a lot...
 
bchdfldian

bchdfldian

Member
Starfish are pretty good at regeneration. If a decent potion of his center body area are still attatched to his legs, he could still recover himself.
I'd leave him and keep an eye on him, or move him to a little hospital tank for observation (maybe he's getting beat up on while the lights are out?)
If not, like with reptiles, freezer is the way to go. However, some creatures, like clams, can still wiggle with life after thawing out from being in the freezer.
 
airforceb2

airforceb2

Active Member
Ophiura would be the one to ask here...she is the sea/serpent star wizzard. From what I have read from her posts before, the star can still make it. As long as the center disk is still in tact, it can make it. Let me see if I can find some of her posts.
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
Don't write your star off just yet, can you put it into a seperate tank?
What kind of star is it?
Maybe your LFS would take it if you don't want it and nurse it back to health.
Deb
 
E

exile415

Guest
anything dying or seemed to be not healthy, I put in my QT. when it's dead i bury it in my backyard
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
water is good
75gl
sg 1.024
Nitrate under 20
Am 0
Nirtrite 0
ph good, forget the number, just tested Friday, and I'm testing again tomorrow.
I've had the star since dec 2001 (bought him and the serpent from swf.com). The serpent is fine, moving around, same size as before this happened, eatting. I never add anything to the tank but food (shrimp), salt and water.
no one is beating up on on the Brittle, no one else is in the tank but a serpent star (which we got at the same time). A couple hermits who never come out of the lr. The star was fine, he didn't eat one week, then when I went to feed him the next week, I saw he was bad...smaller...I paniced and did a wc, and ran out of salt, the lfs didn't have any salt either), about a week or so after that he starting losing his legs, (parts of his legs were left behind, he detached them). The sg was too low (1.019) for him (though the lfs told me it was low but okay, just don't let it get any lower)
the freezer method was declared cruel a few years back when I was here.
Center disk is still okay...not looking the best. He's done this before, but he never lost his legs or looked this bad (we moved the tank, it went through a mini cycle 2 years ago, he shrunk in size, didn't eat and stayed in the lr, I kept the lights off on that side of the tank, after a few months or so he was better, in fact before he got sick he was bigger than he was before. I guess that's what's so hard, he was so beautiful, legs 6in long or more.
I kept helping him fight. It's just so sad...
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
I've already gone into what I believe the issues may be in some other threads. I would still give the star a chance, personally. I've seen some extremely bad cases that recovered in the appropriate conditions. But do leave it in your system. I would probably still isolate it as described in some other threads but leave it in the tank.
Still interested in whether you are using a hydrometer or refractometer.
FWIW, there are two ways to "humanely" destroy seastars.
One is to use a couple of tablespoons of epsom salt. But the star and some tank water in a flat dish, and pile the salt in one corner. Ever so often gently tip the tray to stir in a bit of salt. This is an anaesthetic and if continued will overdose the animal.
The second is to slowly "reverse" acclimate by very slow addition of freshwater. Freshwater is also an anaesthetic, and if overdosed will kill it. The trick is to go slowly so as not to shock it too much.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
I know this sounds insane, but my father, a longtime fish keeper has always advocated "popping." This method consists of using great, blunt force to cause such immediate trauma to the organism that death is instantaneous. This method is not for the faint of heart, but is by far the quickest and least painful for the organism.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
:yes: That method is considered - certainly for things like fish - to be the fastest way to kill them. But you can't hesitate, or then it is not so humane. I always handed that task off to a coworker. Only once did I see a fish in such a bad way that I could get it done without hesitation.
Anyway, I love this description -
The most eloquent procedure can be found in Steinbeck'sSweet Thursday where he related Ed Ricketts' preservation of "the good kind and sane little animals."
"Doc got back from his collecting about four-thirty... and submerged in sea water in his collecting buckets were hundreds of brittlestars. He moved the brittlestars to a large, flat-bottomed glass dish and poured some sea water on top of them. The little animals with the snakelike arms whipped about for a moment and then settled down. When they were quite still and resting Doc added a little fresh water to the dish. The arms stirred nervously. He waited a while and then added a little more fresh water. To a sea animal, fresh water is a poison, and if it is slowly introduced it is as subtle as morphine. It relaxes and soothes until the little creature goes to sleep and dies without violence."
 
bchdfldian

bchdfldian

Member
That's true, just put it out of it's misery.
If it were me, I'd put it in a hospital tank and keep a close watch on the levels. Starfish can regenerate unless it's diseased, as long as the middle section is still attatched. Give him a fighting chance. In another thread your starfish had done the same thing which makes me think there's something going on with the tank. I have never seen a starfish do that before.
Maybe a hospital tank would do it good.
 
K

kimc

Guest
It's so sad for anything to suffer, except for a cockroach or a big spider..... I would give it a chance!!!
 
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