Step-by-Step photo guide for treatment of Starfish Necrosis

[zrenegade]

Hi,

This is my first post.

I bought a couple of Red Starfishes from my LFS a few weeks ago. I noticed one starfish had an infection that was on the ends of some of it's arms. I came to know that this was necrosis. It was eating up the arm like gangrene. So I thought to best solution is to amputate .

My Red Starfish



Necrosis of arm (Does not look pretty )




The infection was on 4 it's 6 arms so I cut off the infected parts and remarkably the arms started to grow back. I noticed a few days ago that necrosis was affecting one of arms again so performed the procedure again.

These are treatment steps I took:
Note: I'm not a vet nor an expert and don't claim that all or any of the following steps are the proper procedure for treatment of necrosis.

- Tools
a- Plastic plate.
b- Cutting tool: a sharp knife, blade ... etc (use an alcohol swap to disinfect the tool)
c- Malachite green or Iodine to disinfect the wound
d- cotton buds




Step one:

Fill the plastic plate with aquarium water enough to cover the starfish when you place it in for treatment. (Exposing a Red Starfish to air is detrimental to its health)




Step Two:

Disinfect the infected area with Malachite green or Iodine using the cotton buds. Make sure you don't allow the Malachite green or Iodine to spread to other part of the starfish.




Step Three:

Cut off the infected part. Make sure you have a clean cut a little bit behind the infection. You will need to apply force since the starfish has a calcium skeleton and is not easy to cut.






Step Four:

Disinfect the fresh wound as in above.




Step Five:

Rinse the starfish in new aquarium water and quickly place it back in a safe place in the tank.

That's all.

[Devilishturtles]

You should keep an eye on further necrosis of the starfish. Generally, with the majority of species of starfish, being exposed to air will kill them within a few days. It's not uncommon, unfortanetly.

Welcome to AA...

[melosu58]

I would agree that the contact with the air is lethal. Most starfish not all I understand cannot have contact with air. I would say in about a week you`ll have problems.

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

[roka64]

That is interesting, I'd like to see the end results. It is totally possible your LFS got a bag with air in it, so it might be a losing battle. What species it that?

[melosu58]

See the LA link.

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by zrenegade

Step one:

Fill the plastic plate with aquarium water enough to cover the starfish when you place it in for treatment. (Exposing a Red Starfish to air is detrimental to its health)

I missed this part. Sorry. Let us know how it goes.

[Devilishturtles]

Originally Posted by melosu58

I missed this part. Sorry. Let us know how it goes.

Oops, as did I, sorry.

[zrenegade]

Originally Posted by Devilishturtles

Oops, as did I, sorry.

Apology accepted

The Starfish was underwater all the time during the "Operation" (not very obvious from the pictures since the water is shallow <- small starfish).

The best way is to put the plate in the tank and let it fill with water, push the starfish in then take out the plate with the starfish.

I've done this procedure to this Starfish two weeks ago. You can see the arms growing back in the pictures above.

[roka64]

Originally Posted by zrenegade

I've done this procedure to this Starfish two weeks ago. You can see the arms growing back in the pictures above.

Interesting, maybe we should try to determine the reason this keeps happening. What are your water parameters?
Has copper been used in the tank?
Welcome to AA, by the way!

[Devilishturtles]

Updated pics?