Is my starfish slowly dying?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hey everyone, I"m on day 12 of my 76 day fallow period and this morning I noticed my sand starfish weren't moving much even when I picked them up. I turned one upside down and he uprighted himself but I'm wondering if they are starving due to the removal of the fish. I do add nutrients to the tank in ways such as feeding my sun corals fairy shrimp. Can I have a few opinions on this? Can they starve this quickly? Can they absorb nutrients in the water? I was thinking about adding two small starfish of a different species so I need some help figuring out if anything is wrong.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I've been fallow 4 weeks. I had to start feeding the tank more because my cuc were eating each other.

You also don't want your nutrients to bottom out.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I've been fallow 4 weeks. I had to start feeding the tank more because my cuc were eating each other.

You also don't want your nutrients to bottom out.

I feed the sun corals small shrimp and the whole tank gets fed with coral food... should this be enough?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I feed the sun corals small shrimp and the whole tank gets fed with coral food... should this be enough?

What are you nitrate and phos levels doing?

 

[MaxTremors]

Starfish in general don’t tend to fair well in captivity (or at least in home size aquariums). Sand sifting and chocolate chip stars probably fair the best (besides serpent and brittle stars), but a lot of them still end up starving. You can feed it directly, either give it a small piece of shrimp (like the kind humans eat), or any kind of edible seafood really, or you can turn the pumps off for like a half hour and target feed them some mysis shrimp (or really any other prepared fish food) with a turkey blaster (to
make sure they get it). But they need to be fed pretty much daily. Even once you have fish back in your tank, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to feed them directly a few times a week.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Nitrate levels are a little bit high between 40 and 80 with the API test...I need to check my phosphate levels

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Starfish in general don’t tend to fair well in captivity (or at least in home size aquariums). Sand sifting and chocolate chip stars probably fair the best (besides serpent and brittle stars), but a lot of them still end up starving. You can feed it directly, either give it a small piece of shrimp (like the kind humans eat), or any kind of edible seafood really, or you can turn the pumps off for like a half hour and target feed them some mysis shrimp (or really any other prepared fish food) with a turkey blaster (to
make sure they get it). But they need to be fed pretty much daily. Even once you have fish back in your tank, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to feed them directly a few times a week.

Oh wow...didn't know that...what about Small starfish like orange fromias? Can they be fed the same way?

 

[MaxTremors]

Oh wow...didn't know that...what about Small starfish like orange fromias? Can they be fed the same way?

They can, but Fromia and Linckia are among the hardest to keep alive. The problem is compounded by the fact that no one really knows what their actual diet should consist of. They’ll all manner of things in your tank, but even with plenty of live rock, feeding the tank heavily, and target feeding, the vast majority still starve to death. There are exceptions here and there, but IMO the success rate is so low that they really should be considered expert only and only available through special order.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

They can, but Fromia and Linckia are among the hardest to keep alive. The problem is compounded by the fact that no one really knows what their actual diet should consist of. They’ll all manner of things in your tank, but even with plenty of live rock, feeding the tank heavily, and target feeding, the vast majority still starve to death. There are exceptions here and there, but IMO the success rate is so low that they really should be considered expert only and only available through special order.

I have an idea...what if I hatched baby brine shrimp in a container, put them in freshwater which would kill them, and then broadcast fed the tank so the stars and my one cucumber would find them in the sand...does that sound like it might work?

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Hey everyone, I"m on day 12 of my 76 day fallow period and this morning I noticed my sand starfish weren't moving much even when I picked them up. I turned one upside down and he uprighted himself but I'm wondering if they are starving due to the removal of the fish. I do add nutrients to the tank in ways such as feeding my sun corals fairy shrimp. Can I have a few opinions on this? Can they starve this quickly? Can they absorb nutrients in the water? I was thinking about adding two small starfish of a different species so I need some help figuring out if anything is wrong.

Fold up a piece of nori and place the starfish on top of it

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Fold up a piece of nori and place the starfish on top of it

Ok, I'll give that a try

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Fold up a piece of nori and place the starfish on top of it

Here in Bangkok it might be difficult to find nori intended for fish food...would nori intended for people suffice as long as it's not seasoned?

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Ok, I'll give that a try

The central disk of my stars will swell up while on the nori and will stay there a day or two eating the algae

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Here in Bangkok it might be difficult to find nori intended for fish food...would nori intended for people suffice as long as it's not seasoned?

Yes not the roasted kind

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

What kind of stars do you have?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The central disk of my stars will swell up while on the nori and will stay there a day or two eating the algae

What kind of stars do you have?

 

[dvgyfresh]

I’ve had a red linkia for 7 months now, it enjoys sponges and bacteria film / coral food like reef roids ect. I do attach a piece of nori to the rocks over night and it’s always gone but that’s probly snails / bristle worms doing haha

 

[Udest]

that should be fine

 

[Thespammailaccount]

What kind of stars do you have?

Chocolate chip, micro brittle, brittle, sea serpents. I feed nori to the chocolate chips which in turn I feed to my shrimp that I keep in a different tank not my reef. The other stars are in my reef and do not get feed but my rock is 10+ years old

 

[Thespammailaccount]

I’ve had a red linkia for 7 months now, it enjoys sponges and bacteria film / coral food like reef roids ect. I do attach a piece of nori to the rocks over night and it’s always gone but that’s probly snails / bristle worms doing haha

Correct aged rock or well established reef