Blue Linckia Dying?

so sorry for the loss. As Corailline said, that is a good amount of time to have kept one.

 

I hope mine lasts that long. I have an orange one and have had him for about 3 months now and is very active and healthy looking. I waited till my tank was at least 2 years old tho before I got one. I've always heard and read tho that if they develop that white spot they're pretty much dead no matter what color they are. Just something with the species I guess.

 

Actually no, it's true for all Sea Stars- once they show visible signs, it's too late.

Unfortunately, the vast majority suffer that fate in captivity; Sea Stars are predators with very select diets, and as Cheryl stated, there's very little info available for each species. It generally takes several months for one to die from starvation; the individual specimens that will scavenge for sustenance may prolong their lives somewhat. As Av8Bluewater indicated though, 2.5 years is actually surprising.

 

Ok, I see what you're saying. I guess that leads me to another question. I am and have been for sometime, growing A LOT of neon yellow sponges all over my tank. When I say a lot I mean a ridiculous amount of them that just started showing up one day. I was told by another reefer that has been in the hobby for many years that sea stars and linkia especially will eat these sponges. Is this true? Or was he misinformed aswell? I has kinda hoped he would eat them since I have an over abundance of the damn things so he would be fed for a very long time haha.

 

I would love to see an images of the sponges.

No idea if Linkia will eat the sponge. I imagine like most everything else, it might just be specific sponge types.

 

Haha I'll take some and post them up tomorrow. Just thought that was odd that they would eat the sponges but since they are predators I thought it could be possible. Hopefully I have enough biofilm for him to survive on. I might try to feed him something to see if he'll eat.