NonSequitur Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I woke up this morning to find that my usually well-behaved chocolate chip starfish was eating my torch coral. He usually only acts out when I forget to feed him his nightly nori. The tentacles were gone, the skeleton was exposed. It was a mess. I didn't have time to take any pictures, but I was wondering if any of you have any experience with something like this. Is there a chance the coral can recover, or should I pull it out of the tank before it starts to decompose? The starfish has been relocated to the sump until I can figure out what I want to do with it (at this point adding a harlequin shrimp isn't out of the question) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktorstick Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 It's too late this time, but next time he acts out, throw him on your floor for about 5 minutes and then put him back into the tank. Keep increasing the time the more he acts up. He'll learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 I thought about that, but decided against it since the puppies are pretty quick to find anything "interesting" on the floor and carry it out to the back yard to chew up. That would, however, keep me from having to worry about my corals getting eaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Sorry to hear about your torch. Personally I would feed him to my harlequin. In my opinion chocolate chips are not reef safe. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 This was a case of not doing my research before buying.. I knew I wanted a starfish of some sort, and the person at the store (not mentioning any names, but someone who has been discussed before) told me "yeah, it'll be just fine!" It was only after I got home that I realized I probably should have done more research. I may end up with a linckia or fromia at some point in the future (the rest of my family are crazy about stars, so I'll have to put something in there eventually) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 This was a case of not doing my research before buying.. We've all done it at least once. . . I had both linckia and fromia. I have noticed the survival rate of the blue and purple linckia are very low. I currently have a red one and it is doing great. It will be a year old next week! Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabeetus Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 honestly, i am scared to own a starfish now since i have had no luck at all. i have had a couple brittle stars, one died at about 1 month, one died at about 6 months. and i have had a yellow tile star fish that dies at about 3 months. its really sad to watch them fall apart like they do, so even tho i absolutely love starfish, it is going to take alot of persuading.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktorstick Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I had both linckia and fromia. I have noticed the survival rate of the blue and purple linckia are very low. I currently have a red one and it is doing great. It will be a year old next week! RE: Blue, your experience mirrors what I was told at the AquaDome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 RE: Blue, your experience mirrors what I was told at the AquaDome. They seem to be very sensitive. Bought a blue and red at the same time. The blue melted away after a couple of hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 The blue melted away after a couple of hours. Wow that has to be a record. Even I haven't killed anything in a couple of hours. Usually takes me weeks! And, no. Nothing has died since Chris got the calendar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Wow that has to be a record. Even I haven't killed anything in a couple of hours. Usually takes me weeks! And, no. Nothing has died since Chris got the calendar. I'll have to admit I had a tank of death at one time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I hope you have not removed the torch coral and tossed it yet. LPS, unlike SPS, can sometimes come back from the dead. It is a known occurrence and quite frequent. If there is any scrap of flesh they can recover from that. However this has happened to me, and in fact was identified by another member on this board as well, that if you leave the skeleton in the tank after a few months it may begin to regrow. I had a frogspawn that was attacked by a clown fish and it was completely gone, after 2 months several new heads began to sprout from the "dead" skeleton. It seems that they keep enough genetic information within the skeleton that should their appendages be attacked, that they can recover. For reference how many of you have ever cut down a tree to only have it begin to sprout back up all over the trunk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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