Is my sea star doomed?

Came home today and my fromia sea star looks like this (fluffy stuff coming out of him). Is there anything I can do for him? Or is he doomed?

-AJ

 

If my assumptions are correct, this is not a good sign for Sea Stars and normally leads down the unfortunate road to its demise. You can try to remove the star and quarantine it. Try dosing furan compounds or antibiotics to possibly help it!
Good luck!

 

Unfortunately, Sea Stars are very delicate. Like my answer to everything, just make sure your water quality is pristine.

 

So the same thing is now happening to his leg on the other side. He is still moving a bit and his tentacles seem to be moving although very slowly. I guess I'll give him a bit longer and hope for a miraculous recovery.

-AJ

 

I wouldn't say that he is doomed, but the prognosis isn't the best. I had a blue Linkia years ago do the same thing - the white stuff coming out of him that had a ribbon appearance to it. That star recovered and did very well for years afterwards. How long has he been in your tank?

 

Only about a week...

 

How did you acclimate him ?

 

I did drip acclimation for about an hour and a half. He did hit the air for a second so that probably doesn't help.

At what point should I give up and remove him from the tank before he pollutes it?

-AJ

 

An hour and a half equating to how much water? I use jsut enough bag water to cover in a 5 gallon pale and then fill the pale over 3 hours (but that's out of 240 gallons of tank water). Fromia's are very difficult and I am going to hope for the best for you.

Not exposing it to air is most a myth, a few seconds will not do a thing. i am certain that any star purchased from a store has been exposed to air numerous times. Sounds to me like you did every thing right.

 

Oh sorry - if your certain its dead pull it then. It depends on your tank size, if its a smaller tank than sooner than later.