Dying Seastar!!!

[Whysosalty]

I’ve had my pink sea star for over 4 months. Today all of the sudden I see a few of it’s eggs are eroding a bit. My parameters all check out as I tested them this morning. Nitrate is good. The salinity hasn’t changed. Anyone know what it could be?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

what type of star is it?
Many don’t do well in our systems sadly , particularly newer ones.

Also many don’t like major salinity swings.

 

[Whysosalty]

Looks like the pink one. There haven’t been any salinity changes. It’s been in my system for 4 months

 

[Whysosalty]

Anyone???

 

[Empress]

Starfish like aquariums that have been set up for at least 2 or 3 years. They eat sponges.

 

[Whysosalty]

Starfish like aquariums that have been set up for at least 2 or 3 years. They eat sponges.

So what you’re saying is. This seastar has been slowly dying for 4 months?

 

[Gareth elliott]

+1 on sponges I have one because my girlfriend fell in love with one while i was buying snails.
I have a healthy population of pineapple sponges he eats.
I have to dose silica to keep up their population. My rocks have also been in my system for 3 years(there was a mini upgrade in between there the 15->20

They lose legs when they start to show signs of starvation. There are not many signs before that sadly.
My suggestion would be to get it to a tank where it can feed and quickly they go downhill quickly.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So what you’re saying is. This seastar has been slowly dying for 4 months?

Yes. Sadly so.

 

[Whysosalty]

Dang. I wish I would’ve known. I feel so bad. This is another classic example of LFS looking for a sale. I asked what they eat. They told me they are part of cuc and eat algae. I should’ve researched harder to figure out what they eat. Thank you all for your answers

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It’s common. And most folks don’t know either. Lfs or not. Common myth. So don’t get to down on them.
At least is a beautiful creature you got to experience and have it a good home.

Donlook around for folks with a big old fuge.

 

[Gareth elliott]

You made me attempt an experiment.

Seeing if i can witness a feeding response in fromia with some frozen angel diet.

I am not removing from the dt so not testing if they can survive this way. Only if i can elicit the star to feed.

For the first test I picked up my star and placed on top of a piece of cube. Will try to get it to want it, after a few attempts this method will attempt with placing a plastic container with holes and placing star with food inside and photographing the results.

If successful will track in its own thread.

 

[Tahoe61]

Different types of star fish eat different things. I have had these Formia types and they need a designated area where film algae/blue green algae/bio film is allowed to grow and flourish. For me I refrained from clean certain panels of glass to allow the star fish to graze in those areas.
I am guessing your tank is too clean and too new to sustain a star fish. It is certainly possible that the star has been slowly starving to death, and was probably doing so before you purchased it.
Point is that not all star fish eat sponges, some are active predators that eat corals such as the chocolate chip, or algae eaters. Sand stirring stars eat the flora and fauna of sand beds including detritus. Some do in fact eat sponge but I doubt that star is an exclusive sponge eater.