blue starfish

[pacheco]

I put a blue starfish in my tank about a month ago saw it for about 4 days haven't seen it again. do they bury themself in the sand? I know I have a sand starfish and have only seen it once . don't have anything big enough to eat it just can't find him.

 

[steve-s]

They do not burrow. There is a very good chance it's hiding in the rock if you have any. If not, could have simpley turned to mush. How was it acclimated? There is also the possibility the sandstar had a snack depending on the size of each. 8O

Cheers
Steve

 

[pacheco]

he was drip acclimated for about 1hour. the blue star fish is about twice the size of the sand star. I have looked all through the rocks and still can't find any trace of him. could he be under one of the rocks some how?

 

[JPloman]

Blue linkia starfish are hard to care for. It is very likely that he did not make it and became fish food. In order to keep a Blue linkia you really have to have perfect water and acclimation skills.

 

[steve-s]

It's possible it's in the rock somewhere. If it did not make it through the acclimation process, it would typically turn into a white blob of goo and you won't always find remnants. They literally disintegrate.

For future reference, stars and other highly sensitive inverts should be drip acclimated over 4-6 hours. One is not enough time to properly adjust to the new water chemistry. You should also be sure it is not exsposed to air or handled with bare hands.

http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/acclimation.htm

Cheers
Steve