Blue Linckia Dying?

Morning everyone,

Today I noticed one of the legs of my linckia has started to develop some white puss? Looks like its a bit shorter than the other legs as well. I've had this little guy for over 2.5 years now and nothing has really changed at all within the last year in terms of watercare or livestock introduced...

He hasnt moved from where I saw him last night. Should I wait this out or maybe cut the limb off..?

Just really hoping for the best here.

 

Since you have had this difficult to keep star fish for awhile without incident I would check your water chemistry, SG, pH.... everything. I would be hesitant to cut off the limb right now. Curious how large is the tank?

 

I'll check them again tonight to make sure im where I should be. My tank is a 95g! Have you ever experienced this?

 

Linkias are well known for dying, the survival rate it is pretty dismal. There is no concrete documentation on nutritional needs. Common theory is they consume the bio-film, hence the need for large established tank and slow starvation. I have read that some people have had success with chopped up pieces of clams, I have no first hand experience with this.

I kept one for approximately a year in a large 120 gallon tank and later returned it to the fish store.
It seems like the most common causes for deaths are a slow starvation, drastic swings in water chemistry, they seem particularly sensitive to alterations in SG and pH. A lot hobbyist start off with poor starved specimens unfortunately.
Such a beautiful animal I sure wish they were easier to care for.

 

Thank you very much for that insight, i'll take it day by day from here on in i guess

 

I'm surprised it lasted 2.5 years. What did you feed it? I would consider 2.5 years more than normal. I wonder how long they live in the wild.

 

Quite a long time, considering the size they can reach and the (abysmal) rate at which they grow.

 

To be honest, I dont feed it directly at all. But in general I grind up mysis, brine and clams into icecube trays and feed the dt every night. Ill sub in flakes and pellets here and there as well.

 

Just an update, I finally lost the little guy this past week. He was healing and decaying, so valiant effort to stay alive.

 

Thank you for the follow up post. Two and half years is one of the longer lengths of time I have heard of personally.

I moved this thread to-------- Inverts to pass on the information.