need star fish help

[d-man]

so I did some thing dum I got a chocolate star out of a tank with a dead star in it and I dont know much about them he looked good when I got him but now he has these little wight spots on the tips of his arms is there anything I can do? what dose he eat? at what point should I say oh well and trash him so I don't get a big ball of goo in my tank?

 

[ophiura]

What is your specific gravity and other water parameters? How did you acclimate it?
It did not "catch" a disease from the dead star, probably the specific gravity at the LFS was low and it is suffering from acclimation shock. the only hope is to have it in a tank that has good parameters.
However chocolate chip stars are highly predatory - definitely not suitable for a reef tank if that is what you have. Do try and feed it, pieces of shrimp or whatever for now.

 

[d-man]

do they eat corals? inverts? should I feed it at night or when ever? how much to food to body size should I feed it?

 

[ophiura]

Yes they eat snails, anemones, corals...or at least pose a real threat.
But what you are saying sounds like acclimation trouble. what are your parameters?

 

[flower]

I looked at your profile...get that chocolate chip star OUT NOW it will eat your hammer head coral, and the candy cane coral, if it hasn't already!

 

[d-man]

its in my new tank with a bunch a tree corals I cut out of my good tank because they where taking over the only thing in that tank that I really like is my scallop can it hurt him? I'm working on learning how to get a good water reading but I do 1/3 water changes weekly I do have a bit of evaporation is there any thing I can do to make it happy tell I figure out what I'm going to do with it

how would it do in a refu with mangroves?

 

[flower]

I only know CC stars eat coral because just like you when I first started I got one...I however did not have this forum back then, and it ate my coral in 2 minutes of it being in my tank...My CC star was not sick, it was healthy and very hungry.

Safe with anything else

I took it straight back to the fish store that sold it as reef safe and got something else.
If you are going to have a reef, just take it back.
JMO
As per your water...Your test kit should tell you what is safe, what are danger levels and the whole bit.

 

[ophiura]

The bigger issue right now is water quality. It won't be eating anything at this point if you don't know the parameters and it is showing signs of disintegrating.

 

[d-man]

so too much salt will disintegrate it? what can I do? should I pull it out and put it in a tub and add some fresh water?

 

[ophiura]

No, generally too little.
YOU MUST HAVE A SPECIFIC GRAVITY READING. Do not add any salt or water until you have that. Too much or too little is bad.
Ideally it would be 1.025-1.026...though it sounds like your LFS was possibly low too which is not good.