Sandstar losing limbs

[iluvmyseahorse]

Hello. I'm having trouble with my sandstar. he started with just losing one leg and now he's down to just having one full leg. any ideas? should i separate him and place him by himself in a separate tank?

 

[yote]

Welcome to the site.
We need a little more information to be able to help much.
We need the reading for salinity,ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,temp,PH.How long has the tank been set up?How long have you had the star?

 

[dustin_P74]

if its just losing legs then its a good indication that its dieing, but like yote said we need more info

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

Thanks. I was just on the phone with my service guy. My levels have been normal for a while now. my old service guy had totally screwed me and told me all was good with my tank. i then found out that my ammonia levels were so high, that my water was toxic. anyway, my svc guy said that maybe my chocolate chip star got to it. i've caught my hermit crab and emerald crab picking at its limbs. he suggest i take it out because its going to die and then that will mess up my water.

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

my tank background. im a first timer. i bought my tank and fish from a certain store by LAX. after two weeks they said my water levels were fine and i could get seahorses. i have two seahorses (joanie and chachi). they've been great. i've also had 3 clown fish, from which two died. i still have one, the baby of the bunch. i've only had the tank since january and right away, they sold me fish and a service contract. i got screwed and it was my fault. i should have done my homework. my new service guy helped and got my water levels back in order and i'm almost done with my treatment (kick-ich). my seahorses survived and seem really happy. my clown (charlie) is the funniest little guy ever. i have one chocolate chip star, one red star, one sandstar, two emerald crabs, a handfull of hermit crabs, two cleaner shrimp, two turbo snails and some pther little snails, of course a filter, heater and skimmer. all i'm missing is my chiller, which i should have in the next coupel weeks.

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site...It sounds like your sand starfish is starving to death, they require a large mature tank with a decent amount of sand to stay healty...Sounds like you added too much livestock to the tank too soon, not unless you used live sand and lots of cured live rock to start the tank off. Good luck with the seahorses living with the clownfish...the other two died from either them fighting each other and killing each other off, or high levels of toxins...just a little advise...and again, welcome to the hobby.

 

[Bifferwine]

I concur with Smitty. Sand sifting stars rarely survive for more than a month or two in small tanks like yours, and new tanks like yours. Small and new is a double whammy. It's definitely dieing if it's down to one leg. Probably best to take what's left out of the tank and humanely euthanize it in a cup of vodka or other strong alcohol. And I'd not recommend replacing it with another sand sifting star -- their survival rates are so poor in tanks such as yours.

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

Thank you. I do have live sand and you are probably right about the livestock. i trusted my old svc guy and i've paid for it the hard way by losing two of my little ones. I lost two clown fish (bruce and dude) to either body slime or velvet. I lost bruce first and then my old svc guy brought me another one. He told me that Bruce had slime because i wasnt feeding him enough. so after he died, he brought me a new one (who i named dude). he then got the body slime and died. my last clown (charlie) who i've had from the very beginning had the slime and it went away AFTER i hired a new service company. i had to stop feeding the fish because my water was toxic. my new guy told me it could have been velvet but it's all gone now. he said the damage to my sandstar, if it is due to the toxins, is probably too late to fix. he keeps digging himself into the sand which is good, but every 4-5 days he seems to lose a bit more off his legs. at this time i dont know it to let it try to survive or just take it out.

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

really? that is so sad. do you think i have to worry about my chocolate chip or red star? the little fat choc turd moves around like there's no tomorrow.

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

by the way, i appreciate everyone's help.

 

[dustin_P74]

fish dont get parasites from not being fed enough food. what probably happened was they were already infected before going into your tank but the stress of the move made it take over.

 

[yote]

Or the stress of 3 clowns in a 55 gallon tank.
I'd also bet that they sold you fish before the tank even cycled.
Go ahead and pull the SS star and give it a vodka bath.Dont make it suffer any more.

 

[dustin_P74]

Or the stress of 3 clowns in a 55 gallon tank.
I'd also bet that they sold you fish before the tank even cycled.
Go ahead and pull the SS star and give it a vodka bath.Dont make it suffer any more.

i think he meant three clowns total, not all at one time

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

that's horrible. i had two clown in there at a time. then i was down to one. then he brought me another one. then the new one died. they did sell me fish before the tank cycled. i only had the tank two weeks and they showed up with their "testers" and fish. i'm so lucky (knock on wood) that my two seahorses didn't die. i will pull my little ss and send it to the wet heavens. poor guy.i feel horrible. thank you guys very much

 

[Bifferwine]

Good luck :(

If you have had poor water quality recently, it's better not to chance letting the star completely die in the tank. For now, just stick with what you have for the next couple months. If all goes well, then you can think about adding more animals, but it seems you are very well aware that you were misled in the first place. It will take time for all the bad-ness in your tank to chill out.

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

thank you.

that's exactly what i intend to do. i don't want to harm or lose anymore of my "kids".

you have a huge tank. thanks for all your advise.

 

[Smitty]

If you have already had a cycle, the other stars should be fine...they eat everything else(algae, seaweed, freeze-dried krill/plankton/shrimp, etc).

 

[WarmSoda]

thank you.

that's exactly what i intend to do. i don't want to harm or lose anymore of my "kids".

you have a huge tank. thanks for all your advise.

I'm sorry to hear about your losses and your trouble with your star. It's good to hear that you care enough about your animals to come for help. (well, come to the right people,at least)

If I've learned one thing in this hobby about Local Fish Store owners, it's that they are first and foremost... Businessmen. This of coarse doesn't mean that all LFS workers fall under that category but after hearing victims of many scams, it's always nice to come to place where you have friends that are unbiased.

When it comes to this hobby, it also pays to do AND learn things yourself, so you always know what is happening in your tank and you don't have to rely on someone else for knowledge when something awful start to happen.

I wish you the best of luck and hope to hear from you soon.

 

[iluvmyseahorse]

Thanks you. The new store i go to has been a blessing. Unfortunately my sand star is no longer with us. I went two days ago and took a water sample. My water just has one little problem, but it is because of the kick-ich that i have been treating it with. After the last treatment, i'll wait about 3 days and have a water change. that'll bring my tank up to normal. joanie, chachi and charlie are doing great and i plan to keep it that way. now, if i could onyl get rid of bruno (mean, mean emerald crab).