Help! Star fish dead

[Lizbeth90]

I was wondering why my hammer and frogspawn corals were not opening. I was beginning to worry so I assumed maybe it was the flow but then I second questioned it because they had been there for a while and were fully extended. Long story short, I started moving things around and found my star fish disintegrating on the sand bed. Totally my fault I had seen him yesterday there when I was doing a water change. I was going to check on him but got so distracted since a have a 2 year old and completely forgot about him. I used up all my salt yesterday when I did a water change. I have not tested the water but I am sure it’s not good. How bad is it? When a star fish starts to disintegrate. Is it that same or near the same as an anemone? I’m super nervous. 

[WV Reefer]

5 minutes ago, Lizbeth90 said:

I was wondering why my hammer and frogspawn corals were not opening. I was beginning to worry so I assumed maybe it was the flow but then I second questioned it because they had been there for a while and were fully extended. Long story short, I started moving things around and found my star fish disintegrating on the sand bed. Totally my fault I had seen him yesterday there when I was doing a water change. I was going to check on him but got so distracted since a have a 2 year old and completely forgot about him. I used up all my salt yesterday when I did a water change. I have not tested the water but I am sure it’s not good. How bad is it? When a star fish starts to disintegrate. Is it that same or near the same as an anemone? I’m super nervous. 

I let mine rot away in my tank with no issues when it was chopped by an MP 40. 

[Tamberav]

What kind of starfish?

 

Most starfish do not belong in nano tanks and will starve. 

[Lizbeth90]

24 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

What kind of starfish?

 

Most starfish do not belong in nano tanks and will starve. 

Yes, I’ve read into it after the purchase unfortunately. Not sure what kind it was but the color was pinkish/red 

[Tamberav]

5 minutes ago, Lizbeth90 said:

Yes, I’ve read into it after the purchase unfortunately. Not sure what kind it was but the color was pinkish/red 

 

Probably a fromia/linkia in which case it was doomed. A serpent star looks a lot different and are hardy so unlikely one of those.

 

Ocean is a huge place and pretty much got to research everything. Some starfish are even fish eaters but sold as reef safe. If you don't see it commonly in peoples tanks here, its probably not appropriate for some reason or another.

 

Do you have prime? That is what I would use in this case. Your corals should recover, the problem is most likely a starfish is a decent sized animal to be rotting in a small amount of water.

[Lizbeth90]

7 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

 

Probably a fromia/linkia in which case it was doomed. A serpent star looks a lot different and are hardy so unlikely one of those.

 

Ocean is a huge place and pretty much got to research everything. Some starfish are even fish eaters but sold as reef safe. If you don't see it commonly in peoples tanks here, its probably not appropriate for some reason or another.

 

Do you have prime? That is what I would use in this case. Your corals should recover, the problem is most likely a starfish is a decent sized animal to be rotting in a small amount of water.

I do have prime. How much of that should I add ? I found a picture of the star fish

[Tamberav]

That is a fromia. It is too bad they are hard to keep as they are beautiful.

 

It should have directions, its impossible to overdose unless you add the whole bottle so you can go a bit heavier on it.

[Clown79]

Seachem directions are on the  back of the bottle

 

 

[Lizbeth90]

So last night I check my water parameters. They all seemed fine except for nitrates that were at 5ppm. 0 ammonia 0 nitrites. Calcium 480 alk 8 phosphates at .02. Any clue why my hammer won’t be opening up? I plan to do a small water change when my salt gets here.

[Tamberav]

It's possible there was a small spike in ammonia and since the tank is established it has already corrected itself by the time you tested. 

[OPtasia]

The Euphyllia is pissed off, which is why it's not opening up. Corals do that. No big deal if it's otherwise healthy.

 

If you haven't scooped out the dead starfish yet, please do so. Use a red solo cup to scoop it gently up.

 

It wouldn't hurt to do a water change just in case there's something in the water that's irritating the other inverts in the tank. 

