Starfish help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[allyric]

I have a choc. starfish and his legs are begining to turn white on the edges. Has anyone ever seen this before. Water par. are just right and everything else in tank is doing OK. I know my lighting is down but could that do it. Yesterday he was hanging on the heater on the back of the tank. The temp. for the tank is 78. Its a 55gal long tank with three large live rocks 1 marron clown, and one spotted butterfly fish. LFS told me not to worry about feeding him that he would eat on his own around the tank. The tank is about 7months old. Ive had the starfish for about 2months.

 

[sepulatian]

How did you acclimate him? What is your salinity? Could you also post your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?

 

[psusocr1]

you should be spot feeding the starfish meaty food avery 2-5 days, if your tank isnt established there wont be enough for him to just graze on himself and you need to feed hi immediatly! you can feed anythign from shuks of silverside, krill, shrimp, octo, squidd etc. etc.
also how long did you acclimate him, and most importantly whats your salinity at in yor tank?

 

[allyric]

The salanity is right on the green line on the hydrometer. Also the pet store told me not to acclimate him just float the bag for 15 to 20 min. to get the water temp the same then pull him out and place him on the bottom of the tank. I may have taken all the food he could get away from him when I did a water change and siphoned the rock bed and cleaned all the inside walls with a magnet cleaner. I just wish the LPS was better equiped with knowledge. I also had a anemone for my clown fish but enadaquate lighting killed him, so now my clown is swimming around lost. I have T5 lighting ordered. I also never knew you had to spot feed star fish. Tell me how to so I will know for future reference. And also how do you spot feed a anemone, and with what and were do you get it. It is safe to say my local place won't have any.
Thank you all for your help.

 

[gmidd]

Originally Posted by allyric
Also the pet store told me not to acclimate him just float the bag for 15 to 20 min
I'm fairly new to the hobby but I know this is grossly wrong. If there is a large gap in salinity it could be a shock to any addition. Always drip acclimate at least 1 to 2 hours.

 

[albfishin']

Originally Posted by allyric
The salanity is right on the green line on the hydrometer. Also the pet store told me not to acclimate him just float the bag for 15 to 20 min. to get the water temp the same then pull him out and place him on the bottom of the tank. I may have taken all the food he could get away from him when I did a water change and siphoned the rock bed and cleaned all the inside walls with a magnet cleaner. I just wish the LPS was better equiped with knowledge. I also had a anemone for my clown fish but enadaquate lighting killed him, so now my clown is swimming around lost. I have T5 lighting ordered. I also never knew you had to spot feed star fish. Tell me how to so I will know for future reference. And also how do you spot feed a anemone, and with what and were do you get it. It is safe to say my local place won't have any.
Thank you all for your help.
IMO, you should've acclimated him much longer, if not dripping then at least add your tankwater to bag after 45 min of temp acclimating, repeating several times...1-2 hrs total acclimation.
What is your nitrite reading in tank??? Your anemone could've died from high nitrites. They don't tolerate it well. I have a fca under pc's and he is doing fine, so IMO it probably wasn't a lighting issue.
I'm no star expert....however, from reading several resources and others on this sight, stars need a very mature system, lots of rockwork, spot feeding and even then they are difficult to keep. Ophiura, will probably chime in...she is the star guru Good luck!

 

[julie853]

I feed my CC star every other day.I will slowly hand feed him pieces of shrimp,fish,krill.scallops etc.My CC loves all these foods and will slowly take it out of my fingers then will pull it into his center and start eating .I would feed yours something right now and just hope it's not to late.

 

[allyric]

Sorry to say it is too late this morning three of his legs are gone. My kids didn't take that very well. But I told them after I learn more and get better at it I will get another one. My plan is to get about 6 more pieces of Live rock and some anemones. then get afew more fish and some more stars. Also my Nitrite levels are 0, but my nitrate level is 40 with my ammonia level at .50. Ive had the tank for a while and it has gone through the cycle. I used 6 damsels to go through the cycle, now they, are in my 29 gal. (soon to be acclimation tank) taking it through the cycle.
After I receive my new lighting and protein skimmer, in what order should I go in on introducing my new little friends.

 

[xnikki118x]

Originally Posted by allyric
Also my Nitrite levels are 0, but my nitrate level is 40 with my ammonia level at .50. Ive had the tank for a while and it has gone through the cycle. I used 6 damsels to go through the cycle, now they, are in my 29 gal. (soon to be acclimation tank) taking it through the cycle.
After I receive my new lighting and protein skimmer, in what order should I go in on introducing my new little friends.
The order in which you introduce inhabitants depends solely on what you're getting and what you already have, so no one can tell you that yet.
I'm concerned that you have a detectable amount of ammonia, especially one so high. How often do you do water changes? Are you running carbon or anything like it? What are you adding to the tank, if anything?
Also, I don't think you ever said what your salinity was? The green line on your hydrometer doesn't tell is much.

