Starfish Disintegrating

[Myka]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Its no doubt suffering from malnutrition and starving to death. It looks like Fromia monilis which like many other starfish commonly for sale feed on sponges or other small sessile animals. In most cases only very large mature reef aquariums can provide enough of what these animals need to survive. Theres a bit of reading on them here http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rs/index.php

Agreed. Most starfish like linckia, fromia, "sandsifting", etc have very very poor long-term survival rates. It seems that our tanks either don't provide them with the proper food or just not enough. Black brittle stars are the only ones I keep in my tank...they are good scavengers and are hardy long-term.