Fromia Magnifica died
 

My orange Fromia magnifica started to fall apart yesterday, what a mess, my skimmer is still foaming huge. It was on the back wall of the tank in direct flow of a powerhead when I noticed it. Quickly took it out, it looked like the flesh was just falling off of it. Any ideas as to why?

They're pretty sensitive to changes in salinity. Have you done a water change lately and perhaps been off with the salinity?? Or had any salinity swings in your tank?

I've never had much luck with them either. The fromias are usually easier to keep than the linkias though. Somtimes you just look at them funny and they croak :confused:

As mentioned, they're -incredibly- sensitive to changes in salinity, it's usually recommended they be drip acclimated over a period of several hours, even as much as 12 to 24 hours I think I've seen recommended.

But the other problem with non-predatory stars is that it just seems to be a complete crapshoot as to what they actually eat. Either they will find something to subsist on in your tank, or they will eventually starve and die. The success rate seems to be rather poor unfortunately, for every one that "makes" it, there must be ten that don't. (I don't know the actual statistics, but that's what I've heard. Unfortunately my own experience with stars seems to be consistent with that claim.)

It seems to me the only way to pad the odds in your favour is to put them into a large system with fair amount of rock, and hope that there's enough biodiversity in the system that there's something they can adapt to. But even then ..... obviously not a guarantee.

How long did you have your fromia for Danny..??

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I've had it for about 2 months. It never moved around much, it would stay in the same spot for days at a time. The only real drastic thing I've done with the tank lately is change to Kalk drippng from liquid suppliments in an effort to raise my calcium. I've tried to keep the drips slow to prevent ph spikes but they did occure. Are they sensitive to changes in ph? None of the other inhabitants were effected by it. Perhaps it was a dud from the start. :confused:

Well if it never moved around much, I'd say it had issues from the beginning :neutral:

FWIW, I have a orange sea star... not hard to keep I know. But sometimes mine will idle in one spot for a while as well.. although mine is still active, some days it appears to just be lazy, and stays in one spot!

Like I said, FWIW.

Scott

I have had 2 Fromia Milleporella stars in my reef for about 2 months now and they are constantly cruising the rock structure and glass. If yours hasn't moved much since you put it in the tank id say there was something a miss from the start as well.


BTW... Ive never seen a Fromia Magnifica, do you have any pics of it from before??

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I can hunt through my pics for one to post here later. It was orange with black markings. The orange was a deeper orange than lankia.

I have a fromia milleporella and when it was first introduced to my reef it did not move very much for the first week. Now he rips around everywhere. Here is 2 pictures. (New camera just had to try).




http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/.../IMG_09982.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y4/.../IMG_08482.jpg

Thats a Fromia milleporella. Same as mine.

Great pics! :biggrin:

mine too
 

Danny
interesting you mentioned it... mine did the exact same thing. Just started to "shred" its tissues and its now dying. gonna take it out before it disappears. no reason that i can think of

As well as being SUPER sensitive to salinity, they also require good Calcium levels as they form calcium bridges to move and protect themselves... hence when you touch one they go from being tissue like to rock like in a second... (this is my understanding from reading) .... I have one and he's all over the place... I also have 3 blue linckia's that go everywhere as well... so far so good... (touch wood) The recommended drip time IS 12 hours + which I have done with ALL my echinoderms, and to date I have yet to lose one, (save for the sand star I forgot was in the DSB that I mashed to bits when I was moving tanks.. - funny part is one of the sections has now regenerated and almost as big as the original)

All in all my experiences have been good once properly acclimated.

My star has been around for over a year. It doesn't move around too much but instead prefers to stay on the centre of the front glass with only the middle finger up. Not sure what its trying to tell me. I try my best to ignore it but I can see its mirror image on the tv screen aswell.

:rofl:

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Thanks for all your help everyone, I think next time I'll try a blue linckia or something different. BTW, this pics above is similar to the magnifica only that there are stripes instead of spots.

Linkias are less hardy than Fromia stars from what I hear. Also, from what I understand, the red Linkia are hardier than the blue...

Did it look like this Danny?


http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibr...185318AA_1.jpg

That is one cool lookin' starfish!!!

How come starfish like the ones being mentioned are so hard to keep? Such simple creatures (seem to be anyways..) I suppose they just cannot tolerate any changes in the aquarium ?

Well ... that (the sensitivity to changes), and, the fact that nobody really knows what they eat. Every article I've ever read about stars makes mention that it's essentially a mystery. So either they adapt to what's already in our aquariums (if they're lucky, that is), or, they eventually starve. It could take months for them to succumb, so it can seem that they're doing OK but then suddenly one day, they're mysteriously gone.

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Thats the one Muck. :cool: