Something is up with my starfish

[sassy51486]

As of recently my chocolate chip sea star that i've had for months has become lethargic and has suddenly lost its appetite. He hasn't been moving around much and that's not like him. He is normally active and a very good eater. One day i came home and found him on his back, all stiff and i figured he just landed that way somehow and got himself stuck. Theres no telling how long he was like that...could've been several hours, as i was at work. I thought he was dead right then and there. So ofcourse i flipped him over right away but ever since then he has not been the same. I guess i should mention that my system was running without a skimmer for about a week and a half, because it was having problems. Maybe thats a contributor?? Anyway he doesn't want to eat, he stopped responding when i put food in the tank for my fish-i've tried to target feed and still, nothing. The last time he ate that i saw was when there had been an algae bloom and he consumed a lot of it on the glass. Is it possible that he could just be full from that ? He just stays at the bottom now and i have to keep checking on him to make sure he's alive. Any ideas what this might be ??

 

[2quills]

Could be sick or even water quality. A lot of stars don't tend to do well in aquariums. Not so much from a lack of food as much as a lack of necessary dietary needs in the food. But definitely check your water parameters. Less oxygen from a lack of a running skimmer could be a contributor as well.

 

[zoidberg01]

As 2quills say that most of them won't last long but maybe it just found a good spot waiting till food grows . I know a friend that has starfish and they last a bit but they just die off

 

[sassy51486]

That's understandable. Thank you for the advice, i wasn't aware of that fact. Had i known i might not have purchased him in the first place. Anyway he didnt make it...I came downstairs the other morning and he was all curled up in a ball. I heard that was a sign of stress so i quickly moved him to my quarantine but he still wouldn't put his legs down and lay flat. Its possible he was starving but something had to be preventing him from consuming anything because i stuck pieces of frozen krill under him multiple times and he refused it

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sassy51486 http:///t/396887/something-is-up-with-my-starfish#post_3536545
That's understandable. Thank you for the advice, i wasn't aware of that fact. Had i known i might not have purchased him in the first place. Anyway he didnt make it...I came downstairs the other morning and he was all curled up in a ball. I heard that was a sign of stress so i quickly moved him to my quarantine but he still wouldn't put his legs down and lay flat. Its possible he was starving but something had to be preventing him from consuming anything because i stuck pieces of frozen krill under him multiple times and he refused it

Chocolate chips are predator stars (meat eaters), and don't starve off like the algae eaters. Water quality is most likely the problem, since sea stars need pristine water quality. They are very sensitive to nitrates and phosphates. Skimmers don't add that much oxygen to the tank, they collect organic matter, and you don't really need one anyway. It just helps to keep the nuisance algae down by removing the organics from the water that it feeds on.

What are your water test results?...please post the numbers, that way if something is off, it can be fixed before anything else dies. Shrimp and stars are kind of our "first alert" critters, that tells us something is off.

 

[mastermind1090]

Maybe it is getting sick. I looked online but i haven't gotten any info about it. Can you post a picture of your CC starfish. And then maybe i can
figure out the situation.