exposing starfish to air

mkeller · 06/26/2006, 06:53 AM

can you expose a starfish to air or not. Both LFS i go to say its ok, but the more that die the more they sell.

Avi · 06/26/2006, 07:16 AM

There's a lot of unknowns when you deal with starfish of the Linckia, Fromia, etc. species. Common caveats are that you shouldn't expose them to air, you shouldn't touch them with your hands, they take four hours or so to acclimate to your reef, and some others. The reason for these, I believe, is that they have a high mortality rate in home reefs and so the general wisdom is to take extra precuations beyond what may be taken with most other inverts so that whatever it might be that is detrimental to them and might lead to death, would be avoided. While the provenance of these measures is questionable, it surely won't hurt to follow them. But, don't even try any of these starfish unless you have an aged, well-established, fairly large reef, stocked with a good deal of live rock.

jaymz101 · 06/26/2006, 07:47 AM

I dont think there are any problems exposing starfish to air. Theyre not like sponges where the air can get trapped in their tissues and they have no way og getting it out. Then they basically rot from the inside out. Starfish are fairly motile using hydrostatic pressure to manipulate their tissues. And alot of starfish species are intertidal and exposed to air naturally and fairly regularly.

06/26/2006, 06:53 AM	#1
mkeller Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Michigantown, IN Posts: 91	exposing starfish to air can you expose a starfish to air or not. Both LFS i go to say its ok, but the more that die the more they sell.

06/26/2006, 07:16 AM	#2
Avi Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Westchester County, NY Posts: 7,327	There's a lot of unknowns when you deal with starfish of the Linckia, Fromia, etc. species. Common caveats are that you shouldn't expose them to air, you shouldn't touch them with your hands, they take four hours or so to acclimate to your reef, and some others. The reason for these, I believe, is that they have a high mortality rate in home reefs and so the general wisdom is to take extra precuations beyond what may be taken with most other inverts so that whatever it might be that is detrimental to them and might lead to death, would be avoided. While the provenance of these measures is questionable, it surely won't hurt to follow them. But, don't even try any of these starfish unless you have an aged, well-established, fairly large reef, stocked with a good deal of live rock. __________________ I'd keep the whole ocean if my den were big enough Current Tank Info: 120 gallon reef with 210 lbs. of live rock, Aqua-C EV180 Skimmer, Aquactinic double 250W MH with blue plus t5 support; 58 gallon freshwater planted tank using CO2 and T5s; 30-gallon cube with a few fancy goldfish; and a 110 gallon FOWLR

06/26/2006, 07:47 AM	#3
jaymz101 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: St. Pete, FL Posts: 410	I dont think there are any problems exposing starfish to air. Theyre not like sponges where the air can get trapped in their tissues and they have no way og getting it out. Then they basically rot from the inside out. Starfish are fairly motile using hydrostatic pressure to manipulate their tissues. And alot of starfish species are intertidal and exposed to air naturally and fairly regularly. __________________ In 96 hours, Jack Bauer has killed 93 people and saved the world 4 times. What have you done with your life? Current Tank Info: Lobo, local Oculina, Acro., hydnophora, lots of zoas, caulastrea, pagoda and scroll, foxface flasher wrass and firefish