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suiso man
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Topic: invert acclimation question Posted: February 18 2014 at 5:36pm |
How long does everybody acclimate their inverts? The only reason I ask is I bought a starfish from someone and this was brought up.
I drip acclimated it for an hour and it wasn't moving at all and it was expelling stuff from its mouth during the acclimation. It never ever moved. I contact the seller and they said it was my fault it died because I didn't acclimate it for 3 hours and would not refund my money. I am a little frustrated. I want to get more opinions so that I don't have anymore issues with livestock. I spoke to Mark about it and he recommended 30 to 45 minutes. and he gave me gentile reminder of the risks we all take in the hobby
Edited by suiso man - February 18 2014 at 6:00pm
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badfinger
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 5:47pm |
Starfish are very hard to acclimate. When it started expelling stuff from its mouth that was probably the tell tale sign it was on its way out. They are very sensitive to all parameters. I am not a star fish expert so maybe they will chime in
My gf loves starfish but we have never been able to keep one long term so we just don't buy them anymore
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suiso man
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 5:50pm |
I have added other starfish to my tank and I agree they are sensitive, all of them are doing fine. is two hours really beneficial? from everything I have heard its hard on all livestock if you leave it for a long time.
Edited by suiso man - February 18 2014 at 5:54pm
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Ann_A
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 5:51pm |
The last 3 starfish I've owned I only acclimated for an hour by floating the bag and dumping water into it every few minutes. All of them did quite well for me.
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rize2
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 5:55pm |
Yeah, acclimating for too much time adds stress. 3 hours is crazy long IMO.
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ReefdUp
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 5:56pm |
Honestly, I just dump them in after about 15 minutes acclimation...but they are also just going to have their legs chopped off as shrimp food...so I do not really care. Only two starfish had problems with me doing this...the others all lived long lives having their limbs chopped off week after week. Note...I have only used chocolate chip and sand sifting stars. Linckias and fromias are much more swnsitive.
Do I recommend what I practice? No. I am just saying that every case is different.
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www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water
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BobC63
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 6:05pm |
What kind of starfish was it? Did you buy it local, or was it shipped? The answers to those 2 questions could make a big difference in acclimation time. But in most cases - assuming locally bought and not some crazy exotic species - 3 hours is overkill and may in fact do more harm than good. It also sounds like your starfish had a typical 'shock' reaction. That usually means there was a big difference in one or more water parameters between the water the starfish came in, and your tank. Doesn't mean anything is necessarily 'wrong' with your parameters; perhaps. for example, there was a big difference in SG..?
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- My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) -
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suiso man
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 6:12pm |
It was a linckia and I bought local. I used a reef gently and it puts in whatever drips out because its a siphon so the acclimation is really easy on the livestock. I just ask because I am thinking about getting another starfish and I want to make sure it makes it in my tank alive.
Edited by suiso man - February 18 2014 at 6:16pm
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BobC63
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Posted: February 18 2014 at 6:33pm |
I've had Linckias in the past; they are a little more delicate than the 'average' starfish... but I never dripped them for 3 hours. Last one I had I got from a LFS and drove 30 minutes home, floated the bag for 20 min, opened it and added a little water twice (once every 5 min), and then let it go into the tank...
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- My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) -
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: February 19 2014 at 9:00am |
Aloha Robert, Sounds like it hasn't survived, right? I'm sorry for your loss. I believe a lot depends on the way the Linkia Star was handled on its trip from the ocean and yet there may be some impossible hurdles here. I believe that bringing a Linkia up from its habitat may be a problem. The relatively swift pressure and elevation change from ~40 feet under the water to 4500 feet above sea level probably creates air bubbles which are not easily expelled or maybe impossible for the Star to expel.. Microscopic bubbles of air more than double in size, which may or may not be why Linkia Stars don't make it long, though we give them all the TLC we know how to give. Also, we are still not certain how to feed them what they need to survive. We know that Asterina Stars do well because they eat algae and bacterial slime. They even reproduce in our tanks, but still, on average their numbers in our tanks are moderate. When considering food requirements, compare the body mass of a Linkia to the body mass of an Asterina. Possibly ~1000:1 Here is the thread I mentioned in texting. It's a pretty good discussion with comment from Connie, who successfully kept Linkia. http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8363Aloha, Mark This small Linkia(Fromia?) survived about a year in my tank. Of course the Hermit had about the same survival, but I don't give that a second thought. And what about the 2 dead bivalves in this pic that left their shells as decoration. How much of killing animals can we tolerate before we change our behavior This Star ate Macroalgae and meaty fish foods but also coral.
