My Red Bali Starfish has a missing arm

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coco1963

Guest
I have a red bali starfish and it stays at the top of the glass but today I noticed 1 of the arms is missing, I was wondering what I have that might have done it. List of my family is: 2 Cinnamon clowns, 1 coral beauty angelfish, 1 royal gramma, 1 Lawnmower blenny, 1 cleaner shrimp, 3 emerald crabs, some snails and hermits? Any ideas?? Will it grow back or will the starfish die now? *This picture is Before he lost his arm*
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
They will typically regrow arms but if it lost it due to a disese then your issues are just starting. Ophiura is an expert on star fish you could PM her.
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member
Starfish are very delicate. Please list all info so you may have a better chance of finding out what is wrong. How long have you had this starfish?, How did you acclimated him?, List your water parimeters(actual numbers, not just they are fine). List info on your tank, such as age, how much lr/ls. This will help to spot any causes.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Most of these stars die in a month (acclimation shock) or in a year (starvation).
SO:
If you have had it less than a month, it is dying of acclimation shock
If you have had it 6-18 months, it is probably dying of starvation.
Unless this is a very large tank, with 100+ pounds of LR, the odds of it improving are slim. Small stars - but need lots of LR, and most can not be spot fed. The loss of arms is one of the first signs of serious trouble, and rarely is it predation.
You need to post your SPECIFIC tank parameters to start, as well as all the other questions asked by mcbdz above

The odds of it regrowing this arm are slim. This is NOT reproduction, nor will all seastars automatically regrow arms. They only do it when healthy, and when there is enough food. Sadly, for probably the majority of stars in this hobby, neither are likely. :(
 
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coco1963

Guest
Wow that is sad,
I love Starfish, and this one was a smaller type. I had a Chocolate Chip star over a year ago and it didn't live long either. This one I've had for a week now..so the way it sounds it could be acclimation shock. OK It's a 29 gal tank that's been running 6 wks, 25 lbs of live rock, 50 lbs of live sand. Got it at the LFS & Acclimated by the drip method, even though they just said to float it for 1/2 hour. PH 8.4, ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, nitrate 0, salinity 1026, temp about 78 deg.
 
jessica47421

jessica47421

Active Member
i have a orange knobby star that i have had for a good 6 months that seem to be doing really good. but i was going to get one from the lfs and they told me on here that i could drip acclimate him really good and he could still die if they lfs didnt drip well, and he told me he jsut temp acclimated him so i didnt get it. so hopefully the lfs did what they was suppost to do with him and with them telling you you could just wait 1/2 hour i dought they did
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Personally, I feel the tank is far to young...and far too small, to sustain such a star long term. However at this time it is most definitely suffering from acclimation shock, which may have occurred at the LFS or before.
 
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coco1963

Guest
ok thanks all, I knew the tank was too young for Urchins and other stars but I couldn't find anything about this type and the LFS guy said they were easy to have in the tank. I know they had just gotten them at the LFS the day before.
 
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coco1963

Guest
Thanks to all who replied, nothing else to do now,
the starfish died.
 
coach d

coach d

New Member
do you have system to save a red bali from acclimation shock, I just brought two already had one in 14 gal tank for a year maybe , now what assume is week old new one seems develop some deterioration some on two arm tips. as I type its in bowl now starting up 2gal hospital now if anyone has thoughts
 
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