Whats this coming from my Blue Linkea Star?

[elitephoto]

Looks like a string of eggs or kind of like intestines? its coming from the center of his body, like he is takin a poo...but its a string about 2" long, brown in color. doesnt look good. Also noticed sometime threw out the night he got some damage to one of his legs. about a 1/2 chunk of skin missing from the middle of one of the legs. He on his way out?

 

[elitephoto]

no one have any ideas?

 

[jerthunter]

It doesn't sound good. It could be some of its insides, I know some cucumbers will throw up their insides when disturbed but I don't know if it can happen in stars too.

 

[rcoultas]

I had a blue linkia do the same things - the wound could be from moving about in the rocks and would normally heal. The "intestine" thing does not sound good - that happens when they have had their central disc exposed to air and are dying as a result (but not always). If that is the case the wound will continue to grow (he'll just start falling apart) and he'll eventually die. Keep an eye on him for awhile - if the deterioration reaches into the central disc area he's definitely a goner and you should take him out mercifully. Good luck

 

[rcoultas]

Unfortunately for me when I was doing a water change I didn't see my linkia behind the overflow on the back wall of the tank and thus dropped the water level below him - he did not make it.

 

[elitephoto]

yeah he has lost that leg that he had the damage on. I woke up this morning seeing his leg in plain view. I cant find him though, he must be in the rockwork somewhere. chances are he is gone or on his way out.

 

[michaeltx]

limkias are not a hardy species.
How did you acclimate him to your tank and how long have you had him.
It sounds like osmotic shock which is deadly for stars.
Mike

 

[lovethesea]

If you can find him in the rock work and you won't have to completely tear down your tank......you need to get him out. He will start to dissolve in the rock work and you don't want that.
If he is dead and you find him....be prepared for an absolutely horrid smell once the rock or him reaches the air.

 

[elitephoto]

I have had this star for about 4-5 months. I have had others in the past in purple, orange and other blues. they seem to be notorius for not living long. I had an orange that lived about a year in my 240gallon. my purple lasted about 5-6 months, my last blue I seen for about 3 months before disapearing and now this blue I have had for 4-5 months or so and has always seemed pretty healthy until recently.

 

[michaeltx]

its still possible fo it to be osmotic shock it can take some star awhile to show signs of it. this one might have been fighting hard to win and slowly loast the battle.

it could be other things too though from a water change to quick or not at the right salinity so it raised or lowered the salinity.
there are a number of things. it could also be a star that got some sort of damage from a fish or invert in the tank. something happened though.
maybe ophiura will see it and add in her 2 cents.
Mike

 

[ophiura]

They are short lived in captivity in tanks that do not have proper parameters or not enough live rock. Death at one year is typically due to starvation, while earlier deaths (eg a month after intro) are acclimation issues.
What are your specific parameters, inhabitants, and amount of LR. Are there any recent changes in the tank?
BTW, exposure to air DOES NOT kill healthy Linckia...nor do they typically develop these injuries due to scrapes. These signs are very serious concerns.

 

[elitephoto]

tank he is in is a 55 gallon with approx 80lbs live rock... its pretty full of rock and plenty of crevices. using quick dip strips... nitrates 20. nitrite 0, kh above 300, ph 8.4. water temp 77 degrees. only recent changes to the tank are a couple small corals...I add new corals almost weekly. I do 10% water changes every 10-12 days. inhabitants... 2 tangs, diamond gobie, g/s clown and a 6 line wrasse. about 40-50 very small hermits, a serpant star, 4 emerald crabs, 1 fire shimp, 2 cleaner shrimp and about 40 mixed snails. I see the linkea star behind some rocks, I cant get to him but I do see him crawling around back there...minus one complete leg.
Is there anything to feed linkea stars? I put algae sheets in my tank daily for the tangs, I also feed mysis, brime, dt plankton and formula one pellets as needed.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, the tank is far too small, with too little rock, and nitrates to high. What is your specific gravity?
They can not be spot fed, and require lots of high quality surface area of LR. This is not attainable in smaller tanks. Blue Linckia need at least 150lbs of LR in 125+ g tanks as a minimum. Success is highly correlated with increased tank size and amount of LR.

 

[elitephoto]

I may be off on my calculations for the LR in this tank cause the tank is pretty full front to back, top to bottom...id say about 80% of the tank is filled with rock. but yeah the tank is a 55 gallon he is in. gravity is .024-.025

 

[ophiura]

Ideally the specific gravity would be 1.025-1.026. The LR can't be "packed" in there, or dense, and be usable for the star. It needs to be open surface area. Really, the do not do well long term in tanks of this size.

 

[elitephoto]

well I guess if he makes it ill have to move him to another tank then. Any good stars that look nice and do well with corals in a tank this size? I have plenty of open space...or surface space on the rocks. Its stacked well i think with plenty of openings and levels for corals to sit on.
Also...would lack of food cause him to lose a leg? Like I mentioned in the first post...he had some missing skin in the middle of his one leg, the next day the leg was gone.

 

[ophiura]

They basically "melt" and disintegrate, but generally look fine until that point. The "stuff" hanging out the mouth is also not a good sign.
It is a tough size tank for these stars. I would definitely recommend getting the nitrates under control before trying any other stars. Linckia multiflora, which is the smallest Linckia star, may be OK, but there are no guarantees.

 

[elitephoto]

multiflora...never heard of those, ill check into it. The nitrates on all my tanks are at this same (20 using dipstrips) I do water changes every 10-12 days of 10%. nitrates dont seem to drop. any suggestions? I appreciate your time very much by the way.

 

[cmj]

Hi, I have a purple and a red linkia so That is how I started reading about your dilema. Their stomach actually comes out of their mouth to break down food and feed themselves. I know this because my purple guy got a taste for my yellow polyps and ate them all. I do feed them frozen food. About once a week I will put the food just so it is sticking out of the sand and place the starfish right over it and they just eat it up! Your tank is not too small. Just make sure you keep up with water quality. Sound like you do a heck of a lot more maintenance than I do!

 

[ophiura]

It is RARE for them to take to spot feeding, and even more for them to eat corals. Are you sure you have Linckia? It is possible the polyps were not healthy.
Their stomach may protrude, but intestines or "a string of eggs" is a common symptom of degredation.
How long have you had your stars? I would be interested in pictures of them spot feeding and what food, specifically you are feeding because this is RARE in these stars.