What's wrong with my starfish?

[rkhlk]

My water levels have been consistent for about a month now and everyhting is going fine. When I got up this morning I noticed my cc starfish kinda laying half on the rock and half on the substrate not real unusual but he usually stays on the glass. When I got home from work he had a hermit crab on him but he was still moving slightly, now two of his arms are starting to schrivel. his is still alive but doesn't look good.......
What to do?
rkhlk

 

[sinner's girl]

how long has the tank been set up?
"water levels have been consistent" which means what? what are the level? ph, sg, nirtates, ammonia, nitrites?
did the tank complete its cycle?
is there enough algea for the star to eat?
"When I got home from work he had a hermit crab on him but he was still moving slightly, now two of his arms are starting to schrivel." are his legs turning whitish yet? ours did that before he died.
Sorry, we had a cc star and it died. was fine one day, then started to die...had a hermit eatting him as he was still moving around...

 

[rkhlk]

As far as levels go PH is 8.0 ammonia is .25 Nitrites are .25 and Nitrates are 5 I know this are not the norm but they have been consistant for weeks and all livestock have been doing well, very active. as far as algae for food supply I'm not sure he did move around alot but I'm not sure how to test for that? I have a test kit PH, Am. Ni, Na.
rkhlk

 

[rkhlk]

His legs are not turning white yet but he doesn't look good. sg level is1.02
rkhlk

 

[sinner's girl]

"PH is 8.0 ammonia is .25 Nitrites are .25 and Nitrates are 5" consistant for weeks ...that's not good.
sg is 1.02? 1.020-1.029? where? should be around 1.023-1.025
Did your tank finish its cycle?
How long has the tank been set up?
do you spot feed him? if not, try feeding him something. it may be to late, i don't know.
do you have lr? (this would give cc something to eat)
you should have no ammonia and no nitrites. need to find out why you have ammonia. (possible reasons, added too many fish at one time, have too many fish, added new lr, something died, didn't finish cycle...and there are other reasons)
you need to find out why you have ammonia, that could very well be what's killing the cc star...
ph should be 8.3, but i don't know how important that is or if ph has anything to do with ammonia and such.
hth,

 

[rkhlk]

Yes I have a way over stocked tank but it's been that way for some time, tank has been up and running for about 6 months. with about 25 lbs of live rock, not enough I know but its expensive so i get some when I can, I have never spot feed before what I feed is a little flake food in the morning and 1 cube of frozen brine shrimp in the evening. Lites on at 8 am off at 7 pm
rkhlk

 

[cb]

I'm sorry it sounds like your starfish is starving to death. CC starfish are meat eaters and need to be spot fed at least a couple times a week . You can try giving it a small pc of shrimp or some krill and see if it will eat if it eats there is a chance that it might survive. But check it if the starfish still feels solid when you touch it then i might live but if you touch it and it feels kind of gushy then it is probably to far gone. You say your tank is way over stocked what exactly is in it?

 

[lesa]

all the above and your readings are abnormal.
IMO I think you need to do a water change and find the source of your problem.
Are you using RO water?

 

[rkhlk]

well this post started yesterday this morning he looked even worse, and by the time I got home it was to late. he was hard as a brick and not moving at all and all shriveled up. As far as being overstocked I have
1 percula clown
1 clarki clown
2 blue damsels
2 domino damsels
1 blackcap basslet
1 4 stripe damsel
1 coral beauty
I know it's alot but I don't want to get rid of them, well the dominos are getting kinda aggressive, I know they gotta go but my kid is so attached. But I'll do what is right. Water change about a month ago.

 

[michaeltx]

starfish are super sensitive to water quality.
ph low should 8.2 to 8.3
ammonia high should be 0
nitrite high should be 0
drastic changes in any of these will have advers effects on the starfish.
1.023 to 1.026 is the best range if there is flucuations in your salinity it will stress the startfish and actually kill them. they use the water to move in the tank when the the water uality changes drasticly the starfish will suffer because the change in water. the legs will start to detiriorate and fall apart and the oral disk will start as well. the can recover though but only if the conditions that started it are fixed and stabilized. I would suggest
I would suggest all the damsels be banashed they will all get aggressive. if your kids are bent on keeping them you might setup another tank for just damsels so that they will have them but not in your other tank where they will cause problems if not now later. LOL
Mike