 

[scubaguy]

Originally Posted by allyric
Sorry to say it is too late this morning three of his legs are gone. My kids didn't take that very well. But I told them after I learn more and get better at it I will get another one. My plan is to get about 6 more pieces of Live rock and some anemones. then get afew more fish and some more stars. Also my Nitrite levels are 0, but my nitrate level is 40 with my ammonia level at .50. Ive had the tank for a while and it has gone through the cycle. I used 6 damsels to go through the cycle, now they, are in my 29 gal. (soon to be acclimation tank) taking it through the cycle.
After I receive my new lighting and protein skimmer, in what order should I go in on introducing my new little friends.
I would hold off on adding anything else right now. It looks like when your CC died or something else died it is raising the ammonia and then it will raise the Nitrites. Also Nitrates are not that bad but still anything above 20 ppm means you need to do more water changes. Are you useing tap water? If so check it for ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates. I think you meant that the 29 GAL will be your quarantine tank(QT) If you are going to add Live Rock(LR) then hold off till you add it then see if it raises your ammonia because a lot of Local Fish Stores(LFS) will sell rock that they say are cured but it is not. How much rock do you have in the tank now? Also with a CC you have a 50/50 chance that it will get hungry and eat the anemones. I speak from experience because mine did that to a Bubble Tip. Also with a CC you will not be able to have any coral and a 50/50 chance with inverts. CC are oppertunist(sp?) if they can catch it they will eat it. I will not flame you on using live fish to cycle your tank but a easier way to cycle is with one raw shrimp and leave it in to feed the bacteria andit will multiply with out any fish. Hope this helps.

 

[sepulatian]

Any star fish needs long drip acclimation time 4-5+hrs. They also need established tanks. Stars do not cope well with fluctuations. Large amounts of mature LR are definately a plus. 3-4 small pieces will not cut it. Please wait to get another.

 

[allyric]

Here is what I ve got right now as of today. 1 teardrop butterfly fish and 1 marroon clown. I also have 4 pieces of live rock and would like to have around 8 more for a base of a coral tank. I was not aware you couldn't have a Star with a reef tank(somthing else LPS didn't tell me and yes they knew I was wanting coral). My salanity is at 1.025 and I do watert changes every other week. I have a 55gal long tank with a hang on dual filter system and underground system. nitrites are still 0 but ammonia is .50 still. I do use tap water and here in KY our water is known to be very hard. Ithought about using distilled water, what do you all think. Plus I would really like to thank you all for your help. I have learned alot from you all and reading the two books I have. Hey maybe after I learn what I'm doing I can go work at my LPS and tell them how to do it. NAAAA I would be worth to much then.

 

[allyric]

Also some things I forgot, I get alot of white salt dots on the inside of the tank which I clean off with the magnet, but I noticed that my butterfly has a white dot on its back tail fin. should I catch her and wipe it off or let it go. I use the salt sold here on this site, the one with the clown on the front. My ph is at8.0 and my alkilanity is300. again thank you all for your help I am very gratfull. Me and my kids love having a fish tank and the wife is coming around. She now loves the Maroon clown. But I need your alls help to keep the little guy alive. My LPS is out of the equation when it comes to questions.
Also this is where I would like to get to. I would like to have in the future a coral reef tank with clowns, my butterfly, a yellow tang and a blue tang(Dori), with maybe one flaming angel,one day along with some sort of crabs and invertebrates.

 

[promisetbg]

You should not have an undergravel filter with a saltwater tank. It will definately not work with corals. The star could be showing signs of disintegration due to the high ammonia. You need to be using RO/DI water, not tap. The white thing on the butterfly..is it large or tiny like salt? If it is large it is caused by poor water quality and is known as lymphocystis. It will fall off on it's own with good water quality & a healthy diet. The butterfly is also not reef safe. The white dots on the inside that you are scraping off are most likely sporibidae worms, if you were to magnify them they would look like a tiny calceous spiral.
You need to do a large water change with RO/DI water ASAP and get that ammonia down. You also need to find a new LFS if they told you not to feed your butterfly.

