My sand sifting star is dead...

[jimmyray]

Hi everyone...
I'm new here... this is my first post.
i have a 55 gal tank and i was wanting to get something to stir up the sand a little bit... i did a little reading on the SSS because there was one at my LFS.
I went ahead and picked it up... then did a little more research and decided maybe that wasn't the best move... but that's neither here nor there now...
i got home a few days after it had been in the tank and it was missing a leg...
some of the cleaner shrimp would go over to it and i guess clean the wounded area off for it (although it looked a little rough to me) anyway i know the regenerate so i was worried but not too worried...
all i have in the tank is 2 emerald crabs a few Pep Shrimps a skunk cleaner 15 or so blue and red hermits and some turbo snails...
a few days past and i came home again and almost all of my crabs had a turbo in the corner and were ripping him out of his shell (since then I've added more shells for them) and my SSS had another leg ripped off and he was ripped in half...
any ideas on what could have done this? i thought most of my inhabitants at the moment were relatively docile...
i appreciate all of your help

 

[bang guy]

What was the salinity of the water at the store where you purchaed it?
What is your Salinity?
How did you acclimate your new starfish?

 

[jimmyray]

I'm not sure the Salinity of the store mine is at 1.022
i drip acclimated him for about 4 hrs... floated him around in the bag of water to get him to the right temp...
he was ok for a few days... just running around doing his thing... then one day one leg gone and a few days later... torn in half! crazy...
its like a mystery... like clue... was it the emerald crab under the live rock with pinchers... or the cleaner shrimp in the sand bed with an empty shell...

 

[bang guy]

Your Specific Gravity is a little low at 1.022. If your water temp is in the high 70's then that's a Salinity somewhere around 31.5ppt. It should probably be around 35ppt. I'm not sure that the salinity was low enough to cause it damage though. If the store had their salinity around 35ppt then that's a pretty big change in salinity for 4 hours and that's what I think the problem is.

 

[jimmyray]

really? wow... the temp is between 76 and 77... but this difference in salinity would cause him to fall apart like that?
live and learn i guess...
he was ok for a few days though he was good and active for a good few days before he lost his first leg and for a while after that...

 

[ophiura]

Absolutely, IMO it was a huge issue and the probably cause of death. acclimation shock kills a lot of seastars within a month of introduction. Any time you see other inverts on something like that means it is dying.
I would STRONGLY discourage purchase of another.

 

[jimmyray]

ok.. i'll be more careful from now on... i dont think i'll be getting another one of those...
in the future what should i do to prevent acclimation shock? how long should he have acclimated...

 

[calaxa]

Read some more about SSS. I made the mistake of buying one. I read old sources like Fenner's book (Conscientious Marine Aquarist). They can decimate a SB of all microfauna of a 180G in a matter of weeks, then slowly starve to death. Very uncommon to have one that will allow spot feeding. I've tried dumping shrimp and krill next to him, lifting him and throwing the food under him, and still no go. He's hiding in my SB now but eventually I'm going to have to give him away or euphanize him.
As for acclimation, you needed to get your SG up higher to keep an invert like him. He needs something along the order of 1.024-1.026. You probably didn't need to acclimate him for as long as you did as these stars can survive outside of water for quite some time (again sources are wrong about exposing them to air). It was probably the prolonged time in low saline conditions that did him in. Are you using a refractometer or hydrometer to measure?

 

[jimmyray]

right now i'm just using a hydrometer... i thought my SG was suppose to be around 1.022 so i'll slowly start to raise that...
yeah i did research on him... got him, then did more research and found out i didn't need him...

 

[calaxa]

1.022 is fine for a FOWLR system. If you want to keep most inverts, they prefer higher and of course corals will want higher as well. Hydrometers can be inaccurate. It's best to use a refract if possible.

 

[jimmyray]

yeah i was planning on getting a refractometer at some point... just haven't been able to yet. (i've only been doing this since early may)
thanks so much for everyones help!

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Jimmyray
http:///forum/post/2638093
ok.. i'll be more careful from now on... i dont think i'll be getting another one of those...
in the future what should i do to prevent acclimation shock? how long should he have acclimated...

For fish you don't have to acclimate much. What you did would be fine for hardy inverts like Anemone and Clams. For delicate inverts like Starfish and reef snails the acclimation period needs to be based on the difference in Salinity. If you were going from store water of 35ppt to tank water at 34ppt then 4 hours is plenty. But going from 35ppt to 31ppt could take an entire day to do it right, perhaps 2 days.

 

[jimmyray]

oh wow... thanks for the info... so i'm in the process of slowly bringing up my salinity now... so is there an hr to ppt ratio that i should know about?

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Jimmyray
http:///forum/post/2638566
oh wow... thanks for the info... so i'm in the process of slowly bringing up my salinity now... so is there an hr to ppt ratio that i should know about?

The safest way to raise Salinity is to topoff daily with full strength saltwater instead of freshwater to replace evaporated water. It should take less than a week for you.

 

[jimmyray]

awesome! thats what i'm working on...

 

[chroniccoral35]

I'm still fairly new to this hobby, about 6-7 months in. I've had a SSS since my tank was first cycled, and two false perc clown pairs, plan to add one more fish this week but back on topic. He has been doing great...I constantly see him out...maneuvering around my corals on the sand bed...even climbs on the rocks and has been at every piece of glass on the tank, I'd be upset if he died...because I so far love them, I'm sorry to hear about yours...that is real odd, just simply split in half....now I seen a little piece in my tank kind of under one of the base rocks that looked JUST like the SSS but I still seen him whole and moving, I'll have to take another look tomorrow when the lights are on.

 

[calaxa]

Chronic, do some more reading on SSS. These stars can take up to 18 months to starve to death. If it's moving about, that's actually NOT a good sign. Means it is going around looking for food. Mine is holed up in an unreachable part of tank for last few days. I've managed to successfully spot feed him only once. Other times he just ignores what i dump around him. Try to feed him. Maybe yours will take to it. Try shrimp, clams, mussels, fish, etc. Make sure it's small enough that he can swallow the whole piece in one gulp. Gently place it under one of his arms if you can.

 

[chroniccoral35]

Would he eat a small piece of the frozen brine I feed my clowns if I break it off? I mean if he DOES eat, will he eat that? because I will try to feed him...I don't want em dying on me to quick.

 

[chroniccoral35]

Also on top of that I just have a quick question, I am buying two peppermint shrimp for anem. pest...do they need to be fed everyday? I plan to attempt to spot feed my star a few times a week, my old cleaner shrimp eat flakes and frozen brine I through in for my clowns, they all would rip it apart

 

[calaxa]

Chronic,
I never had luck with brine. SSS are mainly mustivores (sp?), meaning they prefer clams, mussels, etc. You might have more luck with mysis or krill.
Peppermints don't need to be directly fed. They will do fine scavenging about. As for them and aipstasia, that's iffy. Some will eat them, some will not. Don't worry bout the peppermints. If you are not feeding them enough and you keep corals, you'll know. They have a rep of nipping at some.
Good luck on the SSS. I like mine too but really wish there wasn't so much wrong info about them. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have bought him.