Edited by Mark Peterson - February 19 2014 at 11:11am
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Crazy Tarzan
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Posted: February 19 2014 at 9:27am |
Stars are actually more sensitive to temp changes than changes in salinity. If the temp was changed too rapidly it may have done the star in, though both need to be addressed.
If I remember right temp should change slowly--over 1-2 hrs if more than a couple degrees difference.
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jwoo
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Posted: February 19 2014 at 9:41am |
If it's a Linkia it could have been on the way out already. They do not do well in our tanks. The longest one I've seen in a tank was two years. Most only live around 6 months. No one knows what they eat so it makes it a bit hard to keep them alive. They are also super sensitive to just about everything. Personally I'd not keep a linkia as I think it's a waste of money and cruel as there is no long term life possibility. Other stars on the other hand can be perfectly fine just research them before you go. I know lots of people have had better luck with Fromia starsfish as it's a much hardier invert.
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wickedsnowman
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Posted: February 19 2014 at 12:40pm |
I have had a blue linkia for about a year and a half. I just floated it for 20 mins and drip acclimated for about 30. It has been super happyl the whole time. Even survived a tank crash that killed most of my corals.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: February 19 2014 at 6:06pm |
That's friken' awesome. Has it grown? What does it eat? Where does it spend most of it's time? Maybe you have come upon the answer to their success.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: March 13 2014 at 6:47am |
You might think that an active reef safe Star such as a Linkia, Bali or Fromia is a happy Sea Star. Actually just the opposite is true. An active Sea Star is desperately searching for food. After 2 weeks to 2 months of active moving around the tank, it will slow down, stop moving and die from starvation. If, upon introduction the Sea Star moves very little, most often it is already weak and starving to death. Please be a responsible hobbyist. Mahalo, Mark
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wickedsnowman
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Posted: March 13 2014 at 9:10am |
Mark Peterson wrote:
That's friken' awesome. Has it grown? What does it eat? Where does it spend most of it's time? Maybe you have come upon the answer to their success.
| I don't know what the secret is he's just always been happy cruising around spends most of his time on the rocks I've never had a algae problem or anything so it is not like it is eating excess algae. It has grown probably about an inch on each leg.
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LakeCityReefs
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Posted: March 13 2014 at 9:35am |
I picked up a Linkia from another hobbyist locally. I'm not sure gown long he had it. I drip acclimated it for about an hour before introducing it to the tank. It immediately made its slow journey from the front of the tank to the back of the tank on the backside of a rock. It was mostly out of sight but I would check its location a few times a day. At the end of day 2 I noticed it moved down to the sand. On day 3 I noticed it had not moved so I reached in to check it out. It was dead. Only lasted 2-3 days.
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Jeepkid
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Posted: March 13 2014 at 10:05am |
I kept an orange linkia for about a year and then one day it looked like the star just shattered in to a bunch of pieces. A small section of its leg roamed my tank for another good while before it too disappeared. It was like one of those zombie things lol
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Jeremyw
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Posted: March 13 2014 at 10:08am |
I kept an Orange linkia once for about a year... then moved and sold it off. It lived for about another 6 months in the new tank.
I always wonder how long it would have lived if I hadnt moved.
J
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jbuck13
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Posted: March 13 2014 at 11:01am |
Does anybody have an idea of how long they live in the wild? Just curious
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