Is my Chocolate Chip Starfish dead..?

Gabbydee233 · Jul 28, 2016

HELP, HELP!

He looks horrible and I think our angelfish might be eating his 'chocolate chips' - two or three of them are gone. He slowly moved around the first week we had him but then he started laying on his back and letting his suckies out to wave in the current. Sometimes he would look stiff -suckies still out but pulled close to him and not waving- and we thought he was a goner until we flipped him over and he put his suckies out again. When he stopped turning himself over, we stuck him to the side of the tank once and he slid down to the bottom into a pile of Starfish. We moved him onto the live rocks today to maybe eat algae and he still looks miserable.

I read we should feed him certain things so I guess we can try that today. I hope he's not sick. UGH.

I REALLY HOPE HE'S NOT DEAD.
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(We bought this tank with the sand, live rocks, saltwater, one fish and Mr. Star from and old dude a couple months ago.)

Pruett-nc · Jul 28, 2016

Yeah I think it is dieing being the flesh coming off of it . Cc starfish are pretty hardy but it looks like this one from what I can see is dieing. Others will chime in to give more opinions .

Gabbydee233 · Aug 3, 2016

So, we didn't give up on Mr. Star yet - he's still in the tank. We flipped him on his back yesterday and his suckers are out again. I think he's trying to catch the frozen treat pieces we've been putting in the tank?

Will he revive if he eats up?
Is he going to make the other fish sick/put him in quarantine?

Pruett-nc · Aug 3, 2016

I would say get some fresh table shrimp and cut into small pieces. Put ithe on your sand and sit it ontop it to see if it is eating . Starfish can regenerate limbs so if it is eating it could survive . Just keep an eye on those wounds.

Gabbydee233 · Aug 3, 2016

Update: He looks really bad. We've been trying to feed him - not sure if he's eating it or it's just floating out from beneath him. He's literally falling apart but he puts his suckers out when he's placed on his back still...

Should he be quarantined? I don't want the other fish to get sick or anything...

Pruett-nc · Aug 3, 2016

Yeah if you could just in case it dies. But continue to try and feed it and watch it .

Gabbydee233 · Aug 3, 2016

Okay. One more question - probably a dumb one - is it okay for me to have him in my bare hands? And how long can he be out of water?

Mbnym74 · Aug 3, 2016

He looks like he's definitely in bad shape, I would quarantine him immediately or just get rid of it. The cc are very hardy, I've had mine for around a year , you might of just got a bad one , at least they are cheap.