Linkia star question

[fish4brains]

I received a linkia star today. It appears to have lost about half an arm in shipping. After acclimation, he seems fine in the tank. First query - could I drop the severed limb into the tank and see if it regenerates another star? I have seen where this could happen. Or would this just risk polluting my tank unecessarily?

Second questions - I know that Linkia like to graze the "scum" from glass and rock. Will cleanning my glass inside deplete their foodstores or will they get enough from the rock, back glass, etc.?

[Marc118]

It could very well do that, they feed only on almost invisible film algae. Its not likely that it will regenerate from the limb in a home aquarium...but I guess anything is possible.

How did you acclimate it and was it exposed to air at all?

[fish4brains]

I drip acclimated it for two hours. It wasn't exposed to air on my watch. I worry he may have been exposed in the shipping bag however. How long would it take for signs of exposure to show up?

[Marc118]

Could be anywhere up to a few days IME. Just keep an eye out. How old is the tank? GL they are beautiful stars.

I forgot to mention that IF you do see a decrease in the stars food supply ( they need a lot ) it is possible to do small daily target feedings with a variety of foods or a even better a home made recipe ( there are tons on the net, check out WetWebMedia ) and place it on the substrate. Also do fret if you dont see the star for a while while its foraging through rocks.

[tecwzrd]

Moved to sick fish/coral forum:

It doesn't bode well for the stars future if missing an arm. Depending on how it was damaged it may not survive. Does the online site where you bought it from offer a guaranty on stock for any time period? The one arm shouldn't foul your large tank so it's worth the risk IMO to add it. Cleaning your glass shouldn't be an issue.

With a 150 gal tank (hopefully with tons of base/lr) the star might make it but I'm worried your system still might be too new and could still be prone to parameter swings since you set this up 4 months ago.

If you haven't read it already I'd take a look at INVERTEBRATE NON-COLUMN by ROB TOONEN which is one of the best Linckia articles on the net.

[Marc118]

4 months???

Besides the swings in water, I dont think a tank that young has the ability to host a star fish regardless.

Like I said...GL.

[tecwzrd]

Generally tanks take at least 6 months to become somewhat stable but from his showcase post of his tank he did mention that a lot of the rock came from an existing reef tank so it's possible that the tank while new would still have the means of supporting a star.

[Marc118]

Hey I posted in there! lol...

I didnt read the thread though, how much LR was it? I didnt see if he said how much...just that he got some for $6 a lb ( which sounds like normal run of the mill cured LR ).

As long as there is enough rock and have time to regenerate algae before it comes back around to support a star that will likely see 1' in a 150gal I would be more worried about the wound as you pointed out.

[melosu58]

I`m concerned about the wound also. I have two licknias and they are doing fine but I`ve never had one lose a limb. My thinking is that he might have been exposed to air on the other side. I got one before these two and he was exposed to air only for a few seconds and was dead within a few days. Hopefully they will be OK. Here are mine. I`ve had them about a yr now.

[roka64]

My LFS couldn't figure out why her linckias kept dying (I seemed to be the only one to find them dead). I asked her if she exposed them to the air and she said no. She thought about it for a sec and said they were shipped with air in the bag. I suggested she request to have them push out all the air, before shipping.