slime coming out of bahama starfish

[cody57]

my bahama starfish is still on the glass of the tank and slowly moving, but he has alot of stringy slime oozing from his back. what could this be and how's it caused?

 

[cody57]

now that i can see his back, i see a patch of skin about the size of a nickel missing. he seems alot more sluggish, but he's still hanging on the glass. i didnt notice any of the fish picking on him and they're all fairly docile.

 

[michaeltx]

how did you acclimate him to the tank?
stars need a liong acclimation time they are very sensitive to salinity changes that will cause them to detiorate. this can take a day or months to happen. most of the time a star needs to be acclimated for 3-4 + hours depending on how much of a difference in salinity there was.
if there is a patch detiorateing on its back then it sounds like salinity shock some starts can come back from it but not that often just keep your eye on him and if it starts to really get bad and starting to fall apart all over the central disk then it might be time to uthenize him they dont feel pain but I wouldnt want to see one in that condition just to watch him die slowly.
Mike

 

[ophiura]

What are your water parameters (actual levels, including specific gravity, pH, alk, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)? There are a lot of things in such a young tank. How did you cycle the tank? How much LR do you have? How long have you had the star and how did you acclimate it?
All in all, this sounds very much like acclimation shock, or osmotic shock, which occurs within a month of introduction, or after a large water change. There is little that can be done to reverse it.
IMO, your tank is much too young for a seastar.