Please Help! injured starfish

[mountain_surfe]

Hi, I have a blue starfish which i noticed yesterday had a nasty injury below his mouth. I have no idea what he has done!! or if its a diesease?? The rest of my fish/corals are healthy, and the salt level/tempurature/levels are good. I would just like to know how i can help him, he's still moving about the tank allright, but he looks a mess!! I have posted 2 photo's, One from last night when i first noticed (lights on) and this morning (lights off) Will be looking forward to hearing your replys gemma xxxx

 

[beth]

I contacted our starfish expert, Ophiura, so hopefully she'll be able to advise you.

 

[mountain_surfe]

Thanks, you are brilliant

 

[mountain_surfe]

another pic i took this evening....

 

[lordlocks]

Do you have a anenome in your tank?

 

[mountain_surfe]

hi, no I have quite a large rock anenome tho... do u think that could have done it?

 

[sepulatian]

How long have you had this star? What is your SG reading? What sized tank is this, how long has it been set up, and how much rock is in there?

 

[mountain_surfe]

It is a mature tank, and had the starfish for about 10 months where i've had no problems and has been growing nicely. its 260 liters, with 45kg of live sand, and about 50-55kg of live rock and 10kg of base rock (that has been in tank for over a year) right this moment sg is 1.0243 and temp 25.2

 

[ophiura]

Hi,
I'm very worried about this. YOu are at the starvation point for these seastars and you definitely do not have the amount of LR I would suggest (you have roughly 70lbs for the non-metric folks and a 70g tank). For a blue Linckia, the minimum I recommend is 150lbs of LR in a 100g tank. We know long term survival is correlated to the amount of mature LR in the tank, and that many (if not the majority) of blue Linckia will die at roughly the 12 - 18 month mark of starvation. And basically you wouldn't think there is anything wrong at all until you see things like this.
The only option is to keep parameters as ideal as possible.l Your specific gravity, IMO, is absolutely as low as I would go for them. How are you measuring it? Have you done recent water changes? Can you get a shot of the top of the star?

 

[mountain_surfe]

Hi, Oh my god!! i cant believe I'm killing my star fish :'-(
I actually have 50-55kg of live rock (typo error) and 10kg of base rock (which has red algea on and one peice has a feather duster living in it) but i've done the conversion and its 121 pounds, still under what you say tho
I did a 15% water change 2 weeks ago, all parameters are ideal. I have mixed fish/coral, and i got told by my LFS to keep my sg around 1.024. What would you recomend? I'm using a tropic Marin High precision hydrometer.
My star is right at the back of the tank and it wouldnt be possible to take a photo at the moment,but i will see where he is tomorrow and post one. Yesterday, he did look slightly 'skinny' on top as he moved around the corner of the glass,but still quite plump when normal.
If it is due to starvation, what can i do to help him?? I'm feeling sad and guilty now! I take much pride in my tank!
gemma xxx

 

[mountain_surfe]

Hi, update on my starfish. 1st pic shows underneath this morning, and 2nd is the best picture i can get at the moment of the top ophiura