Starfish losing its legs

[Cunningham]

Hey my friend has a starfish and he's had it for over a year now with no problems and now it's starting to lose it legs so my buddy put it in the quarantine tank and he picked it up and more leg fell off about a quarter inch at a time is Falling off
Can someone please help us out ?

 

[mr_X]

it's dying. there's nothing you can do. what changed in the tank before this started happening?

 

[Cunningham]

Yes it died last night cuz he just txt messaged me and said it died
Nothing has changed in his tank it's bin running for over a year now so it doesn't make sense.
We were thinking maybe it's a trace element or something that's low
Cuz he tested his nitrate nitrite ammonia and ph and phosphate and calcium
But that's it and everything was good
Is there something he might be lacking in his tank that would help from this kinda thing happening again?

 

[mr_X]

experts don't know what many of the starfish we purchase and place in our systems eat. some say certain starfish eat bacteria, others say meaty foods, still others say detritus. it's possible that it ate the tank void of whatever it eats, and then starved to death. this could have taken a short time, or a very long time depending on the starfish and the tank.