Sand Sifting Star loosing arms

[aws2266]

I got him from my LFS and was already missing part of one arm, but over the last two weeks lost one entirely. I read that means he's not getting enough to eat. My aquarium is two months old but there's plenty of detritus for him to munch on. He recently found the part of my tank where the flow isn't great stuff builds up so I'm hoping things turn around. Are there any kinds of supplements I could add to help him out?

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I got him from my LFS and was already missing part of one arm, but over the last two weeks lost one entirely. I read that means he's not getting enough to eat. My aquarium is two months old but there's plenty of detritus for him to munch on. He recently found the part of my tank where the flow isn't great stuff builds up so I'm hoping things turn around. Are there any kinds of supplements I could add to help him out?

that is a VERY clean looking tank photo so that may be a very hungry starfish

run to local grocery store and pickup couple small mussels or clams - thaw frozen if they don't have fresh in shell - whack with hammer to crack shell - put in tank - put starfish on top of cracked shell ... remove anything uneaten at end of few hours and toss in trash - help starfish get its strength back - it can spend its nights playing cleanup crew

 

[aws2266]

Thanks for the advice. Will do that tonight.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Thanks for the advice. Will do that tonight.

If no small size mussels, clams, scallops etc you can also get a shrimp and cut up a bit like half your pinky nail and set starfish on that. Medium & large shellfish will have a lot of milky waste when you wack shell with hammer, so shrimp route is cleaner (but then I always feel we are teaching them to like the taste of shrimp... sleeping shrimp beware! LOL)

 

[aws2266]

If no small size mussels, clams, scallops etc you can also get a shrimp and cut up a bit like half your pinky nail and set starfish on that. Medium & large shellfish will have a lot of milky waste when you wack shell with hammer, so shrimp route is cleaner (but then I always feel we are teaching them to like the taste of shrimp... sleeping shrimp beware! LOL)

I went with scallops but no luck getting him to eat. Just rolled off and buried himself. Going to get some mussels or clams tomorrow. Hopefully it’s not too late.

 

[aws2266]

I ended up burying a few pieces pieces of a scallop in his favorite spots and checked this morning and they are gone. They were buried fairly shallow so a fish could have eaten it, but I'm holding out hope it was him. In my five years in the hobby I've never had a fish or invert die except a sea urchin. So I'll be incredibly sad if he doesn't make it.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I ended up burying a few pieces pieces of a scallop in his favorite spots and checked this morning and they are gone. They were buried fairly shallow so a fish could have eaten it, but I'm holding out hope it was him. In my five years in the hobby I've never had a fish or invert die except a sea urchin. So I'll be incredibly sad if he doesn't make it.

how is your starfish doing?

Hoping it still had BBA - Bounce Back Ability - such a great thing for everyone in hobby, as well as our tanks

 

[blaxsun]

They will usually recover unless it’s some sort of bacterial infection, but beyond feeding there’s not a lot you can do.

 

[aws2266]

I lost him. I blame myself, should have researched more before pulling the trigger. Tank wasn't mature enough and probably too small.