Starfish dropping arms...

Yati · May 1, 2018

Ok.. I've been reefing for a long time and never encountered this.. so a few weeks back, i can't recall the specific date but it was around the beginning end of march beginning of april my star dropped a 1 inch limb.. no biggie.. its in the overflow its moving around the arm that dropped has healed over so I'm like ok, cool maybe i'll get a 2 for the price of 1, I'm definitely not mad at that but not this morning i see it drops another 1 inch piece and now i'm like ok, what can be the issue.. I'm not number chaser but they are all good, i check weekly.. nothing has changed and i've had the start for about 7 months now.. only clue whatsoever could be going on??? No i do run a low nutrient system being that its SPS dominate so i worry about it getting enough food but i do feed phytofeast, rothifeast and oyster eggs daily.. I also do LFS reef frenzy in the morning and then pellets in the evening and afternoon.. but the start pretty much lives in the overflow as you can see in the pics not that the lights are coming on its making its escape back into the overflow

nautical_nathaniel · May 1, 2018

This seems like a peculiar situation, maybe someone in the #reefsquad can help out some more

My guess would be that it wasn't getting enough nutrition or that something was messing with it. My pistol shrimp killed my Red Fromia Sea Star recently. It started by cutting off an entire arm of the sea star.

redfishbluefish · May 1, 2018

He's starving. Target feed the guy a good size piece of clam....he should take it within a minute or so....bringing it to his mouth. Should be target feeding about twice a week.

Yati · May 1, 2018

Occasionally I do, but he literary lives in the overflow, I used to pull it out fearing that it would clog the drain but if I pull it out, he makes his way back in with a hour or so, so i said screw it something in there makes/keeps it happy.. it comes into the main display every few days or so for a bit then right back into the overflow...

redfishbluefish said:
He's starving. Target feed the guy a good size piece of clam....he should take it within a minute or so....bringing it to his mouth. Should be target feeding about twice a week.