C. C. Starfish tube feet turning white

[Stacyvamp]

Hello, today morning I noticed that my chocolate chip starfish is turning pale/white around her tube feed. I’m wondering is it rot? I haven’t seen it yesterday. I attached a photo.

Sidenote, I have gotten her four days ago, and I had to raise my salinity a little bit because the store told me that my specific gravity was too low, as my hydrometer broke and I couldn’t check it myself for a while. I gradually started to increase my salinity every day little by little, no more than .001 a day. Could this lead to stress and that's why she's turning white?
Or is that some kind of infection? Should I take her out? Please help

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post a picture showing the entire starfish (from the underside) so we can see all the feet?

If it's in the same spot on all the feet it could be colouration.

If it's only on one or two feet it could be fungus. The starfish might have been damaged a bit when they took it out of the shop tank.

Monitor it and if it spreads then start to worry.

Perhaps contact the shop you got it from and let them know its feet have started going white. Ask them what they think. At least then they know there is something wrong with it and if it dies, then you have some chance of getting it replaced.

 

[Stacyvamp]

Can you post a picture showing the entire starfish (from the underside) so we can see all the feet?

If it's in the same spot on all the feet it could be colouration.

If it's only on one or two feet it could be fungus. The starfish might have been damaged a bit when they took it out of the shop tank.

Monitor it and if it spreads then start to worry.

Perhaps contact the shop you got it from and let them know its feet have started going white. Ask them what they think. At least then they know there is something wrong with it and if it dies, then you have some chance of getting it replaced.

Unfortunately she is in the corner right now so i had to take two pictures, hopefully you can see something that might help

 

[Colin_T]

A couple of legs definitely look white.

If it was freshwater I would say add salt but that doesn't work in marine tanks. I would monitor and see how it looks in 24 hours.

Unfortunately there aren't many medications you can use on invertebrates. Triple sulpha is about the only one I can think of but you would want to do it in a separate tank. If you try to move the starfish, be careful so you don't damage it's feet.

Fortunately, starfish are pretty resilient creatures and have a strong immune system. So if the water is good and it is healthy (besides the white), it should recover. You can try feeding it several times a day with small bits of prawn or fish. That can help if the starfish is starving. Just put a small bit of food near the body where the legs radiate out from and let the starfish take the food.

 

[Stacyvamp]

A couple of legs definitely look white.

If it was freshwater I would say add salt but that doesn't work in marine tanks. I would monitor and see how it looks in 24 hours.

Unfortunately there aren't many medications you can use on invertebrates. Triple sulpha is about the only one I can think of but you would want to do it in a separate tank. If you try to move the starfish, be careful so you don't damage it's feet.

Fortunately, starfish are pretty resilient creatures and have a strong immune system. So if the water is good and it is healthy (besides the white), it should recover. You can try feeding it several times a day with small bits of prawn or fish. That can help if the starfish is starving. Just put a small bit of food near the body where the legs radiate out from and let the starfish take the food.

Thanks for your info! I fed her yesterday with frozen food that I give my fish. She ate it within an hour or so, I've read that you're supposed to feed them every 2-3 days?

 

[Colin_T]

If they are new it's a good idea to feed them several times a day for the first month to fatten them up. Most starfish don't get fed at all in the holding facilities before they get shipped to stores so most are starving when you get them. Once they have recovered from the shipping and gained some weight, you can reduce feeding to once a day or every couple of days.

 

[Stacyvamp]

Thank you!! Will feed her asap