White Sand Star - Bad or Strang signs

[cwatkins]

I've noticed one arm of my sand sifting star is either disentegrating or being eaten. And another arm looks like it's lost a bit. Could this be a sign of death (lack of food in the sand bed) ?

Some poor quality images attached.

Is there anything I can do?

Parameters were good last time I checked, due for a w/c this weekend. Water is already warming up in a tub.

The only new things are an angle, damsel and a new Rowaphos reactor.

Cheers.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

How new & big is the sand bed? Could be slowly starving to death.

[gobytron]

likely starving...

I had the unfortunate experience of keeping a small red starfish for almost a year before it started to go through a process as you have described.

arm by arm, it just disintegrated.

I found out after the fact that the starfish was primarily a sponge eater and it had only taken it the year to eat all that my system had to offer.

[KeMo]

Is their anything in the tank that would be eating him ?
What about your water parameters?
Stars start to fall apart usually when they are dieing . Does not sound good :cry:
I would check water parameters. If their in nothing in the tank eating him and your water is good then it looks like he might not make it.
:cry:

[naesco]

Your white sand star was doomed the minute it was removed from the ocean. It very quickly ate all the good stuff in your sandbed and there is nothing left for it an the others critters that depend on the little critters in the sand.
Carefully remove the star and return it to the LFS you bought it from and get a credit and politely let them know that they should not be importing critters that have very litte chance of success in reefers tanks.

[gobytron]

or just keep trading them in as they die...

[ElGuappo]

I have kept the Same sand sifting star for 3 years plus! It hasn't grown much but it's healthy! It's been stuck in my vortex twice and has come back both times! I have a min of 2 inches of sand and it was well seeded before the star was introduced!

[gobytron]

but really, what can you expect from a guy whos avatar is a tang wearing a police cap...lol

[cwatkins]

Your white sand star was doomed the minute it was removed from the ocean. It very quickly ate all the good stuff in your sandbed and there is nothing left for it an the others critters that depend on the little critters in the sand.
Carefully remove the star and return it to the LFS you bought it from and get a credit and politely let them know that they should not be importing critters that have very litte chance of success in reefers tanks.

Naesco, were you in the mood for some trolling ?

I've had this sand star for a year and he's been fine up until now. I've recently added 5 Tonga Nassarius snails. It's a 90G so I find it hard to believe that they're out-competing with the sand star.

Should I move either the star to the DSB in the sump or should I move some snails down there. It wouldn't hurt to have some life down there. The DSB is only two months old, so would it be populated with enough life yet for these guys to survive?

Thanks.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I've had a sand star in my 210g for over 3 years no problem. I added it after a few months of the tank being set up, to give the sandbed time to collect stuff for it to eat.

[whatcaneyedo]

Mine starved to death after about a year in my 120gal with a 1-2" sandbed in the same way that you're describing. So did a blue linka starfish so I wont be buying anymore. The only ones I've seen in person to live long are the two or three that a friend has had in his 500gal for the past three years.