Starfish in critical condition

[candycane]

Comparing fromias and serpents is like comparing an emperor angel and a piece of live rock, LOL. Not trying to get on ya, but one is rather hardy and the other it is imperative to keep their tank conditions immaculate.
If you have a large clean up crew in your tank, there isn't very much for the from-from to scavenge off of. Basically, it will slowly lose one leg at a time, bit by bit, until it becomes nothing but an oval disc with a mouth. It's REALLY sad. That is usually caused by nutrition, but can also be caused my numerous other levels in your tank like some of the heavy metals (IF you have any). What is your KH level?

 

[good alex]

i wasent sure about the serpent and fromia, just thought that because they were both inverts and starfish they would show some of the same conditions, guess not.
no heavy metals in my tank, use water from my RO/DI.
i havent added much in my tank for atleast 5 months, been trying to save up for mh, and the fuge.

 

[candycane]

There are like a billion questions here any only one answer.
When and what do you feed your tank?
Do you have any corals that release toxins in your tank?
Do you have sand bed scavengers?
Do you have a normal amount of live rock, that is only covered in bristleworms? (I have seen these things shed like that due to excessive bristleworm contact)
Where does it tend to feed outside of off the rock and MAYBE in the sand bed?
Do you have a sandbed and how deep is it?
A lot of the time stars will deplete the entire populations of "fauna" in your sand bed and not have any food left. SOMETIMES, you can supplement this with phyto aimed directly at your sand bed.

 

[good alex]

1) I feed the tank every 4-5 days, variety of formula 1+2, flakes with garlic, mysis, and cyclops.
2) No
3) Yes hermits and nass snails
4)???? my lr has bristle worms here and there but covered? no
5) sandbed and the glass
6) ya ~2-3in
i dont really put in phytoplankton alot, i do have a bottle in the fridge tho.

 

[candycane]

You MIGHT want to try using a turkey baster to squirt phyto directly at the LR or sand bed. Your scavengers are most likely devouring all of it. Also, it could just simply be tissue necrosis based on an infection. That could explain the delayed shedding like that.

 

[t316]

1) I feed the tank every 4-5 days, variety of formula 1+2, QUOTE]
Every 4-5 days

I know everyone preaches overfeeding, but this is on the extreme end isn't it?

 

[good alex]

Ya i feed the tank once every four to five days

 

[ophiura]

If there is a lot of LR, and a relatively light fish load, that feeding may not be unusual. It depends very much on the fish, IMO.
The only thing IMO you can really do is to ensure parameters are in the ideal range and keep your fingers crossed. If it continues, you could take a "last ditch" approach and take a razor blade and cleanly cut off the arms above the point of disintegration.
These stars are thought to be even more finicky eaters than Linckia, and it is entirely possible, IMO, it is starving. It is possible it only eats certain types of sponges.

 

[good alex]

the only fish in my tank are a yellow tang, six line wrasse, and two perc clowns.
i have heard about the cutting off the arms with a razor blade, but how much will it take. one of the legs is desigrating more than the others, will the problem stop at the torso or will it go through and on to the other legs.
today im going to go to a couple different fish stores to have my water tested to see what the params are.