[scubadude]

I do hope you know that I was only joking!

[scubadude]

double post :P

[bongobrian]

[Reinhold]

My Blue Linckia died this weekend. It had been cruising all over the tank, but one day I found it slumped over in a corner. I don't know why it died.

[bongobrian]

reinhold- awww man that stinks!!! your linkia was awesome man... shame to hear that it died.

Just a quick note, my star has now been in my tank for over a week and seems to be doing really well. It has been moving around a lot on the glass and on the rocks. Let's hope it can make it through the next week or two.

[newreefman1]

mine isnt so lucky..acclimated propery...infected within 2 days....deteriorating by the day....Im about to just put it down to avoid contamination..but I cant seem to find it. lol

[bongobrian]

newreefman1- sounds to me like maybe your star was already on it's way out before you bought it. You probably just got a spell of bad luck with that one. Who knows, maybe it will bounce back one of these days. Is there any way you can set up a hospital tank? I'd hate to just let it die without a fighting chance. I'm no prodigy when it comes to stars (obviously) but maybe someone can tell us when to call it quits with a star that looks unhealthy.

[newreefman1]

No there is physical damage..When I got it, the star "looked" perfect.

now one arm is slowly deteriorating...white bacterial infection is my guess..and it is eating the arm slowly..I want to pull it out as I know theres no hope for survival but it crawled up in my rockwork and I cant find it...and I dont feel like moving 90 lbs of rock to get him yet. I wanna see if it comes back out.

Trust me..I dont like killing things either. I wont part with much of anything ..im like a packrat of the coral reef tanks..I want everything no matter how ugly or deformed or whatever...but diseased and uncurable is another thing....

as for another tank..its not going to help..according to everything that I have read---therse no hope for this bugger.

[bongobrian]

I'm happy to report my blue linkia has reached the 2 week mark and appears to be doing great!

[newreefman1]

I am sad to report mine is 100% dead. Found it on its "back" with its intestines spit out and missing the one arm that had the bacterial infection. It is now gone.

[bongobrian]

rest in peace little buddy.. he will be remembered.

[newreefman1]

Yeah...remembered....I didnt even have it healthy barely one day..which leads me to assume...it wasnt healthy ever

[bongobrian]

Just curious~ does anyone have a YELLOW linkia?

[kiwi3221]

I had a blue linkia as well however when I purchased him he had " stuff " sticking out all over. I am assuming it was his insides because it looked liked intestines. I wasn't going to purchase him however the store owner insisted he was fine and I felt bad for him and loved him so I bought him and brought him home. I don't know what drip acclimating is (wish someone would explain it though) however I acclimated him best I know how over a period of a few hours however after only one day he's died. I believe he was deathly ill when I purchased him because he didn't even attempt to "flip" from his back when placed in tank. (not sure I'd want to drag my gutts through a saltwater tank either though) Anyway I would like to try again but am looking for as much info as possible first on feeding, acclimating etc.... Hope your starfish is healthy and doing well! Have a great day!

Kiwi

[Ninong]

Hi Kiwi, welcome to Reefland!

Drip acclimation refers to the process of dripping tankwater into the shipping bag with a siphon made with a piece of 1/4" flexible vinyl tubing with a knot in it to control the flow. The idea is to add only a couple of drops per second so that the process drags on for a few to several hours. You could accomplish virtually the same thing by floating the bag in the tank and then adding a Tbsp of tankwater every five minutes or so. You would want it to take long enough so that it takes at least a couple of hours to double the original volume of water in the shipping bag. You would then empty out half of the bag water and continue the process until the bag water has doubled for a second time. You might even empty out half of it again and repeat the process depending on how long you think is necessary. It is a good idea to measure the salinity/specific gravity in the shipping water before you begin this process and compare that to the salinity of your tankwater. If the shipping water is 34 ppt salinity and your tankwater is 35 ppt salinity, you could get by with perhaps only a 2-3 hour acclimation but if the shipping water is 32 ppt or 38 ppt you should probably do a 6-8 hour acclimation.

Seastars cannot adjust quickly to changes in salinity. The change must be very gradual or they will suffer irreparable internal damage. The problem is that they are frequently subjected to improper salinity changes during the collection and distribution process before they even get to the local fish store. In those situations it doesn't matter what you do because the damage has already been done and it's only a matter of time before they die. They may die in a few hours, a few days or a few weeks but they usually do not recover from severe osmotic shock.

Linckia laevigata requires a well established reef tank environment to thrive. It's not really necessary to feed them specifically as long as you are feeding fish in the tank. They will consume the leftovers along with detritus produced by the tank's inhabitants and algal film. The safest way to purchase one is to get one locally that has been in the store's tank for at least a month before you buy it. That is not easy to do. The ones that are not sold within the first week to ten days are usually dead. Not all of the time, but often enough that it is a problem and one of the reasons so many stores don't like to carry them. It is obvious that the one you purchased was already on its way out and the store owner should have known that. He probably did.

[kiwi3221]

Thank you for welcoming me and thank you sssooo much for explaining the drip theory to me I will print it and do that thank you! Would this apply to all fish etc...?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by kiwi3221

Thank you for welcoming me and thank you sssooo much for explaining the drip theory to me I will print it and do that thank you! Would this apply to all fish etc...?

Drip acclimation is something that is usually reserved for acclimating seastars and snails and other sensitive invertebrates but it can be used for anything and is even recommended for especially sensitive fish that are known to be problem shippers, such as the larger specimens of Cirrhilabrus spp. fairy wrasses. The usual method for acclimating fish would be to float the unopened shipping bag in the aquarium with the lights off until the water in the bag is the same temperature as the tankwater. That usually takes only 15-30 minutes depending on the amount of water in the bag and its initial temperature relative to your tankwater. After the temperature is the same, you would start adding tankwater to the shipping bag in small amounts -- perhaps 1/2 cup -- every five minutes or so until the volume of water in the shipping bag has doubled. You would then empty out half of the water in the bag and repeat the process until the water in the bag has doubled again. After that it is usually OK to remove the fish from the bag and release it into the tank.

Some animals are more sensitive than others and require a slower, more gradual adjustment to changes in water parameters, especially salinity. And the greater the differences between the shipping water and your tankwater the longer the acclimation process necessary for success. It is a good idea to do a very slow acclimation with seastars. I received a 7" serpent star last week from an online vendor as part of a larger order and I took a total of 7 hours for the acclimation process. I did not set up a drip line because I was floating all of the bags (11 individual bags) in a 20-gal Rubbermaid container of freshly made-up saltwater that I kept at 79 degrees F. Every 10 minutes or so I would remove about a pint of tankwater from my aquarium and pour a little into each bag. How much went into each bag depended on the total amount of water in the bag and the sensitivity of the animal in that particular bag. Some bags got 1/2 cup of tankwater each time and others, like the seastar, got only about a Tbsp each time. When it comes to acclimating new lifestock, slower is usually better in most situations.