star fish acting strange?

slomo

slomo

Member
My week old orange star fish was found yesterday on the bottom of the tank folded up. thought is was dead, netted it and placed it on a rock, When i got home from work last pm it was under a rock and it looked like those

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Hermit crabs were eating it! so I moved my rock to get it out from them, netted it and put it in glass bowl for disposal. After putting my rocks back i noticed it was Moving
so i netted it again and put it in the tank. It crawled out of the net, moved to a rock then the glass then the sand. This am it is in a corner(mouth side up) legs curled in? PH 8.4,am 0, trites0, trates 12,alk 2,SG 1.024,temp 81. It was acclimated 3.5hrs. Tank is 2months old.36g with 45lbs LR and 20 lbs cc & LS.
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Well, coupla things. First, was it a linkia? If so, your tank is no where near capable of maintaining it, but the sudden death leads me to an acclimation problem. How did you acclimate the star? What else can you say about your tank, such as amount of LR, size, etc, possible picture?
 
slomo

slomo

Member
I drip acclimated it for 3.5 hrs. I have a 36g Marineland III with a biowheel. 45lbs of LR and a combo 20lbs cc and LS. I wonder if i killed it when i took it out of the water last pm thinking it was dead. It was out for 15-20 min. i am afraid to take it out again incase it is still alive but not moving?
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Definitely the problem :) The linkia requires about 125+ pounds of LR in a well established aquarium, plus it requires a drip time of 6 hours minimum. Your SG needs to come up as well, closer to 1.026. I think the curled legs were an indicator of shock, but I'm not an expert on stars (we have one of those round here).
 
slomo

slomo

Member
That's ashame, the swf site where i purchased it (this site) said 3+, Also said nothing about tank size or rock amount. If i had known i wouln't have purchased him. I chose it b/c it said they eat Diatoms... i have that!
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Yeah, be careful, always ask, this is a good site for information. If you have a diatom issue, which is typically in a tank as new as yours, it will go away on its own. I never had this issue since I use Phos Gard, which removes silicates, which are needed by diatoms to form their skeletons. I have a 125G tank with about 200lbs of rock and I don't have a linkia, don't want to fool with them.
 
slomo

slomo

Member
Well, once again i went to the tanks and netted it. It hasn't moved all mornig. I held it! It moved! it's back in the tank, and moving all around the glass

I think it likes being out of the tank!! When will i know it is DEAD! I don't want it to mess up my water. I don't just want to throw it out!
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
I would suggest if you know it is going to die, you feel you don't have an adequate tank for the starfish, take it back to the LFS - or to someone's tank that the starfish will survive. You've already come to the conclusion it is either dying or going to die b/c of your tank, so why not try to save it by placing it in an appropriate tank?
 
slomo

slomo

Member
i am not saying my tank is inadaquet, everyone else is. I am trying to do what i can to keep it alive! our lfs closed thanks to *****. I don't have anyone i know with a tank living close. So the other option is the Toilet. I'd rather try to save it! Thanks for your reply
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
I wasn't trying to flame, so please don't be offended.
I was just stating that if everyone else is saying that the fish may die, you should see if you can save it by putting it in another location. You can give it a try and see if it will live in your tank, but from what i've been told (by people on this site) starfish can take months to starve to death.
So it may survive for a long period before dying.
 
slomo

slomo

Member
no offense taken, I just read that they can stay still for long periods of time weeks! Maybe i keep waking it up. I am just stressing about it and would like it to live. Thanks for all the input.
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
I don't know if you can spot feed these starfish, but if you could then that may solve the issue of needing 100+ lbs of LR for it to live. For right now since it was shocked before, and has been taken out of the tank for a while leave it in the tank - making sure to not allow anything to pick at it. Let it stay in there for a few days and see if things improve.
 
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