Parasitic snail eating my star

[Akira38]

I've had this Marble Star for about a month now and it's always had a bump at the base of one of it's arms. I figured it was likely from growing back one of it's limbs. Now the bump has ruptured and I can clearly see what seems to be a snail inside. I've been researching and I believe my diagnosis is correct, but if you disagree please let me know. I plan to

1. Put the star in a new plastic container, never exposing it to air.

2. With sterile utensils attempt to remove this snail.

3. Kill the snail with a hammer then throw it in my fireplace.

4. Place the star back in it's aquarium.

For medication all I have on hand are Prazipro and some Methylene Blue, though I'm if they're usefull here. If I should get some sort of antibiotic let me know and I'll get it tomorrow.

Anything else I should or shouldn't do? I'll try to post pics. Never done it before I'm not a tech person to say the least.

 

[Rakie]

Lugols or iodine is a good thing to have on hand. I'm not sure if stars are sensitive to it though, that you would need to research.

 

[Akira38]

I have plenty of medical iodine, that the same?

 

[Rakie]

It should be. Some people use medical iodine, others prefer to use lugols which is a mixture of several iodines (including some medical grade). I think the lugols just puts people at ease because it's meant to be used for our tanks.

That said, again, I have no clue how a star will react to iodine at all. So make sure to look into that, for all I know he'll start melting away in a few hours.

 

[MTBake]

Medical iodine should be ok to use. That's what I use on freshly fragged zoas.

Not sure if too much iodine can be toxic to the starfish though. This is something I've never tried.

 

[Rakie]

Medical iodine should be ok to use. That's what I use on freshly fragged zoas.

Not sure if too much iodine can be toxic to the starfish though. This is something I've never tried.

Yep, I too use it for fragging.

 

[Akira38]

By the time I got home the snail had left the star in its own. There is a hole in the star (obviously), but he doesn't seems to be bothers by it and it's honestly pretty small considering what came out of it. Should I just leave him be for now?

 

[Poseidon03]

By the time I got home the snail had left the star in its own. There is a hole in the star (obviously), but he doesn't seems to be bothers by it and it's honestly pretty small considering what came out of it. Should I just leave him be for now?

I would examine him for any other snails. If there aren't any, I'd let it be. Starfish are extremely good at regenerating parts of their body.