Also linkas are more sensitive to warmer waters. I don't
know what the critical temperature is, but it's lower than
most other reef inhabitants.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



wrote on 5/23/2006 6:36 PM:
Pat wrote:
Please forgive my ignorance.

I recently(Saturday) purchased a blue linckia starfish for my tank.
When I first introduced it, it climbed on the glass and was clearly
alive. It now is doing nothing. Just kinda laying on the substrate.

I have 2 questions:

1. How does one determine that a starfish is dead? It's not faling
apart. It's still blue. But it does nothing. I've tried feeding it by
placing meaty goodness under it and it seems to do nothing about it. It
does seem less rigid than when I purchased it.

2. When I purchased it, it had what I thought was detritus hanging from
it. Seems that it was starfish parts. I wish I had known more about
them before purchase, but alas I'm a bad person. Is it normal for brown
stringy things(for lack of a better term) to hang from the center of the
starfish? Or did I buy a bum starfish from the get go?

Again, I'm a newbie so be gentle.
TIA,
Pat

Hi Pat;

I'm fairly experienced and most of my fish and corals live for years but
I too have had no luck with the blue linkia.
I can tell you a few things though;
1) Water conditions must be excellent and must not change quickly. (i.e.
no nitrites, very low nitrates, stable temperature, salinity and PH, etc.)
2) When you first get it you need to spend a couple of hours making the
transfer by doing a slow drip so it can accomodate the changes from aquarium
water to yours..
3) I got that stringy stuff too right before the linkia died on me.

Blue things seem to be tough. I got a blue hippo tang through the
inevitable ick stage when I first got him but have had him for three years,
he's about 7" long and never has had ick again. On the otherhand I've been
unable to keep a powder blue or a blue linkia so far (have had a powder blue 7
weeks and so far so good.)

Take care;

Bob


P.S. Mine was kind of like yours, relatively active at first, then slows
down and finally begins to fall apart. I've tried twice.