Sandsifting Starfish Question

[The Pilot]

Recently my sandsifter has been deteriorating.
He has lost parts of two arms now and looks like losing more. Nothing has
been attacking him as far as i know.
Has anyone else seen this happen with theirs and should i get a small coffin
ready?

TIA
Iain

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[Pszemol]

"The Pilot" > wrote in message ...
> Recently my sandsifter has been deteriorating.
> He has lost parts of two arms now and looks like losing more. Nothing has
> been attacking him as far as i know.
> Has anyone else seen this happen with theirs and should i get a small
> coffin ready?

I found a discussion on ReefCentral about these kind of starfish
and the idea was that there is not enough food in the sand bed
in a small aquarium for these guys to survive long time... :-(

[RicSeyler]

I never really wanted one in my reeftanks because of them
depleting the fauna in the sandbed. I've always used burying
snails etc for sand stirring.

Pszemol wrote:

> "The Pilot" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> Recently my sandsifter has been deteriorating.
>> He has lost parts of two arms now and looks like losing more. Nothing
>> has been attacking him as far as i know.
>> Has anyone else seen this happen with theirs and should i get a small
>> coffin ready?
>
>
> I found a discussion on ReefCentral about these kind of starfish
> and the idea was that there is not enough food in the sand bed
> in a small aquarium for these guys to survive long time... :-(


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Ric Seyler
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http://www.pcola.gulf.net/~ricseyler
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[Pszemol]

"RicSeyler" > wrote in message ...
> I never really wanted one in my reeftanks because of them
> depleting the fauna in the sandbed. I've always used burying
> snails etc for sand stirring.

Yes, even in the biggest tanks these stars quickly eat everything
engulfing in their stomache every animal they meet in the sand.
Then, when there is nothing more to eat, they waste away... :-(

[The Pilot]

Maybe that's what is happening. What do they eat anyway?

Iain

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"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
> "RicSeyler" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I never really wanted one in my reeftanks because of them
>> depleting the fauna in the sandbed. I've always used burying
>> snails etc for sand stirring.
>
> Yes, even in the biggest tanks these stars quickly eat everything
> engulfing in their stomache every animal they meet in the sand.
> Then, when there is nothing more to eat, they waste away... :-(

[Pszemol]

"The Pilot" > wrote in message ...
> Maybe that's what is happening. What do they eat anyway?

They are voracious predators engulfing micro fauna
inhabiting healthy sand bed in the ocean...

I got one to my tank and QUICKLY recognized that
I have missing micro-brittle-stars which where
not long time before occupying my sand bed in
massive quantities. It took him about 4-6 weeks
to exterminate all of them... I returned this sand
sifting star to the store and repopulated my deep
sand bed with new animals and now I have my beloved
microstars thriving again and dealing with detritus.
Just don't buy them, they will waste away sooner or later.