Is My Starfish Dead

racin24fan

racin24fan

Member
Ok. I admit I am new to saltwater. I have had my tank since February. I have an orange linka starfish that has been fine until today.
Today I noticed his legs are coming apart and stuff is coming out and the orange "skin" is peeling off. He is also very limp.
Is he dead and if so any idea why? Everything else in the tank seems fine although I did have an anemome to die last weekend.
I have added 45lbs of live rock and some shrimp in the past 2 weeks.
I cured the live rock for 3 weeks and all the tests read zero.
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by Racin24fan
http:///forum/post/2627450
Ok. I admit I am new to saltwater. I have had my tank since February. I have an orange linka starfish that has been fine until today.
Today I noticed his legs are coming apart and stuff is coming out and the orange "skin" is peeling off. He is also very limp.
Is he dead and if so any idea why? Everything else in the tank seems fine although I did have an anemome to die last weekend.
I have added 45lbs of live rock and some shrimp in the past 2 weeks.
I cured the live rock for 3 weeks and all the tests read zero.
Couple of things come to mind...One you really should have a tank established for a year or more to hold a star (may have starved due to lack of food...How much live rock do you have?). Two I have heard linckia's are particularly difficult. If it was a sudden onset however...any change in PH? or did you do a water change recently?...perhaps he is reacting to a change, they are quite sensitive. I would not agree that he is absolutely dead...I had what you are describing happen to two of my stars legs, but he is still alive. I believe mine was due to a water change it did not handle well. I would give more time before you try another if this one is unfortunately dead, and just from what I have read I would steer clear of the Linckia's...they also can get quite large.
 
racin24fan

racin24fan

Member
Everything tested good. I took my water to a lfs and had it tested and its a okay.
I have around 100 lbs of live rock in a 55 gallon.
I bought him in March.
Unfortunately the fish is dead.
 
kaliman33

kaliman33

Member
I had a blue starfish until today, my coral beauty started chewing/picking at his legs, then the damsils joined in, chewed him up good, i brought him back to my LFS and he is going to try to rehabilitate him, he looked bad and i'm ticked, everyone says it is unusual for a coral beauty to pick on a star fish, figures mine does.
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by Racin24fan
http:///forum/post/2627528
Everything tested good. I took my water to a lfs and had it tested and its a okay.
I have around 100 lbs of live rock in a 55 gallon.
I bought him in March.
Unfortunately the fish is dead.
Water may be ok now, but did you make any changes? As in, perhaps the water was not ok, but you made the change so now it is ok, but the change was too drastic for the starfish to handle. This may not be the case at all...just a random guess on my part...ever notice anything in the tank harrasing it?
 
tdog7879

tdog7879

Member
Originally Posted by Racin24fan
http:///forum/post/2627450
Ok. I admit I am new to saltwater. I have had my tank since February. I have an orange linka starfish that has been fine until today.
Today I noticed his legs are coming apart and stuff is coming out and the orange "skin" is peeling off. He is also very limp.
Is he dead and if so any idea why? Everything else in the tank seems fine although I did have an anemome to die last weekend.
I have added 45lbs of live rock and some shrimp in the past 2 weeks.
I cured the live rock for 3 weeks and all the tests read zero.
I had a purple linka and the same thing happen to mine! The LFS told me if they are exposed to air or a cut they will get a infection and there legs will start to fall off and then die. I also heard that you have to drip accu. for atleast 3 hours.
 
racin24fan

racin24fan

Member
The only thing new to the tank is live rock, a clown, butterfly, and some shrimp. I also installed a new wetdry filter.
I noticed his skin the other day looked to have little bumps on it but I never paid it much attention because he seemed fine and was moving around the tank. He stayed on the live rock for a couple of days then moved over to the front of the tank where I found him when I got home today.
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by Racin24fan
http:///forum/post/2627597
The only thing new to the tank is live rock, a clown, butterfly, and some shrimp. I also installed a new wetdry filter.
I noticed his skin the other day looked to have little bumps on it but I never paid it much attention because he seemed fine and was moving around the tank. He stayed on the live rock for a couple of days then moved over to the front of the tank where I found him when I got home today.
Where did the live rock come from?...did you buy it from a site (don't need to know which one if it wasn't swf.com
) or did you buy it from your lfs, or some person? Reason I ask... if it was just some random person they may have used some kind of med such as copper in the DT and ruined the rock, and thus killed your star. Changing out a filter system can be iffy if you do not take care to try and save some of the bacteria, but if your tests came back ok, I would not think this a problem. Maybe it was just the stars time, in this hobby it is often very difficult to come to a distinctive cause of death. I am sorry to hear about it, just keep plugging along
.
 
racin24fan

racin24fan

Member
Originally Posted by usirchchris
http:///forum/post/2627703
Where did the live rock come from?...did you buy it from a site (don't need to know which one if it wasn't swf.com
) or did you buy it from your lfs, or some person? Reason I ask... if it was just some random person they may have used some kind of med such as copper in the DT and ruined the rock, and thus killed your star. Changing out a filter system can be iffy if you do not take care to try and save some of the bacteria, but if your tests came back ok, I would not think this a problem. Maybe it was just the stars time, in this hobby it is often very difficult to come to a distinctive cause of death. I am sorry to hear about it, just keep plugging along
.
I bought it from this site. This site has the best selection I have found and a great return policy.
 
mr.clownfish

mr.clownfish

Active Member
linkia starfish are one of the hardest starfish to keep. i had one that started to change from orange to red. i didnt take the chance of leaving him in my tank so i took it back.
and ur linkia is dieing. probably from phosphate but im not sure. because anemones HATE phosphate and when urs died im guessing its from phosphate. for it could be some other metal
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
What is the SG of the tank? How did you acclimate him? Stars need long acclimation, 4-5 hours. They slowly die from acclimation shock. They fall apart as you have described. They do require a mature system. 6+ months is suitable if there is ample rock.
 
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