Starfish troubles

Woke up this morning and heard some clicking coming from the reef. After inspecting I saw my starfish on the powerhead. Had the Red Fromia for 3 months and seemed to be doing so well, at least until it met the PH last night. I pulled it off and the 1 leg is very beat up and almost cracked off all the way by the mouth but the other 4 look fine, no discoloration or missing pieces. Placed it on a rock where it has yet to move but I dont have much hope.

Is there a chance it will jsut shed the leg and be fine? It was doing fine before and showed no signs of disease or starvation for 3 months. No melting at this time but Im assuming the 1 leg will melt away.

 

Hmmm... I'm a little surprised he didn't just shed the leg when it got caught, as that's typically their natural reaction. That being the case though, if it's badly mangled or mostly detached, you might want to cut it off clean to help prevent bacterial infection. As long as the main disc isn't damaged, he should be fine. Just keep a close eye on him and continue normal feedings.

 

Im at work today, the whole body seems kind of stiff so I hope hes not already dead. The tip of the leg is mangled and the force of the propellor must have been enough to try and rip the leg off as it is torn by the central disk. I placed it on a rock in lowflow and will see if he moved at all when I get home tonight. Asfor normal feedings I wasnt feeding him at all jsut the whole tank with all kinds of foods. Seemed to move around a lot though spending a few days in one area before moving on to the next and just cycling through the whole tank, hopefully grazing on something. Just stinks I had it doing well for so long and then it met Mr Vortech.

 

Well my wife said he moved and left some skin behind. Not sure if its the whole leg or not I guess ill find out later but at least its alive for know.

If he didnt shed the leg should I jsut use a sterile scalpal to amputate the damaged leg?

 

Took about 7 hours but my wife texted me that he lost shed the leg. Happy that he was moving around and shed it on his own Im thinking that means he stands a chance to survive.

Since it shed on its own how much of a chance is there for it to get infected and kill the whole starfish? Im assuming it will slowly grow back to normal size on its own but prob take a long time?? Ill be crossing my fingers the next few weeks as Im assuming if he is still alive and moving around the tank grazing Ill be mostly in the clear.

 

bump

 

Glad to hear he's ok. :thumb_up: It should heal over fairly quickly and start to regrow.

I was only concerned with infection if he was running around with a torn, mangled leg as they tend to take much longer to heal than a complete amputation.

 

Awesome, glad to hear thanks MR Bill

 

You're quite welcome!