please help my starfish

[michelle]

I have an small orange starfish, I think it is a fromia. Anyway, I had noticed last night it was dangerously close to my carpet anemone a couple of times and I had to move it. This morning when i saw him pieces of his flesh is hanging off. What do I do?
Thanks

[dustin_P74]

take out the starfish

[michelle]

Originally Posted by dustin_P74

take out the starfish

I put him in a QT tank...but what do I do to help it heal? or is it a lost cause?

[dustin_P74]

starfish are pretty good at recovering on their own

[hibye]

Do you have any hermits or crabs that could be eating it?

[michelle]

I do have small hermits, but I really think it was the anemone...although I did see my bicolor blenny biting at it the other day, but the starfish was on top of the blennies little home

[hibye]

I would take out the hermits anyways and get more snails.

[dustin_P74]

easier said then done hibye

[daugherty]

i dont t hink the hermits would eat the star unless it was already dieing. just git it by itsself it may recover but their may be some other underlying prob.

[Bifferwine]

Daugherty is right, snails and hermits won't attack and kill a healthy starfish. If it's already dying and has flesh hanging off, then yes, that's their job to clean that sort of thing up.

Like others have said, starfish are usually good at regenerating lost body parts. However, I've had a starfish die, and it just slowly rotted away until it had no legs and was just a bouncing stump of a body (it was still alive). Quarantining it is your best bet, but there isn't anything you can do to help it recover. I also agree with Daugherty that the anemone may not have been the reason for it getting sick, it's hard to tell. Maybe, maybe not. Good luck.