Oil_Fan

I had purchased a marble seastar from Liveaquaria along with a fighting counch snail and a new coral. The coral is fine. Yes that would indicate, I am having issues with the other two.

When I opened the box and took a look inside, I found the bag for the snail had managed to leak and by that time he had no water at all in the bag. Amazingly, he was alive. I'm still not so sure if he'll make but he's living up to his name and is still fighting.

Now for the seastar. He's a tan marble seastar. His bag was fine though the water seemed a bit cold but I can't be sure. There wasn't any heat packs inside so I'm not sure if that could be part of the problem. After I did a drip acclimation for 3 hours back on Wednesday, I put him into my main tank.

The reason I didn't put him into my QT, is that I've been doing a bunch of work in my basement renovating it. My QT tank wasn't setup. Today I noticed he was well....'leaking'. This afternoon I setup my QT back with the intention of putting him there so I could treat him if there was that needed to be done. Plus if he died, I wouldn't have to dig through my main tank trying to find him.

Currently I have moved my snail into it the QT tank but I'd like everyone to see my seastar. I thought for sure he was dead. He had moved himself to the top of the main tank but hadn't moved all day. I put a container that I was going to use to move him into my QT tank and when I knocked him off the side of the tank, he sure looked dead. But with him in the container, he has moved a bit to the side of it.

So the big question is, does he have a chance or should euthanize the little guy? Notice what looks like blood vessels or something like that. Here's the pic:

Attached Images

IMG_0611.jpg (86.4 KB, 29 views)

Oil_Fan

Oh btw...he looked a lot worse earlier. I mean he had probably around half an inch 'leaking' out of him earlier today. Which is what prompted me to get my QT tank back up and running. Though it still took a good 3 hours to get the water back warmed up to a proper temp.

sgould

I'd give it a couple of days to see if it keeps improving. I think LiveAquaria has a 14 day guarantee on their livestock, so your money is protected, but I sure hope the star pulls through! Are those worms or parasites or something on it?

Oil_Fan

I'm not worried about them replacing him. I called them when everything arrived because of snail not having water in his bag. Plus I mentioned that water seemed a bit cold. They took note of everything so it should be easy to get a replacement if needed.

I don't know what is up with seastar. There is something seriously wrong. To me, those are like veins that are from his body. When I looked at him during the transfer, he has holes in his legs where those protrude from. I did see him move one of his legs earlier after I placed him the QT though. Hopefully the little guy pulls through.

sgould

I'm hoping!

Oil_Fan

He died this afternoon. At least I'm pretty sure he's dead. One arm fell off and another is in a bad way. Plus the 'veins' or whatever they are that are sticking out of look real bad. He doesn't react at all to being touched or moved. And he has one arm curled up which has been in the same position since this morning.

I found a site called wetwebmedia and they had a ton on info various seastars. From a few answers there, when those vein thingies stick out of the main part of the body, that's really really bad.

The good thing is that I called Liveaquaria and they are going to send me a new one free of charge. They're even picking up the shipping charges. So major kudos to them!!

On the plus side, the snail that had no water in his bag for who know how long is looking like he's going to make it. I have no idea on why he was able to survive.

Oil_Fan

Arrggghhh!!

So the replacement marble sea star arrived today. I open everything up....and he's dead. Looks as bad as the first one but he was DOA instead of looking fine for the first couple of days and then deteriorating.

My guess is that Liveaquaria has a number of them which are in a bad way. What I don't get, if this one didn't look good before shipping, why ship it? They were paying for the shipping and the star itself so it just cost them even more. Whatever....They did however refund me the money on him though.

I think I'll go to my LFS that I deal with and see if they can get one in and keep it for a week or 2 to make sure he's in good shape.

Shawnie

oh no on both!!!! im sorry but what a beautiful creature that is..I hope you have better luck at your LFS

Oil_Fan

Ya I was kinda hoping to get a nice one. The second one was even an orange one which is the color that I wanted. But hopefully I get better luck with my LFS.

Shawnie

me too!! make sure you share pics if you do find one...salties are amazing to see pics even if i never have one