# New Linckia Starfish Dead or Dying?



## JamesHurst

Hey all,

On Sunday (2 days ago) I went to an LFS in Burlington and purchased a light blue Linckia starfish.

Upon opening my lunch-bag (used for temperature stability during coral and fish transportation) and then the white plastic bag at home (after an hour on the Go train) I saw that _*the starfish had been bagged with half-air in the bag*_. Immediately I began to worry as they cannot come into contact with air for even the smallest moment.

I drip-acclimated the starfish for 4 hours and made sure not to allow it out of the water at any point. I also made sure not to touch the starfish with my bare hands/skin.

The next morning, the starfish had not moved and had stringy redish brown guts coming out of it's mouth. White globs of stringy stuff was coming out from under one arm, though it wasn't much.

The following morning, the starfish looked as if it had moved about 1 cm, though I'm really not sure if my eyes are playing tricks on me. The guts are still coming out of the mouth, though no worse. However the arm looks like it's coming apart and disintegrating slowly into a glob of white puss. Another arm on the opposite side of the starfish is exhibiting the same symptoms.

As this particular LFS is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, I spoke with one of the sons at NAFB who indicated to me that it sounded like the starfish was taken out of the water and to wait 1 day and remove it if it got worse.

Parameters are all in check, and my huge assortment of LPS, SPS, softies, maxi carpets, inverts and fish all look to be doing amazing.

So it's been about 48 hours since it was added to the tank and it only looks to be getting worse (though it's still soft and has its colour). Did I just flush 20 bucks down the ...errr... sump?

My concern is that it was bagged with air, meaning there's the possibility it was exposed to the air during the travel from the LFS. _ It's important to note that the store owner bagged it, not me._

What do you guys think I should do?  Super upset. G/F is not a happy camper (it was for her).

Thanks all,
Cameron


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## smcx

The air thing is a myth. They regularly get stranded above the tide in the wild. I've had mine out of the water probably 5 or 6 times over the course of 6 months. You can see videos on YouTube.


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## JamesHurst

smcx said:


> The air thing is a myth. They regularly get stranded above the tide in the wild. I've had mine out of the water probably 5 or 6 times over the course of 6 months. You can see videos on YouTube.


Hrm. He had a dead one right near this one and I don't think I've seen it move once, even for the hour and a half I was at his store. He mentioned that he has problems keeping them...I wonder if I was sold a dead/dying starfish now

Checked params again just now and everything looks to be fine in my tank.
ARGGGGGG.

When do I know it's a complete goner? ie. Should I take it out?
Or should I cut off the affected limb?


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## JamesHurst

Here's a pic of it currently.


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## sig

remove immediately from the tank. 

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## J_T

sig said:


> remove immediately from the tank.


IF you haven't yet, do it now!

That star is done.

Problem with star fish, they don't eat prepared foods. They eat film algae. Your tank needs atleast a year (IMO) in order to keep one. Even then, you would do better with the smaller red stars. Blues are huge. They require large area's to feed from. They will also act as a bulldozer for you. Knocking everything over as they move about the tank.


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## JamesHurst

Okay, it's out now. WOW that stank like death.

What I was told at the LFS:
"Just put it in your tank and enjoy" & "They're easy"

Not cool. What a waste.

Think I should I even bother speaking with the owner (the one who sold it to me) of the LFS? As far as I can tell, it was dead before it even got to my tank. Or should I just count it as a loss?


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## tom g

*starfish*

u can try talking to him but in your post u say u traveled by go train so im thinking its prob not worth your trouble . as a rule of thumb i usually watch them to see them moving and pick them myself . sometimes u may get one that is not right .i had a red one he was smaller and lasted quite a while i liked the fact he was smaller and thinner and really never had any probs withhim knocking over corals and such. so really its your call u can try to call and talk to him but expect him to say i sold u it alive and well . 
cheers 
tom


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## JamesHurst

Agreed tom, not really worth the trouble or the travel for $20. It'll cost me more just to train there and back again 

Tank has been up and running for just over a year so I will keep an eye out for a smaller red one for the g/f as per your suggestion J_T. The size was a bit concerning once I got the blue home.

Thanks sig for the quick reply. It would have sat there another night otherwise. Starfish are something I've never kept before.

Thanks everyone, I'll put a post up in the wanted section soon for a small red starfish.

- Cam


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## J_T

Since the store was in Burlington, I will assume, (I know...) that it was Coral reef shop. Shawn is a good guy. Give him a call. While it is a long way to go, I know he is in the city all the time (pretty sure he lives in the city too). Perhaps arrangements can be made.


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## JamesHurst

J_T said:


> Since the store was in Burlington, I will assume, (I know...) that it was Coral reef shop. Shawn is a good guy. Give him a call. While it is a long way to go, I know he is in the city all the time (pretty sure he lives in the city too). Perhaps arrangements can be made.


Thanks for the heads up.
I didn't want to name names or anything, it's not my place.

Yes, he's always been the nicest and most helpful guy every time I've been able to make it there. Doesn't judge anyone, so I can confess my 'accidents' to him, har har har.

