Please help, I acclimated my Starfish too quickly

woody189

woody189

Member
I made a mistake last night.
I bought a red general starfish and i acclimated it too quickly. I didn't realize how fast my drip was and the drip water was the same as my tank water after less than 2 hours.
I know it should have been much longer, but the damage is done.
I placed the star on the glass where he stuck on immediatley. by the time i woke up, he was on the sand bed just laying there. Now about 20 hours since i first put it in, it's only moved about an inch or two.
he curls his arms upwards and i'm really worried.
My guess is that it's in acclimation shock and it's going to die within the next few days. Is that correct??
is there ANYTHING at all i can do??
 
texasmetal

texasmetal

Active Member
Anything you do at this point is just going to cause further stress.
Make sure your water parameters are all in check. That's about it.
 
woody189

woody189

Member
is it normal for it to barely move after nearly a day?? i know some things take a few days to start moving, but i don't know if that applies to stars.
and is it normal for them to curl their arms upward?? i'm still a new aquarist (my tank's been up for about 10 months) so i'm still learning
when i first saw the start at the aquarium, he was on the glass, i went back 2 days later (yesturday) and he was resting on the sandbed. Idk if that info means anything.
i'll def keep you posted.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
i bought a fromia tile star and acclimated him for about an hour. he lived for 6 months now. his legs appeared curled up for a while, and some alleged "seasoned reefkeeper" told me that it was a gonner for sure. he was wrong. just do like texas metal says. keep the parameters perfect and wait and see. my star sat in the same place for a week, then he was all over the place.
 
woody189

woody189

Member
Originally Posted by Mr_X
http:///forum/post/2777552
i bought a fromia tile star and acclimated him for about an hour. he lived for 6 months now. his legs appeared curled up for a while, and some alleged "seasoned reefkeeper" told me that it was a gonner for sure. he was wrong. just do like texas metal says. keep the parameters perfect and wait and see. my star sat in the same place for a week, then he was all over the place.
I love you
 
woody189

woody189

Member
I fed him a silverside the day after i got him. He ate it after about 1/2 an hour. I then gave hime a piece of a silveside the other day, but he didn't eat it.
He barely moves around, maybe afew inches a day, but back and forth in the same area. He never goes on the glass anymore and is usually laying htere with his arms curled up, or curled down (as if he's crawling).
Today i woke up and there is white stuff stuck on his arm. His skin is pinkinsh underneath the white stuff. It appears as thought it's flesh and something is eating him.
Tankmates include, 2 scarlet hermits, 5 small bluelegs, 2 clowns, a royal gramma, firefish, blood shrimp, and snails.
Does this mean he is dieing so he's being eaten. I tought he was making a recovery. After he ate the 1st silverside, he was moving a little bit more, but now he damn near stopped.
Water parameters are SG-1.027 (hydrometer)
temp 80 ish
trites-0
ammonia-0
trates-20.
i never see anything bothering him, but i do occasionaly see the blood shrimp climb on top of him, but only for a second.
thanks
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
it most likely means he's dying. he will start disintegrating from the legs inward. nothing is eating him. it's quite possible you weren't as lucky as we thought.
 
woody189

woody189

Member
yea you were right. He started to disincingrate. It's really sad how they just fall apart. chunks were falling off.
anyway, thanks for the help.
 
sminker

sminker

Member
in 6 years of fish keeping i have NEVER ONCE acclimated besides getting the bag water the same temp as the tank. i just dump in the net, then flop into the tank. never once lost a fish.
 
emilaya101

emilaya101

Member
You haven't lost one fish is six years ?? how many of them have you had ??
Seems like no matter how you acclimated the fish, at least once in 6 years you'd come across one that was already on it's last leg, or pretty close.....
JMO.
 
lighteningthes

lighteningthes

Member
Our starfish did the same thing, not gonna try anothe one cuz it was sad to watch them fall apart. He lasted like 2-3 weeks before the wheels fell off.
 
texasmetal

texasmetal

Active Member
We had an orange linkia that did great for about 6 months. About half of a leg ended up missing but it appeared to be regrowing. And then one day, there was an orange mushy spot on the sand. Didn't really fall apart. Had a huge gorgeous red serpent start that did crumbled over several days though after moving to another tank. That was a bummer.
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Improper acclimation is prolly the #1 cause of premature mortality in sea stars. They are very sensitive to even the slightest changes in water chemistry.
I miss Ophiura.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/2788262
Improper acclimation is prolly the #1 cause of premature mortality in sea stars. They are very sensitive to even the slightest changes in water chemistry.
I miss Ophiura.
me too.
osmotic shock (caused by rapid changes in salinity) can wait up to 30 days before rearing its ugly head, the intial signs are disentegration of the sea stars arms. sea stars do not adapt well to osmotic imbalances between themselves and the system they are in.
basicly the rate at which they pass water through their cells when at a suddenly different salinity causes the cells to seperate due to the strain of having water suddenly pass at a different rate than the water currently insdie the stars structure the two different salinities want to travel at different speeds causing internal pressure that severly damages the stars structure. this is an oversimplified explination but you get the idea.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by sminker
http:///forum/post/2787216
in 6 years of fish keeping i have NEVER ONCE acclimated besides getting the bag water the same temp as the tank. i just dump in the net, then flop into the tank. never once lost a fish.
a sea star is signifigantly different than a fish.
 
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