Starfish Spit Out Colon?

Averhoeven · Jul 7, 2018

I just got a blue Linkia star 2-3 days ago. My wife saw it while I was buying some other inverts and had to have it. He's truly beautiful. At the time, I had assumed his diet would be similar to other stars. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case, but I'll give it my best.

That said, this morning I noticed he was hanging on the glass and I noticed a number of long strings hanging out. Upon further investigation, they look EXACTLY like colon does (at least in a human). I know that stars extrude their "stomach" to eat, but this doesn't feel normal. As he has walked around the tank, he has left pieces of it in places. I have since removed those pieces because of the rot potential, but I was curious if my assumption that it is abnormal is accurate. He is still just as active walking around the tank, sides, etc.

reef lover · Jul 7, 2018

Any pics??

Robink · Jul 7, 2018

If I recall correctly those are really on the delicate side. Did you drip acclimate it? Also cannot be exposed to air.

Averhoeven · Jul 7, 2018

Sure thing, this is him right this second. Most has been tracked around the tank and left behind, but still has some dangling out.

Averhoeven · Jul 7, 2018

Robink said:
If I recall correctly those are really on the delicate side. Did you drip acclimate it? Also cannot be exposed to air.

It was acclimated over 3-4 hours. He crawls parts of himself out of the water at times and had crawled halfway up the bag and halfway out of water during transport, so he was exposed to air, but if his own volition.

Robink · Jul 7, 2018

I lost one once during a water change. Didn't see him on the glass...

The insides coming out does not look normal to me. Probably some star fish experts on here will chime in soon.

Captain Quint · Jul 7, 2018

Averhoeven said:
Sure thing, this is him right this second. Most has been tracked around the tank and left behind, but still has some dangling out.

Did you by chance place a small bit of shrimp or clam for it to eat? It loves both.

The Blue Linckia Sea Star or any variation of color is on the difficult level of starfish to keep.

Any starfish never should be exposed to O2.

Hope it will fare well for you.

Averhoeven · Jul 7, 2018

Captain Quint said:
Did you by chance place a small bit of shrimp or clam for it to eat? It loves both.

The Blue Linckia Sea Star or any variation of color is on the difficult level of starfish to keep.

Any starfish never should be exposed to O2.

Hope it will fare well for you.

I fed the tank mysis last night and when I woke up this morning he looked like that. It is very likely he got to some of it considering it is just my invert QT/frag tank so there's not a lot of competition for it.

reef lover · Jul 7, 2018

#reefsquad

DSC reef · Jul 7, 2018

We kept a blue linkia for about 3 years and I've never seen this happen. It's one animal I never recommend for a tank.

Lasse · Jul 8, 2018

Leaving patches of his colon in the aquaria seems not be a plausible explanation. It could not be a colon you see - I´m not even sure that a Seastar has a colon and a quick Google confirm this (no colon but a very short intestine. ) For me it more looks like gonads. Most of them have two in each arm. Sea Stars are able to nonsexual reproduction. Have no clue if this is one of the strategies - leaving gonads here and there. However - Linckia is a species that´s hard to have in aquaria and if this is a reproduction behaviour or a stress respond - or both - no clue

Sincerely Lasse

Averhoeven · Jul 8, 2018

Thanks for the input. I was simply going by appearance. I'll keep an eye on him, though I'm not quite sure what to do about it either.

Kamden Uelton · Jul 8, 2018

The little "sucker legs" are damaged and it is spitting out the damaged ones, in the wild this happens alot but in an aquarium where you probably don't have the food it needs to regenerate. I don't think it will survive.

Lilly Moore · Feb 5, 2022

What about my starfish somethings up with mine as well

Lilly Moore · Feb 5, 2022

It’s an orange beaded starfish
Is there any way to save it or help it idk what’s happening to it it was fine a few days ago then white strings started showing on his leg now it’s this mess btw still moving around

N.Sreefer · Feb 5, 2022

Lilly Moore said:
It’s an orange beaded starfish
Is there any way to save it or help it idk what’s happening to it it was fine a few days ago then white strings started showing on his leg now it’s this mess btw still moving around

White light pic would help to see whats going on and this is a "dead" older thread try posting a thread asking for help with an emergency tag (if that pic is as bad as it looks) and another pic with your whites higher (if you can). You'll get alot more help that way. I hope it pulls through for you.