Unresolved Brittle star.. Legs falling off ...Not my week with the fishys

get some food set stick him directly on top of it.

 

+ 1.

Classic sign of a starving sandsifter.

They should only go in large ( 100+ ) established systems. I really wish they would stop selling this starfish or at least inform customers of it's requirements. It is not a solution to keeping a cleaned stirred sandbed.

 

I was given him when I bought my 220 gallon used on CL. Plus a few damsels I didn't want, Didn't really have much of a choice. Or the guy said he would flush them.... ( he should be allowed anything live) I thought he would be okay in the tank until he could be moved.

I called around to see if any lfs would take him and got the same story of the fishing laws are strict in fl and they have to account for every fish they have so they can't take them.

He is in the sand not on the glass, I moved him to the glass to get the photo. I put food under him and he's going after it. And still moving around

My only other real option is putting him in the ocean, which I'm sure Is a terrible idea.

I thought the caribsea sand was good?

 

Of you don't mind me asking, where do you live in Florida? I used to live in naples and had a great LFS that would take anything. They'd take a fish with ich and nurse it for me, even with the risk. At no cost, too.

 

Hey i have waves if electricty going through my tank too. How did you ground your fish tank? Im very interested in how.

 

It's done by something called a grounding probe (I think) one end plugs into the wall outlet, and the other is a small metal rod that suction cups to the inside of your fish tank. What it does is releases electric waves that are absorbed by lights and filter. And in turn, it absorbs waves from the lights and filter. It's sort of a trading. After my starfish died of shock, I bought the grounding probe, and now everything has been stress free, shock wise. I've been using it for the last 3 years. Great investment.

 

That is definitely a sign of starved sand sifting star. Unfortunately he is done for and will get worse.
Do onot get another, they are one of the worst things you can put in an aquarium. Many people mistakenly think they are detritus eaters but they normally only eat live critters from the sandbed then starve.
I made that mistake about 5 years ago and my sandbed has never looked the same since. It used to be crawling with spaghetti worms, pods, mini brittle stars and lots of baby nassarius snails but today its still sparse in comparison.

 

I'm in south Florida, and no one I have called would take him I've called all of the stores within like 40 miles of me. I'm not entirely thrilled with any of my lfs around here. I've only had him like 6 days I never wanted him but the dummy I bought my 220 told me he was flushing him the 2 damsels and the foxface.

How do you check for electricity in the tank?

 

I knew when my starfish dropped his legs. There's no actual test for it. And if you do live near Naples (SW Florida), there's a place called Fish Central.

 

I don't know much about them, but if I remember correct I was told they will benefit from a slightly higher salinity, but I could be completely wrong about that.