Star Fish Question

[tloktb26]

Hello. I have a green brittle starfish that has been in my tank for about a month now. I did a water change on Sunday and today I noticed that his legs are breaking off. What used to be long, perfect legs are now just turning into stumps. What is causing this? The starfish shares a tank with one maroon clown, 1 purple firefish, 1 strawberry pseudochromis and a damsel. All of the other fish are doing well and all my water perimeters are perfect. Can someone help? Thanks!

 

[reefrunner69]

I did a water change on Sunday and today I noticed that his legs are breaking off. What used to be long, perfect legs are now just turning into stumps.

You can probably blame the waterchange for this. Starfish and other mobile inverts are very sensitive to changes in salinity, ph and temp. If you do not match the temp, salinity and ph this is likely to happen with your stars.

 

[tloktb26]

Well the temperature of tank fluctuate slightly because of the water change, but I checked all of my levels afterwards and everything was good. Why did this happen? Is he going to die? How can I prevent this? Thanks for your help!

 

[jamal-188]

Is he going to die? How can I prevent this? quote]

I think most of the time they will grow back the fingers. When doing a water change I'd probably do smaller changes more often such as 10% a week rather than 25% every other week. Also, make sure the PH and SG are exactly the same when you add the new water. Let the water sit in the room with your fish tank for a while so it's as close to your aquarium temp as possilbe when you add it.