starfish with guts out??

proxy001 · Jul 20, 2020

I recently introduced a blue link starfish, established tank, was doing great. And all of a sudden, some strange thing that looks like its inside coming out.
I saw a similar post from 2018 but OP never gave an update...
Im guessing this is not good .
All parameters within range
Anyone has similar experience?

ludnix · Jul 20, 2020

Starfish very interestingly push their stomachs out of their body and place it on the food they are trying to digest. They do not usually do it as far as this guy has taken it though and I would suspect he is on his way out unfortunately.

The linkia starfish are pretty notorious for doing very poorly in captivity. I don't think many have been able to keep them longer than a year or two.

proxy001 · Jul 20, 2020

Thank you for your reply.
That has been my experience in the past, keep them alive fir a year or 2 and then they die.
This one was doing great... until that. That happened after I fed the tank a cube of frozen food...
I'll report back !!

ludnix · Jul 20, 2020

proxy001 said:
Thank you for your reply.
That has been my experience in the past, keep them alive fir a year or 2 and then they die.
This one was doing great... until that. That happened after I fed the tank a cube of frozen food...
I'll report back !!

I hope it pulls through and it was just a feeding response! These guys are so beautiful, I hope we learn what they really need for long term survival and captive breeding someday soon.

proxy001 · Jul 21, 2020

Day#2, it spent the last day hanging on my glass cleaner that is full of a green film...
Late last night after the lights turned off, it moved and settled for the day at the back of the tank. Some of the stringy stuff is now hanging from it. (it is not coming from the arm, just sticking to it)
Starfish shows good color and fully inflated.

proxy001 · Jul 22, 2020

Starfish doing fine. All the strange things detached . I guess I will never know what they were. Guts? Poop? Eggs?

MD84 · Feb 5, 2021

proxy001 said:
Starfish doing fine. All the strange things detached . I guess I will never know what they were. Guts? Poop? Eggs?

Hi proxy, did you discover anything else about the "things" coming outMine is doing this

proxy001 · Feb 5, 2021

Well, shortly after that post the start fish buried itself in sand and I never saw it again, so definitely it wasn’t a good sign. Linkia are so tough to keep.