Star fish

craigwmiller · #8 12-22-2013, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogesue

I went to Big Als. I bought two there. I put them into my tank and they were dead within hours. I took them back with a sample of water. They blamed my water conditions, which is nonsense as everything in my tank is flourishing. He said my Salinity was 1.028/29, I had a swing arm, which I have had no problem with. I went and bought a refractometer, and tested again. It tested at 1.026 which I am happy with. If there was a problem surely my corals would not open?I did get a credit for one of them, but still lost 15 bucks! I know there is no guarantee with live stock, but come on a couple hours!!! I have been to other stores and spoke to them and shown them pics of my tank and they have said it is beautiful, so rather than lose a customer, with wouldn't they just refund the 30 Dollars! Just a thought.

What was your acclimation method, and did you expose them to the air?

Starfish (Sea Stars) are very tricky, I have lost 1 due to bad acclimation but I have 5 now which I've had for many many months (Blue Linckia, Fromia, Brittle, 2x Sand-sifting).

Best technique I've heard (and used successfully) is to float them first for about 20 minutes. Then open the bag and drip them SLOWLY for about 2 hours. Initially compare the salinity difference between your water and the bagged water (say 35ppt in your tank -vs- 33ppt in the bag). The larger the difference, the longer you need to take for a starfish to become acclimated (and the slower the drip). I wouldn't recommend dripping for less than 90 minutes for a star, regardless the salinity delta.

As you are dripping, gradually pull water out of the bag (I use a baster), so that by the end of the process the bag mostly has your tank water in it. (say if the bag came with ~ 500ml of water in it, you would drip 2L, and the bag would end up with ~750ml of water in it (since you remove some water often)).

Then when you transfer it to your tank, don't let it touch the air (especially the star's bottom... if it gets air trapped inside, it's done for).