Help! Is my linkia starfish dieing?

today i noticed my orange linkia had some stringy stuff coming out of the front and back of it? ive heard before now stringy stuff is bad news can anyone help or shed some light on the situation?? isit dieing? :-[

Sean

 

What are your parameters?

 

how long have you had it? What is your salinity and other parameters. I know they are very very susiptible to salinity changes etc.

that almost looks like some kind of parasite coming from the front? I am not sure what is going on with it though....If it was just from the underside I would say it is loosing its guts but it has a worm like looking thing on the front?

When mine died I woke up to a leg gone and very slimy stringy things coming from it. It progressed rather quickly

good luck

 

It looks like it is dying. I have talked to people that have described what is happening to yours(stringy stuff) right before dying. I don't think it is too late though. Just as schackmel said salinity changes are very bad for this starfish. Also nitrates need to be low and all other parameters need to be solid. How long have you had this starfish and how did you acclimate?

 

Linkia stars are hard to keep from what I hear, since nobody really knows for sure what their diet consists of. I know folks that have never had a problem with them and a couple that just cannot keep them.

How established is the tank? How long have you had it?

They should be considered a difficult care item though. I hope it pulls through. Good luck

 

I've kept my linkia's for years, at the first sign of trouble I stuck my orange in my refugium and within weeks it was back to normal. I moved it back to the main after it healed up and now it's doing great. That is the first time I have ever heard of a linkia recovering.

Both linkias have been thru tank upgrades, going from a 2year old tank to a 2 week old tank with no problems....except the above mentioned with the orange.

 

It's fine. See all of the tube feet sticking out on all of it's legs. That's always a good sign. There is nothing dissolving on any of it's legs either. This is caused by high Nitrates and/or a major salinity swing.

It just got finished eating something. No, that is not poo, that is it's stomach. They pop their stomach out of their body to digest their food, then they pull their stomach back in. (Kind of like the mesenterial filaments in corals).

 

I have never seen a stomach like that before. Do linkia's stomachs look different then other starfish?(stringy) And why would it be coming out of the top and bottom?

 

the tanks been going for about 3-4months now theres around 110kg of live rock in salinity is 1.025 all other parametres are normal as far as i know i last tested 2 days ago and it all seemed fine and dandy, the stringy bits disappeared earlier then re appeared but it looked like two little pieces of my subsrate were either inside it or stuck to it?, in the picture most of its suckers had gone it because i picked it up, before this it was stuck too the glass all the suckers were out i was just worried about the stringy stuff, i did go back to the shop were i got it after a week of having and mentioned to him id read up and i dont think it will survive in my tank, he told me to take sum dried seaweed and try feed it that (he gave me the seaweed free) but it doesnt seem to want it, i was told be the lfs it would be fine in my tank

Sean

 

update, the starfish is still alive the stringy bits have gone hes still sticking too the glass??

Sean