This hobby always works out to be a win-some lose-some kind of game when it all pans out, so I'll just mention it next time I visit the shop. He has a shipment coming in this week that I want all over lol


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## Flexin5

IMO starfish are tricky to keep. i've had two of the red ones, and they have lasted a while but then start to decay, the limbs would start to turn white and melt away almost with white stringy flesh floating off of them. i had great water quality too. the only thing i could conclude was that my emrald crab was attacking them. 

i've read that they don't do great in the home aquarium, on the other hand i've seen them in other people's tanks; how long they have them in there i couldn't tell you.


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## smcx

My blue is about 5 inches across. I leave one glass wall alone so he can feed. He crawls all over everything but surprisingly knocks less over than my wrecking ball Mexican turbo.


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## altcharacter

As a very wise person told me once when I bought my starfish "Just make sure you know he's going to die...they don't last that long."

They melt, it's what they do in the environment we give them. It just all depends on how well we can take care of them to ensure they last longer...but they're gonna melt.

Sorry to hear about this one, but yeah, it probably wasn't the LFS fault. They are super easy to take care of but as J_T said, you need to put them into a well established tank to ensure proper feeding. I say wait another 6 months and give it another go

Oh, and my starfish lasted a year before he melted.


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## JamesHurst

Yeah I'm going to give it some time before trying again.

I've got a bully domino damsel to deal with before I do anything else in the tank at all. Used a bottle trap and caught every fish except the domino.

btw J_T, I ended up getting that ATO you guys rec'd. It works like a charm!


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## bluer6

Hmmmm I bought a blue linckia from my LFS. He was in his tank for some
time, and now in mine for roughly 5-6 months and is doing great. How long have yours lasted before "melting"?


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## wtac

IME, you have to keep things on slightly the "dirty side" as _Linkia_ stars require a substantial amount of bacterial film. In the systems I build or revamp...it's a death trap for them .

In a 500gal I revamped about 8years ago, the client had four 6" blue _Linkia _stars that she had for 2 years. It was a constant battle with algae and other environmental issues. After upgrading/adding required equipment, the stars slowly started to decline. After losing two, I set-up a 50gal "cesspool"/refugium satellite tank. They are still kicking around today.

JME


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## Tasou2017

JamesHurst said:


> Hey all,
> 
> On Sunday (2 days ago) I went to an LFS in Burlington and purchased a light blue Linckia starfish.
> 
> Upon opening my lunch-bag (used for temperature stability during coral and fish transportation) and then the white plastic bag at home (after an hour on the Go train) I saw that _*the starfish had been bagged with half-air in the bag*_. Immediately I began to worry as they cannot come into contact with air for even the smallest moment.
> 
> I drip-acclimated the starfish for 4 hours and made sure not to allow it out of the water at any point. I also made sure not to touch the starfish with my bare hands/skin.
> 
> The next morning, the starfish had not moved and had stringy redish brown guts coming out of it's mouth. White globs of stringy stuff was coming out from under one arm, though it wasn't much.
> 
> The following morning, the starfish looked as if it had moved about 1 cm, though I'm really not sure if my eyes are playing tricks on me. The guts are still coming out of the mouth, though no worse. However the arm looks like it's coming apart and disintegrating slowly into a glob of white puss. Another arm on the opposite side of the starfish is exhibiting the same symptoms.
> 
> As this particular LFS is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, I spoke with one of the sons at NAFB who indicated to me that it sounded like the starfish was taken out of the water and to wait 1 day and remove it if it got worse.
> 
> Parameters are all in check, and my huge assortment of LPS, SPS, softies, maxi carpets, inverts and fish all look to be doing amazing.
> 
> So it's been about 48 hours since it was added to the tank and it only looks to be getting worse (though it's still soft and has its colour). Did I just flush 20 bucks down the ...errr... sump?
> 
> My concern is that it was bagged with air, meaning there's the possibility it was exposed to the air during the travel from the LFS. _ It's important to note that the store owner bagged it, not me._
> 
> What do you guys think I should do?  Super upset. G/F is not a happy camper (it was for her).
> 
> Thanks all,
> Cameron


I have 2 a blue and an orange. The orange is doin great but the blue just started having these same symptoms. I keep a side mount refugium running bc there’s no room in my sump. I put the blue one in the refigium side mount tank to see if it may help bc there is a lot of slim that builds up there. I also keep the back wall and one side wall in the tank without cleaning so they have more to feed from. I’m thinking of putting the stars in the refugium once a month to feed more. I have transferred my stars a couple times and the air contact has never hurt them. It’s still not totally proven that causes harm to them since they do get stuck on rocks during low tide from time to time in the wild.


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## Tasou2017




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## notclear

Blue Linckia Starfish is notorious very difficult to keep alive in captivity! The red ones are a lot easier.


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## Whatever

Another dead starfish o well it was only 20 bucks, when are people going to realize that they can’t care for some animals, the sand sifter is another one, do your research, big established tanks are what these animals need not 6 or 8 month 90 gallon tanks.

You may not like it but 20 bucks is nothing in this hobby, stop being irresponsible, the owner of Coral Reef is a good guy, I just wish he’d screen his customers, how long does it take to ask how big is your tank and how long has it been established, another dead animal, big deal right, WRONG!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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