[Lizbeth90]

1 hour ago, OPtasia said:

The Euphyllia is pissed off, which is why it's not opening up. Corals do that. No big deal if it's otherwise healthy.

 

If you haven't scooped out the dead starfish yet, please do so. Use a red solo cup to scoop it gently up.

 

It wouldn't hurt to do a water change just in case there's something in the water that's irritating the other inverts in the tank. 

I sure will not sure what’s going on with my tank I’m so disappointed. Everything is reading like what it’s suppose to 

Just tested again and my temp is 78, 

ammonia 0 

nitrite 0 

nitrates 0 

phosphates now reads .09 yesterday it was 0.02.

Calcium 480

alk 8 

my calibrated my refractometer and my salinity is on the lower side 1.22 could that be the problem? Could two days be enough to kill my coral with that salitny? Other than that everything else looks like the readings I see everyone else has. Ugh I’m so so disappointed I can’t keep anything alive. Maybe there’s some toxins or something in the water after the starfish died idk I wish I knew I can’t even do a water change because I have no salt! 

[OPtasia]

12 minutes ago, Lizbeth90 said:

I sure will not sure what’s going on with my tank I’m so disappointed. Everything is reading like what it’s suppose to 

Just tested again and my temp is 78, 

ammonia 0 

nitrite 0 

nitrates 0 

phosphates now reads .09 yesterday it was 0.02.

Calcium 480

alk 8 

my calibrated my refractometer and my salinity is on the lower side 1.22 could that be the problem? Could two days be enough to kill my coral with that salitny? Other than that everything else looks like the readings I see everyone else has. Ugh I’m so so disappointed I can’t keep anything alive. Maybe there’s some toxins or something in the water after the starfish died idk I wish I knew I can’t even do a water change because I have no salt! 

I don't think you killed it unless it's showing exposed skeleton. If it's just retracting, that's fairly common and it should recover if your tank parameters are fine and you're keeping it out of high flow and high light. Euphyllia corals prefer low flow and moderate light.

 

Don't be disheartened. This is all a learning process. I don't think the salinity will kill your coral that fast, especially if it's used to the lower salinity level and not a sudden change. Corals like stability within a specific range and a little evaporation is all your tank needs to creep it up to a higher salinity. I wouldn't worry about it, but you can try to evaporate some of the water out of the tank which would leave the remaining water more concentrated (increasing your salinity level). Can you remove the lid on the tank without anything climbing or jumping out? Can you remove the lid and keep the lights over the tank? Can you run a small fan over the tank or the sump? Evaporate that water for a few days until you can get to your LFS for salt mix.

 

The rise in phosphorous might be from the starfish's decomposition. At worst, it'll cause a little algae buildup or bloom someplace in the tank. This can be managed with your clean up crew or with chemical media that passively removes phosphates (GFO, phosguard, etc.).

[Lizbeth90]

25 minutes ago, OPtasia said:

I don't think you killed it unless it's showing exposed skeleton. If it's just retracting, that's fairly common and it should recover if your tank parameters are fine and you're keeping it out of high flow and high light. Euphyllia corals prefer low flow and moderate light.

 

Don't be disheartened. This is all a learning process. I don't think the salinity will kill your coral that fast, especially if it's used to the lower salinity level and not a sudden change. Corals like stability within a specific range and a little evaporation is all your tank needs to creep it up to a higher salinity. I wouldn't worry about it, but you can try to evaporate some of the water out of the tank which would leave the remaining water more concentrated (increasing your salinity level). Can you remove the lid on the tank without anything climbing or jumping out? Can you remove the lid and keep the lights over the tank? Can you run a small fan over the tank or the sump? Evaporate that water for a few days until you can get to your LFS for salt mix.

 

The rise in phosphorous might be from the starfish's decomposition. At worst, it'll cause a little algae buildup or bloom someplace in the tank. This can be managed with your clean up crew or with chemical media that passively removes phosphates (GFO, phosguard, etc.).

Yes I will keep the lid off, hopefully I’ll get to do a water change soon