 

[allyric]

The white dot is small and as is the ones on the inside of the tank. they are very hard and have to be scraped off. did you say that I need to do a large water change to get the ammonia down. How much are we talking and how often should that be done. After I get the ammonia down what needs to be my next step. should I go ahead and remove the underground filter now or later? Also do I need to continue with the carbon filters?

 

[pettyhoe]

I was told not to use carbon filters at all. I just run a lot of Live Rock in my system and check my levels quite often.

 

[cjason3041]

i might have missed something, i thought you had the star in there for 2 months??? i doubt the acclimation would affect it 2 months later...but feeding would. they need to be spot fed unless you can see them eating regularly

 

[bonita69]

I hand feed all 3 of my stars every other day my brittle star climbs on me and raps around my fingers, I think he is trying to eat me!!! Wicked feeling but very cool!! He is a pig but my buddy. I got him when he was about 6 inches in dia, he is now over 12 inches dia. Once you get your tank right try again, stars are fun and very enjoyable!
I do a 10% water change every week in tank
mabe in your case I would go 25% to 30% the first 2 weeks, then back to 10% once per week. also maybe some temp. media in your filter for pulling some of this junk out. Also IMO I would not vac the sand it has good things in there that helps your tank, after you get your water back right consider a sand shifter like a yellow head goby, does a wonderful job all day long.
IMO you might want to consider upgrading your filtration, and remove that ungravel filter now, not later. (IMO)
Do you have any power heads in the tank?
how much water movement do you have. Keeping out dead spots in the water is a good idea too

 

[bonita69]

also IMO you need at least 100lbs total of live rock for that tank. as you place your new "cured" rock make wholes and caves, so water can flow easy through out, and in your case since you already have fish in your tank, I would only add a few cured pices at a time, wait at least 3 weeks, check water during those 3 weeks to watch what your water is doing. Once you are back at 0 cross the board, then do it again until you reach a good amount of rock. I would order your rock from SWF I have and the rock is OUTSTANDING!! Also what kind of sand do you have?
You could however put everybody in your 29 gal as you stated you have, and get your main tank right, adding all the rock at one time. Let it go through a cycle again and once you got everthing back in order put everybody back in Main tank. But remimber acclimate as you would new fish.
I drip all my new animals for atleast 2 + hours. very easy. I turn all lights off, float in bags in main tank for 35min, then open the bag into a clean empty five gal bucket that is proped on a 45 degree with little tiny heater(3 -5 gal size) set at same temp as main tank. then I get airline tubing and tie a loose knot in it clamp it to the side of the bucket and the other clamp to the rim of main tank with about 6 inches or so down into main tank. Give a little suck to get the water draining and then pull your knot until the water flow is Drip-drip-drip. you want a fast drip but not a steady stream flow. Once you have enough water in bucket you can set it flat on ground. You if done right your water will triple the amount in 2-3 hrs here is a little pic for the drip I and many of us here use. Use this from this point faward and your fish and inverts should be just fine as long as the water is good when adding to your tanks.

 

[bonita69]

Originally Posted by bonita69
also IMO you need at least 100lbs total of live rock for that tank. as you place your new "cured" rock make wholes and caves, so water can flow easy through out, and in your case since you already have fish in your tank, I would only add a few cured pices at a time, wait at least 3 weeks, check water during those 3 weeks to watch what your water is doing. Once you are back at 0 cross the board, then do it again until you reach a good amount of rock. I would order your rock from SWF I have and the rock is OUTSTANDING!! Also what kind of sand do you have?
You could however put everybody in your 29 gal as you stated you have, and get your main tank right, adding all the rock at one time. Let it go through a cycle again and once you got everthing back in order put everybody back in Main tank. But remimber acclimate as you would new fish.
I drip all my new animals for atleast 2 + hours. very easy. I turn all lights off, float in bags in main tank for 35min, then open the bag into a clean empty five gal bucket that is proped on a 45 degree with little tiny heater(3 -5 gal size) set at same temp as main tank. then I get airline tubing and tie a loose knot in it clamp it to the side of the bucket and the other clamp to the rim of main tank with about 6 inches or so down into main tank. Give a little suck to get the water draining and then pull your knot until the water flow is Drip-drip-drip. you want a fast drip but not a steady stream flow. Once you have enough water in bucket you can set it flat on ground. You if done right your water will triple the amount in 2-3 hrs here is a little pic for the drip I and many of us here use. Use this from this point faward and your fish and inverts should be just fine as long as the water is good when adding to your tanks.
oh yes also have some top off water ready, and scoop out or net the fish when adding to main tank DO NOT POUR THE DRIP WATER from the bucket back into the tank.