New Member!! Need Advice About My Star Fish!

[Griffin14]

Hi,
I have a chocolate chip starfish who was doing great not long after we got him. He used to come to the surface of the water so we could feed him but then we noticed a small part of one of his legs had been damaged. He has stopped surfacing and now it looks like he has 2 legs that are damaged. He still moves around the tank good and seems to be okay but one leg is completely falling apart...... what should i do?

 

[Sniperhank]

Did any of him touch air? If starfish touch air they can very quickly go down hill and die as they start to disintegrate.

 

[Griffin14]

When he would come to the surface he did have a leg or two out of the water. I didn't think that would hurt him though.. If air will hurt him how do you move him to another tank?

 

[Sniperhank]

In a container of water and simply submerge it.

 

[Griffin14]

Oh okay. So do you think I should take him out of the tank if he is in fact slowly dying?

 

[Sniperhank]

When a starfish starts to fall apart they usually never recover and would be a good idea. It is strange as chocolate chip stars are quite hardy and though many struggle with air they usually don't...I know people who pull them out of sumps to cut arms off to feed their harlequin shrimp and throw them back in.