Sea Star is stuck

[startfreak]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a sea star to add to my FOWLR tank. For two days now, he has been hiding in one of the holes in my live rock. The problem is that it is so far in the hole that I cannot feed him. How do I intice it to ge out of the rock so that it can get some food. I tried today using a syringe that had brine shrimp and tried to feed it into the hole. The food pretty much came out of the hole and the rest of our fish had a second meal. Any suggestions of what I can do? I don't want to pry it out for fear of snapping off one of its appendages. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

 

[sadielynn]

What kind of starfish is it ?
I personally would just watch to make sure he doesnt deteriorate they tend to be able to get in and out of small spaces on their own... if you are worried about that you could always remove the rock to a tub with some tank water covering it compleatly and slowly with needle nose pliars break away some of the lr being careful not to damage the star ........Keep in mind when they get in these spots they may be eating "natural " food , and picking could make the situation more critical than it was. What size is your tank sea stars usually dont do well in small tanks . Hope this helps good luck

 

[skipm]

I think that he will come out whenever he's ready to eat. You may wait until the lights are off and then try to bait him out with some food. I think they move alot more at night. By the way :welcome to nanotank! Skip

 

[startfreak]

I have a blue linckia sea star in a 30 gallon FOWLR tank. Not exacly a nano tank. The sea star is so far in the rock that I cannot see it anymore. How long should I wait for him to come out before I should try to break away the LR a bit?

Thanks for the warm welcome

 

[sadielynn]

Blue linkia stars will get to big for a 30 gallon tank , sorry to break the news . I would wait a few days to see if he feels safe enough to venture out . By the way welcome to nanotank

 

[incysor]

Linkias tend to be pretty delicate, and they require a long careful acclimation to survive. On top of that like sadie mentioned they're not really suitable for a 30g tank. That said, it will eat if it's healthy when it's ready. It's very possible that it's trying to hide because it's stressed out from being transferred from one tank to another, different salinity, ph, calicium, lighting, temp, current, etc... can make it want to hide. Pulling it out of the rocks isn't going to help it, and will probably simply stress it out further. Leave it alone, if it comes out you can try feeding it. If it starts coming out, you should start looking for a new home for it. It'll slowly starve in that tank without daily feedings, and it might even with them.

Here's a link for more info on them. There's a lot of related links on the page as well.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/linckiafaqs.htm

Good luck, and welcome to the site.

Sorry to sound like a doomsayer.

B

 

[JeffDubya]

Now keep in mind that I am the noob enthusiast around here, but I am also an experienced diver, and I have observed seastars for years in their natural environments.

I can't say why this guy has put himself in the hole, but trust me, he isn't stuck. When he's ready to come out, he will. Then again, keep an eye on him because if he does die, he could foul your tank.

The one thing you will do if you attempt to remove him is injure him. And that's about it. Short of boiling that rock, you will NOT get him out.

Just my 2 cents.