bloated starfish? What do I do?

[michika]

I found my Indonesian Red Starfish a bloated little puffball this afternoon. I immediatly moved him over to my QT (with aclim.), but no change.

Anyone ever seen anything like this? http://www.canreef.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1387
What do I do?

All my parameters are good, the only big changes that have happened in the last while, is the addition of a Acro. frag, and a LemonPeel Angel.

Any suggestions, theories very welcome!

[jess128]

Theories? Umm... he ate too much? That looks really weird. Try posting about it on Reef Central, you might get more of a response.

[michika]

I'll have to try that...

Can starfish actually bloat themselves by eating too much?

[AJ_77]

Bloating by over-eating? That would be something...

How long have you had it? Did it acclimate well/has it been healthy up until now?

[michika]

I've had it for two months, and I haven't seen anything happen to it.

I just don't see how it could overeat and bloat in three hours. I'm just so confused and unsure of what to do for it.

Its started to deflate, but it still puffy around its disk. I'm concerned about putting it back into my display tank at this time because right now it is QT by itself in a very very empty container (e.g. the starfish, an airstone, and a thermometer). I have other things in my QT tank at this time so I'm not willing to put the starfish in with $200 worth of fish...

Ideas on what to do?

[christyf5]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/stardisfaq3.htm

They mention something about bloated starfish in the first post. Any relevance??

I also found this information on another website:

Sea stars are dioecious (separate males and females) and have a complex life history. Huge quantities of gonads (eggs and sperm) develop inside the arms and gravid sea stars seem bloated and soft.
The gonads are shed directly into the water and are fertilized externally by chance. Spawning only occurs once a year, in spring, and all males and females in an area shed their eggs and sperm at the same time

http://www.biomescenter.com/northernseastar_learn.htm

Hope this helps :biggrin:

Christy :)

[michika]

You totally rock!

Its possible and I think you hit it bang on...the starfish is deflated now and I'm still going to see on if I'm going to release it back into the display tank.

[danny zubot]

So does this mean we'll have a local breeder of these sea stars soon? :razz:

[michika]

maybe... if they did breed I'd trade 3 for 1 frag, or just give them away like bad candy!

I released the starfish back into my display tank, but I put the water it was in in the QT tank and I'm going to see what happens...