Serpent Star broke up! Linkia crawled into the air...

[rienzi]

Hi, this is my first post... sorry to make it an urgent one, but I'd like to save these stars if at all possible...
Our saltwaterfish.com order arrived as promised, at 9:30 this morning. It was well packed, there were cold-packs taped to the bottom of the cooler. I followed the acclimation instructions to the letter, leaving the lights out and the blinds in the windows drawn.
The two peppermint shrimp sped away into the rockwork, as soon as they hit the water, and the smaller of the two red serpents found his way into the deep rock cave quickly as well.
However, the larger serpent star quickly shed the tips, the last 2cm of at least three legs, and one leg entire. He got partially into the rockwork, and hasn't moved for a couple of hours. Is this bad? Will he live?
The blue linkia went entirely rigid, then crawled through the rock caves to the glass, climbed the glass to the top, and hung out in one corner. My wife just telephoned me at work, to tell me that it crawled up all the way with it's 'stomach' above the water line, in the opposite corner...
Can anyone enlighten me on this behaviour?
Suggestions on care and feeding? Further acclimation?
Water parameters are:
nitrAtes <5ppm
nitItes 0
ammonia 0
pH 8.3
Would like to provide the best possible environment for these buggers, but these are our first inverts (not counting worms and snails) and we're without experience. Any and all advice is most welcome!

 

[mr . salty]

How old is the tank? they obviously didn't like something when they hit your water. Have you ever used meds in the tank........STEVE

 

[rienzi]

Steve,
> How old is the tank?
10 weeks.
> they obviously didn't like something when
> they hit your water. Have you ever used
> meds in the tank...
No medications, no additives ever except for occasional kalkwasser drip, and pH buffer, ever.
But I do know that they are very sensitive to changes in salinity. My salinity is 1.023. I don't know the salinity of the original water, because I only have one of those big floaters, not a refractometer. But maybe I should get one... I see them on ---- occasionally for about fifty bucks :-(
I wonder what happens next, will this vendor work with me to determine the cause (so that I buy lots more stuff)?

 

[rienzi]

Although I concluded this morning that saltwater.com's recommended 1.5 hours would be enough acclimation time, and that I had done everything right. But maybe not.
We'll see how things go in the next few days, and we'll see how the vendor responds...
So, how long HAVE people with thriving starfish acclimated them, and by what method?

 

[clayton]

I cant tell you much about the linkia apart from they like a sandy substrate and get big.
The serpent star - or crinoid- can be considered a tricky animal to keep at best. This was pretty much the only animal I have lost from my reef tank. I searched for a long time for info on how to care for them but came up pretty much blank. Mine slowly lost its legs bit by bit and eventually died. I am presuming that the correct food source was not available to it. I hope someone else can help you more.