Care For Starfish?

[lona]

Hi guys,

Have had my two starfish for about 5 days already. Trouble is, I don't know if the fellas are ok? I read on WetWebMedia that they have to be target fed once/twice weekly. How do I know if they're hungry?

My starfishes just stick to the glass side the whole day and don't do anything. They just assume funny positions. My red star, he sticks to the glass with just the TIPS of his appendages. The rest of his body is elevated from the glass. The other fella, orange guy, this morning when I inspected the tank, he was on the sandbed but wasn't really moving. Is he dead? I surely hope not..

How do you guys feed your starfishies? How often? Mine don't clean detritus like I thought they would ley..how?

[Sinn]

i dont know bout yers , but i just leave mine alone...

but its a different type...

its been 4 months now.... still doing nothing

[Dinosaur]

Mine was in the same position (stick on the glass wall) since I brought it last week.

[kais]

mine moving very very slowly...from glass to sand over a period of 1 week.

[KingFish]

You can try flipping them over, it will right itself slowly but surely..

At least you can tell if its alive and well when it does

[lona]

hahaha..looks like mine isn't the only one NOT doing anything..

Rumour> Ok will do that..hopefully the guy DOES flip over.

[dodo]

if i am not wrong, i read in a book saying that flipping a star fish over and allowing it flip back by itself is gonna kill the star fish sooner or later becos for a starfish to flip over by itself...they are practically using every bit of their muscle to overturn...and too much energy used...so they will eventually wither off

[lona]

phwoar..really ar? But ar, I read on wetweb, they said to check for a healthy specimen, flip it over. Of course I'm not going to do this every other day lar..though you'd have to admit, should be quite interesting to watch.. ..but I'd do it only if I'm worried if the guy's still alive or not..maybe never move for a week or so?

[dodo]

maybe i read wrongly lar...but i will try to check it out wea i read it from....meantime...Read this

[lona]

err..dodo,.. ...the link you posted sent me to a weird place..

try again?

[dodo]

try again...edited

[NormanH]

How do I know if they're hungry?

When your starfish starts to eat your sea fan.

It happened to me, my sea fan was leaning against the glass when my starfish approach n melt it. My friend worst, starfish melt his branching hammer.

[lona]

Hi Norman,

Heh..don't have any coral of any kind ley..sea fan is a coral? if not maybe I could keep too..and if cheap..can be food for my starfish..

[divinesloth]

Hi Norman,

Heh..don't have any coral of any kind ley..sea fan is a coral? if not maybe I could keep too..and if cheap..can be food for my starfish..

Don't feed sea fan to your starfish lah, very sayang. What kind of starfish are you keeping? I feed my common star with krills. Put krills under the body and it will eat by itself. Others like the orange and red star don't seem to like krills so I don't bother to feed them. They get by very well. My starfishes will also stick to the glass near the water surface for long periods, think its common so no cause for concern.

[Dinosaur]

When your starfish starts to eat your sea fan.

It happened to me, my sea fan was leaning against the glass when my starfish approach n melt it. My friend worst, starfish melt his branching hammer.

Not all star fish eats coral wat

[lona]

Divinesloth> Ya, mine are the red and orange..one of each..tried to put a mysis shrimp but got blown away by the PH. He didn't even bother to try to cover it ley.

Anyways, are sea fans coral? easy to keep or not ar? Need light or low temp? Mine no light and the stoopid PH giving me 30degC temp..nitrates are slightly less than 10, the no2 and nh3 are 0.

[KingFish]

Need light or low temp? Mine no light and the stoopid PH giving me 30degC temp..nitrates are slightly less than 10, the no2 and nh3 are 0.

Iona, you might wanna check if there's any other reason why your temperature is so high.

How strong is your PH? Maybe you got one that takes up too much power, thus heating the water up.

Depending on your lights, your temperature will skyrocket.

DC fans and chiller will help, but I'd look at the source too.

[TanGo]

Starfish must ask me mah!

Hehehe

Most of them dunn eat anything.. They will clean your glass.. Algae..

Except the chocolate chip one.. Rumoured to eat corals.. So far haven't tried them yet..

Sand sifting stars are my harlequin's favourite!

Those who want to give up their starfish one can PM me!!

Hehehe..

[lona]

Rumour> Hm..don't think so the PH too high power lar..I have a eheim running at 1000l/h..for my 50gal..as it is not much current already. I think it's one of those high vol low vel kind. Thinking these few days try to get the fan in and see if there's a diff. At any rate, there's no breeze near my tank, and it can get quite warm at that area, so I guess it's just the environment as well lar. My tank has nothing else ley..no lights even..*laugh*. will continue to monitor though.

Just read up about fans..*sigh*..they need lights too..so guess they'll be out of my reach for now.

Tango> Heh heh..saw your thread on your shrimp eating starfish. Quite interesting. So anyways, about my starfish, so I don't have to worry about them ar? My glass looks quite clean as it is already leh..it's not overun with algae kind lar, but don't look like got anything interesting for them to eat there leh. and your shrimp better stay away from my stars.. ..they're precious to me..so cute I tell you..they go into all sorts of strange weird positions. Maybe they were the inspiration for kama sutra..

[KingFish]

At any rate, there's no breeze near my tank, and it can get quite warm at that area, so I guess it's just the environment as well lar.

Just read up about fans..*sigh*..they need lights too..so guess they'll be out of my reach for now. 

Environment does play a big part, my tank temperature measured 27.4 degrees after 10hrs under PL without any fan, I suppose it does fluctuate.

Fans will be good idea, take note of evaporation though, that can be taken care of by water+kalk topup. There's also a correlation between temperature and salinity, you may wanna find that out for general reading.

About lights, dodo and I are trying out T5s to pretty good effects, standby for our reviews soon....

[TanGo]

At any rate, there's no breeze near my tank, and it can get quite warm at that area, so I guess it's just the environment as well lar. My tank has nothing else ley..no lights even..*laugh*. will continue to monitor though.

Try putting a standing fan near your tank to circulate the air.. It works for me before I got my chiller..

Let it run during the day.. At night cooler so can switch it off..

[lona]

Hi Guys,

This morning my starfish seemed to be acting a little strange. His 'meat' from under his legs seem to be sloughing off..leaving orange bits behind on the rock as he crawled on them. It looks quite worrying..could someone advise. I attach pictures..the second one not so clear..so sorry about that.

[lona]

Here's a closeup of the orange bits/meat..

ohhh..I hope my starfish is ok..

someone please advise soon..

[divinesloth]

I think your starfish is a goner. It'll have its intestines dropping off it's tummy very soon and rot to death....just like mine

Think you should move it a hospital tank and monitor it's progress as these meat will rot and pollute your water.

[lona]

HAR?!

are you sure? what's the cause of this? Anything I can do to help it?