Star fish leg is messed up!!!

I ordered my star online and after his drip acclimation I put him into the tank and saw his leg was messed up I didn't notice it when doing my drip as it was very dim in my living room. But when I added him to the tank I saw this.... Think he will be ok?

 

Hmmm if it was a site where the tip became detached because of accident or injury I would like it better.

You sometimes see this with starfish that are suffering from stress, be it nutritional, bacterial or parasitic. The legs kind of just starts to melt away for lack of a better term.

If you got him at a LFS I would return him. If not just watch and see. ( missed the part about on-line, save the picture incase you need it later for refund )

This type of starfish needs a decent supply on film algae, found on the surface of the LR and glass so I would not clean the glass spotless and leave any area for him to graze on. If you have a large established system he should have no problem finding sufficient food.

 

how long did you acclimate him? Starfish are VERY sensitve to acclimation and require longer and slower acclimation.

I cant tell from the picture, but is it white stringy things? if so then it is from the acclimation. It might stop, or it might continue to "melt"

 

honestly that doesnt look good. i would call where ever you got it and send a picture of how it arrived.
i have found if a star fish arrives healthy and acclimated correctly, and not left to breath air when its put into the tank it does really well in my tank. i have three in my tank now. 2 different types of sand sifters and a blue linka.
problem with star fish is they are sensitive and you never know how they were handled before you got them so many people dont know that they should not be pulled out of the water and left to breath air.

 

I had him on a drip line for about 8 hours. It collected about 2-1/2 gallons of water out of my tank overall. I had it dripping about one drop for every 3 to 4 secs. He or she is doing fine now. THe leg has started healing and he is climbing all over my rock in the tank.

 

good to hear. I have two stars and yes I acclimate for about 5 hours for them. They are very sensitive. I have a serpent and a sandsifter.