Sick Sea Star

[dolphineducator]

Aloha, We have a spotted linckia in a 30 gallon tank. We have had him for over a year. Just yesterday he started to look sick. He is all droopy off a rock. On top of his body he has a section that looks like the skin is flaking off. Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong with him? Is there anything I can do? We feed him invertamin. Any help would be great. Mahalo, Lia

 

[steve-s]

Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com

Aloha,

The star sounds like it's not getting enough nutrient. The vitamin you are adding is not really going to help much (if at all). The small size of the tank really cannot keep up with the stars natural food source. Primarily film algae. It is not really recommended to keep a star in much less than a 100 gal/ LR loaded tank for that reason. They will do fine for about 6-18 months and then simpley diminish. They actually begin to shrink in size.

My best recommendation is to try suppliment the available foods with sinking marine pellets and nori in hopes it may stumble across them and eat them. Chances are it won't though, they rarely do. The only other suggestion is find it a new home that is better equiped to support it until you can upgrade and the newer larger tank has matured enough to sustain it better.

Sorry!

Cheers
Steve

 

[dolphineducator]

Thanks for your reply! We are going to put new live rocks in the tank and in hope that he will start to eat. We are working on getting a bigger tank. Do you recommend a certain kind of invertebrate food? Mahalo, Lia

 

[steve-s]

Do you recommend a certain kind of invertebrate food?

None actually. This is not the type of star you can effectively "target feed" like more carnivorous stars might be. It does not "hunt" in any real sense. They more or less stumble across foods as I said, primarily film algae. The added rock will help add new biodiversity and possible prolong the star temporarily (somethings better than nothing though ).

If you placed some shrimp or veggie pellets on the substrate right beside or underneath the star, even money says it keeps on moving. It's still worth a try though. As far as what brand, I personally use Kent pellets. Others might share their preferences.

Cheers
Steve