Need lots of help on broken starfish?

reb

reb

Member
HELP!! I have two starfish in my 75 gal tank. They are the same kind(not exactly sure of their name). They are about three inches and are reddish orange. They have bumps of the same color sticking out sort of like a chocolate chip star. About a week ago one of the legs kept pulling further and further away from its body. This morning I found the leg totally detached at the bottom of the tank. It is partially sticking on the glass. Should I pull this leg out of the tank before it causes all of my levels to spike, or will this leg keep growing and turn into another starfish? Will the starfish with only 4 legs grow a 5th back. Below are two pictures(sorry not the best), one of the broken off leg, and one of what the entire starfish looks like.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Is this your beast?
From: http://www.nhm.org/guana/bvi-invt/bvi-surv/echi-g03.htm

And is it in your reef tank?
How much LR do you have? Just looking for some info for research purposes, as I believe you are up for a "Congratulations!"
I think you have a bouncing baby "comet star" forming.
Many of these seastars reproduce by 'arm drop' in which an arm pulls away from the original animal. The original animal regenerates the missing arm, and the arm regenerates 4 others (since they are shorter than the single arm, these stars are called 'comet stars').
I am not positive that this species does this; however, a close relative, Echinaster luzonicus, does. Based on your description, it sounds about right. Leave the arm in there for now, and keep us updated! So long as it keeps moving around, I wouldn't worry much...just enjoy! :D
 
reb

reb

Member
This would be so cool! The star fish is in my fish only tank. I have about 20lbs of LR. The leg is still moving around on the glass a little.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
How long have you had these stars? Have you noticed that they will feed on anything (if you try to spot feed) or do they only crawl on the rocks/glass? Do you have LR and 'other' things (eg limestone, artificial coral, etc) or only LR? This seastar is fairly close in some regards to the "Linckia" sp seastars, and I am interested in knowing if you have seen it feeding on anything in particular.
 
reb

reb

Member
We've had the two starfish for about 6 months. They spend almost all day on the glass, About every third day they will climb across the sand and climb on my live rock for half a day. I have about 20lbs of LR. I tried spot feeding them but they don't want anything to do with it. They are in my fish only tank. I'm scared to put them in my reef tank, I heard they eat corals. Not sure, but don't want to take a chance. As of today the broken off leg is still moving around.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
It is not all that likely that they eat corals if they are not interested in spot feeding. Echinaster, if that is what it is, is not closely related to things like chocolate chip stars or ref African, etc. Might be good to do some searching into this. Personally, I would say they are similar to Linckia sp stars in their requirements, meaning, they are not very likely to eat corals. Suppose anything is a possibility though...
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member
I wanted to quickly comment on the feeding of lettuce. Lettuce should not be fed to the fish. Lettuce doesn't contain healthy nutrients and is hard on the fishes digestive system. Any human foods (Lettuce, cucumber, brocilli, etc.) should not be fed to saltwaterfish. I would recommend feeding unsalted, unroasted Nori.
Graham
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top