Sand shifting starfish

kzoo

kzoo

Member
Well, I was at the LFS and was talked in to a sand shifting starfish. I didnt know much about them but got it any way. The guy at the store told me that they are great for removing nitrates from my live sand. Now I read that they eat all the good things out of the sand? After acclimating him I let him go in the tank he went right under the sand and I cant see him any more. Cant tell if he is alive or dead , do I need to get him out or will he be ok? :help:
 
ledzep fan

ledzep fan

Active Member
Well, i have never heard that the eat all the good stuff in your sand bed. Also, it's not dead. They burrow into the sand bed to get all the bad stuff. They need a big sand bed. Hope you like him though
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
They do eat benifical micro-funa that live in the sand bed. If you have a small system or a new system that does not have a lot of life in the sand yet then theres a good chance that it can starve.
In large healthy sand beds they can do fine, the organisums can reproduce faster than the Star can eat them.
I have had mine now for years and I only see it when it pops out of the sand for a few minutes and then it goes right back under agin. I have a well established 150g with deep sand.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Fact is they eat many beneficial sand bed critters, most often after completely wiping out a sand bed they eventually starve to death. Happens all the time.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Unfortunately, having the appropriate system is not common. In tanks smaller than Dogstar's
they will likely starve within a year after consuming the beneficial animals in a sand bed. They need a very large surface area of sand. They DO NOT eat detritus and have no impact on nitrate levels directly, except in eating the critters that DO eat detritus.
I would return it ASAP.
 
nymustang7

nymustang7

Member
I have a pretty new 90 gallon tank.With two sand sifters they both look great.One of them has become really fat.Me and my wife watch them move around the tank all day.But there most active in the mornig right after i turn on my light.Also mine eat any left over pellets my fish dont eat.So maybe thats why there so fat. :happyfish
 
sufunk

sufunk

Member
Ny, id still watch you stars closely. I was talked into one early on and he looked great always , never a problem. Then all of a sudden dead, starved. I may be wrong but i dont think they look bad until its to late. I think they eat themselves from the inside when they start starving, so by the time you notice, its to late.
 
francisco5

francisco5

Member
pic of my seastar we named the little fellow Valentine. I know that he could possibly starve in my system. If I take him to a LFS he might end up staying there too long or end up with somebody with less knowledge than I have. I scoped up some of my substrate the other day catching a bristle worm and there was all kinds of little things crawling around in just a pinch sized sample of my substrate. I have lots of microfuana if it starts to look like it is getting less than I will have to do something with Valentine.
 
nymustang7

nymustang7

Member
I had my star for about a month now.I think hes eating well,because he has gotten sooooo fat.My little has gotten fat also.I know i had alot of dead detris in the sand but when i got them its all gone.So there eating.Just like there daddy
 
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