Sick Star Fish - Help

[cybrchic]

Hi there,

Its been a while since I have posted and I am hoping you all can help.

I have a very sick star fish. I have had this star for over 12 months now and it was doing awesome. Very active and just beautiful. But since about 1 week ago, it just stopped moving. It doesn't bury itself anymore and it is just not moving at all. I turned it over and can see the little feet move so I know its still alive. I want to see if I can help it. I have moved him to the refugium tank for now.

I also have no idea what kind of star fish it is! Here are 2 pics of it when it was healthy. I bought it online as a Purple and Orange beaded sand shifting star. But i have never seen these and would like to get another one as well - hence I need the name and where I could find one.

Thanks ya'll.

 

[Anonymous]

How big is your aquarium? My first thought is that these are often said to run out of food mid to long term in our aquaria. Moving it to the refugium might help, particularly if there's a sand bed in there, but it will slowly start to exhaust that supply of food as well.

I've never owned a SSS myself, so I'm not sure about remedies. One idea might be to try and recharge your sand bed with a big handful of rich, diverse sandbed from a friend or local LFS and return the sea star to the main tank a little while later.

On the other hand, it might be something completely different...

 

[cybrchic]

My Tank is 175 Gal. the refuium is 55 gals...

I put the star fish in the refugium so that I could easily get to him if needed. Any idea what kind of Star it is?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, it wouldn't surprise me if it's now exhausted the sand bed in a tank that size (I assume it's a DSB - is that right?).

Unfortunately I'm no expert on IDs for sea stars. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[Ben1]

I believe the common name for those is Beaded starfish but I am not sure on a scienfic name.

 

[cybrchic]

Ok- so I found out what kind it is.

Its a Astropecten articulatus also known as a Marginated Star Fish and apparently they are very common on the east coast, especially in Fla. Go figure and I live in Miami.

Now i have to figure out who sales them!

Thanks.

 

[Ben1]

reefscavengers.com sells them everynow and then