Sea Star lossing it's legs

[karlseith]

My Red Sea Star, Fromia milleporella I think, has been losing his legs since I put him in my 40g seahorse/invert tank. I have seen sea stars legs deteriorate like his and then grow back after a little while, but his are not growing back. It started with 1 leg then 2 and now 3. None of the legs are completely gone, their just nubs now. There is plenty of live rock and food to go around. I have two brittle stars in the same tank and they are not having any trouble. What causes this in sea stars, and what can I do?? pH 8.4, alk 0, nitrite 0, nitrate undetectable.
Thanks,
Karl

 

[roka64]

How did you acclimante him?

 

[melosu58]

I second the question that roka64 asked . They are very sensitive to improper acclimation.

 

[karlseith]

He was drip aclimated for around 3 hours. All said and done it equaled out to a 5g WC for the tank.

 

[Marc118]

Any crabs in the tank? Any white spots prior to missing a leg?

 

[karlseith]

I have plans to make this a reef tank in the near future so there are plenty of red and blue leg hermits, 2 emerald crabs, some snails, 2 brittle stars, and a pin cushion urchin, then one lone seahorse(soon to be 3 pairs total).

 

[Fluff]

These stars are sensitive to water quality as well as acclimation. Since it sounds like acclimation isn't the problem, perhaps look into your water quality or chemical fluxuations from water changes or other? Serpent and brittles are much more tolerant of these changes. Also, was it exposed to air? This could be a factor as well.

 

[karlseith]

During transportation from the LFS to this tank he more than likely was exposed to air for a short while. Could air adversely affect him?

 

[melosu58]

Certain Stars, yes air exposure can harm them. Check out handling instructions for stars on liveaquaria.com

 

[karlseith]

What can be done? Will he die? All but one leg is affected so far. What really confuses me is if that is the case why does he crawl up to the top of the tank sometimes and expose parts of his body to the open air?

 

[melosu58]

Karl read this if you have not already.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=578