Yellow Serpent Starfish Dying or not?

[vrod2169]

Well I have two serpent starfish one red and the other yellow. They are both about 14 years old and have been great. The yellow one I noticed a few weeks ago look like it was sliced open by one of the arms and the inside was visible. Today I woke up to find one of the arms completely off! It was still moving so I left it in but now noticed it is not. I'm assuming I should remove but what are the chances that the starfish itself will heal or is this the beginning of the end?

 

[Bifferwine]

They tend to die by falling apart like that. If it's just the arm that is damaged and missing, it still has a chance. But if its guts start coming out of its disc, then it's over.

 

[vrod2169]

I'll keep an eye of him and see if he will take some food. Maybe I'll get lucky but 14 years I figured it was going to be time eventually.