Sand sifting starfish and green star polyp

[Piercy87]

I have a sand sifting star fish that's loosing his legs and I don't know what to do. I have a 20 gallon tank and all params are good I'm not sure if its starvation being eaten or I changed te rocks around a couple weeks ago and maybe I trapped him under a rock and he lost them to escape. Do you think he will recover or should I donate him to someone with a bigger tank so he could find
More food?

Also I have a green star polyp that was doing amazing and grown on anything it could reach then it just started to open less polyps every day and now there's only 2 polyps open. The Matt is still deep purple I'm not sure to try move it or add something?

My tank is a 20 gallon reef with fish.
Alk- 11.2
Calcium- 500
Mag - 1350
Nitrates-5
Phosphates-0.01
Ph- 8 ( I've never been able to get this higher than 8 for some reason)

 

[h8z2luze]

Do you feed him? Ca is a little high...

 

[Piercy87]

I don't feed him Becase I have a orange spot goby that constantly eats anything that hits the sand so don't really know how to fees him

 

[Piercy87]

Here's some pics

 

[h8z2luze]

Id say its starvation. I dont know about the GSP... How everything else look?

 

[Piercy87]

Everything else is doing well I have a torch coral that has doubled in size in like 2 weeks but they out this brown stringy stuff the other day but has opened up even bigger since. Pulsing Xenia that got to big so I had to take cuttings and sell to lfs and a jasmine polyp that's doing well and growing on the glass. I have some blue stripped mushrooms but they have never really opened up properly not sure if lights to strong or something. I don't know much about mushrooms. This is y first tank and only had it since September.

 

[h8z2luze]

Hmm thats strange. I am having the same issue with zoas right now. They are only half a$$ open most of the time...

 

[54seaweed]

GSP will do better up higher

they like lots of light and high flow

mine looked like that till I moved it up


the star looks like its starving try dropping him a chunk of shrimp
how old is your tank they need a established tank so they can sift for food in sand

 

[Piercy87]

My tanks 5 months old. I will try to move the gsp but it'll be difficult as its attached itself to everything around it. I have 2 sand sifters and the other one looks fine. After doing research online I am we'll annoyed at the fish shop I got them from as they knew the size of my tank and didn't advise me that that tanks to small for one let alone 2. I might donate the other one before he suffers the same fate as the staving one.

 

[h8z2luze]

What lighting do you have?

 

[CleverBs]

I like gsp because they will tell you when something is off in your tank. Sand sifting stars are hard to keep alive because of lack of food.

 

[Piercy87]

Just one 24w twin fluorescent lamp one blue am one white.

 

[h8z2luze]

Id say thats your problem....

 

[Piercy87]

What to low or to much? Is only a 20 gallon tank and everything seems to loving it. I'll try move it up higher and see what happens. My urchin decided to take a cutting for himself and that's doing better than the main gsp.

 

[h8z2luze]

To low. I run a 250W 14,000K MH and my GSP are loving it. Im putting a Sunbrite LED over my 10G.

 

[Piercy87]

It says its 10000 thingy. I just picked up the gsp to move it and so much dirt came off it. So I shook it about for a bit to clean it off and it completely clouded up the tank. Do you think this could have been it. It was just dirty.

 

[h8z2luze]

No. Im pretty positive its lighting.

 

[Godfrey]

How old are your bulbs, you probably have the bare minimum for lighting but your bulbs are losing their potency. I'm pretty sure fluorescents have to be changed out every 6 to 8 months and as for your stars I agree on the starvation. They need a lot to pick thru I ended up having to spot feed mine frozen krill and he still starved

 

[MacDracor]

I don't know why sand sifting stars are still sold. It's practically a death sentence. They get huge and require a vast and deep sand bed. Meanwhile, they destroy everything that makes a sand bed worth having. They eat every beneficial organism in the sand, disturb the aerobic/anaerobic layers, and even in a pretty big tank, they still starve. And usually they are not polite enough to die in a visible place. When they finally go bucket kicking, they do so underground and poison the water by rotting out of sight and out of reach of the cleanup crew. Give them both away, but only to someone with a huge and I mean huge tank.

 

[CleverBs]

ok, let me go over GSP for you, When it doesnt like its location it closes up, when it doesnt like the water flow it closes up, When it doesnt like the paramaters it closes up. IME with gsp and Iv had it in many tanks from large reefs, Fish only displays, and pico reefs. I would say that it does best in intense lighting, high flow, and stable salinity. your lighting is not enough, I know it says online that they dont need much light but honestly this is just not true in most cases. I have one group of just that does alright in the darker area of the tank but it doesnt grow much and its just not that happy. alot of the time if you look at pictures of GSP thats doing really well its growing on rocks or on the glass at the top of the tank. at my LFS they have a coral troff tank that has a return thats right at the top of the water and the GSP coverd it because its about 2" under the water with a large MH over it. however to your point about the detris you got off it that can cause the GSP not to open if its been closed awhile but its not the reason it closed in the first place. I would try giving it more direct light and water flow before upgrading your lighting. move it and dont touch it for 2 days. if its not open in 2 days then try another spot. I would try a few spots before upgrading your light unless you want to anyways. but if it doesnt get enough light it will start dying off if it stays closed to long.