tundra420619
Member
what could have caused this? livestock is 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 six line wrasse, watchman goby and pistol with various snails and hermits.
how did this happen?
- Thread starter tundra420619
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what could have caused this? livestock is 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 six line wrasse, watchman goby and pistol with various snails and hermits.
smkndrgn142
Member
my money is on the goby. My pink spot took a chunk out of a colt coral and killed it.
partypalooza5
Member
Ouch (
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)
IamELMO
Member
How long have you had it? Starfish can be very sensitive and if not acclimated properly can dissolve (looks like what yours is doing).
You could try "frag" it and cut off the dead arm and hope for the best. I doubt any creatures would be attacking it unless you have a sneaky ninja harlequin shrimp
You could try "frag" it and cut off the dead arm and hope for the best. I doubt any creatures would be attacking it unless you have a sneaky ninja harlequin shrimp
Yea, that's definitely not an attack and quite certainly a dissolving starfish. How long have you had it in your tank? And just to get this out of the way because it's often the culprit (and sometimes takes 2-3 weeks to show up) how long did you acclimate it? Most starfish (not brittles/serpents, but actual starfish) adjust the salinity in their bodies via osmosis which is extremely slow and acclimating them to the salinity of your tank if it's more than a .01-.02 off from the LFS's tanks can require days to weeks of acclimation.
tundra420619
Member
thanks for the replies. its actually not mine, i posted for a friend. he says he acclimated for an hour and a half. i had no idea they could be that sensitive.
Reefmack- i sold my seamax to a buddy its his linkia. but i still check the seamax group, you guys are awesome.
Reefmack- i sold my seamax to a buddy its his linkia. but i still check the seamax group, you guys are awesome.
Yea, they can and are that sensitive. Many people will probably flame me for this and say they only had their acclimate for an hour and a half or two hours and it's fine, but the fact is that they probably got lucky because the LFS's salinity/pH/etc was probably very very close to their own. The reality is these things dissolve left and right from poor acclimation. And poor shipping practices too, they're pretty sensitive little guys. I can't stress how slow osmosis is for them to try and reach an equillibrium between internal water and external water.
I'd say an absolute minimum, in my experience, is 6-8 hours for any of the linkia species, and if they're exposed to air you can bet they're probably going to lose an arm at the very least, typically it's fatal.
I'd say an absolute minimum, in my experience, is 6-8 hours for any of the linkia species, and if they're exposed to air you can bet they're probably going to lose an arm at the very least, typically it's fatal.
No problems, always happy to impart what I know. And I hope you're not feeling too bad about it happening as it's a common common mistake, exacerbated by the fact that most LFS either don't know or don't tell people about how long to acclimate them.
The exposure to air is just a myth. Most of these stars are intertidal in nature, which means that they're often exposed to air at low tides. Not to dispute everything, but when I had my Blue Linkia arrive overnight I had just started to acclimate things when I had an emergency at home. I took the Linkia out of the bucket, exposed to air for a few seconds, and had to drop it in the tank and leave. It lived for 18 months, which is much longer than most live in a tank. But yes - proper acclimation is the best practice.
GlassMunky
Active Member
I see the ones at my LFS with 1 or 2 arms out of the water almost every time i'm there. I've always wanted one of these starts, but this exact thing is one of the reasons i havn't
I guess I should have been more specific. The air exposure thing isn't a myth, per se, it's more of a misunderstanding. The problem isn't the same as exposing a sponge to air where it can cause an air embolism. It actually arises from a similar situation to what you are experiencing with short acclimation times. When exposed to air suddenly, the starfish is trying to once again use osmosis to regulate it's internal chemistry. If you quickly remove it from water and let it sit just long enough that it starts trying to regulate, you'll likely see a problem. If you take it out for just a second and dunk it back in the tank, you likely won't as it hasn't had a chance to internally respond to the change to air before it's back in the tank.
Likewise, as they crawl out of the tank on their own they're doing it fairly slowly; the same happens when the tides go out, the water doesn't just suddenly leave them high and dry in 2 seconds flat, it's a slower process, made slower by wave action continually bathing them in the same chemistry they've been sitting in.
So, while I understand why people believe it to be a myth, and in some degrees it is, it's really just a set of circumstances that should be avoided. The bottom line is, when exposing a starfish to air or even to water of a different chemistry, doing it quickly and for too long will cause problems.
Likewise, as they crawl out of the tank on their own they're doing it fairly slowly; the same happens when the tides go out, the water doesn't just suddenly leave them high and dry in 2 seconds flat, it's a slower process, made slower by wave action continually bathing them in the same chemistry they've been sitting in.
So, while I understand why people believe it to be a myth, and in some degrees it is, it's really just a set of circumstances that should be avoided. The bottom line is, when exposing a starfish to air or even to water of a different chemistry, doing it quickly and for too long will cause problems.