VERY odd Basket Starfish question?

[Dan_cochran]

MizTanks:

Thanks for the link, that was one page i have not seen yet.

Here is a few pics I took today of the Basket starfish leg and my tank. I am still playing around trying to get better pictures.

I added a little phyto to the box again today about 1/2 hour before I took the pic so he would open up to get a better pic, He can open Alot more, but that seem's to be more to night and on his own.



and my 40g

[Dan_cochran]

off topic, but I wanted to Share
I did get a good pic of my Mandarin today, he was very Thin when i first got him, but he is starting to fill out nice. Ive had him about 3 months now.

[MizTanks]

Wow! Dan what a beautiful tank!

[Fishbutt]

I love this thread.... please post update pics on the starfish as time passes!

[Dan_cochran]

I will post pics every so often to keep things updated Fishbutt.
So far, every thing I have seen, say the Basket starfish require Alot of extra care and Feeding.

Thank you MizTanks !!!!!!!!!
I have Alot of time put into this tank build. and it is feed High amounts of my homebrew Phyto. At night my rocks look like they move from all the micro life. I have had marine tanks before, but nothing this small and nice, I'm very proud of this tank.

Last night, I did also do water tests just to check everything out, since they say basket star's need a clean tank. I have a few things to bring back in check, but not too bad.

API tests, I'm out of a few, but here is what I have, the simple glass tube's and cards:
Nitrate: 0ppm
phosphate 0.0ppm
ph 8.2
Ammonia 0.25ppm
calcium 21 drops "I normally keep it closer to 23-24 drops, I have not added kent in a while"
salinity 1.026 sg "normally keep a little closer to 1.025sg"
Temp 81 -82F
KH 7 dkh

I also add Kent Iodine every week or so "just a few drops"

My RO says a 003 ppm out "the DI needs re-filled"

Things are off just a little from where I like to keep them, but not bad since it's been almost a month since last I tested.
Later this week I will start a few more 1 gallon jugs of my phyto so I can feed just a little more then normal, plus I have a buddy that loves the stuff also, My clam and his really do good with it, but I traget feed and he dont. The only feed I see a big change in water quality is when I over feed my sun coral with my homemade frozen food, But I would not even eat that blender stuff and my sun coral Love it, YUCK !!

[rosebud161616]

Very cool to see this! Best of luck with that leg! It would be awesome to see a whole starfish grow from this leg!

Are you concerned at all that you are getting ammonia readings? Any idea what it's from? Maybe an old test kit?

[Dan_cochran]

rosebud161616 :
yes that test bottle is my oldest test and on top of that it is a hand me down bottle, so yes that is what I have figured it to be, just old. I could see it to be correct if somthing else was really high, but it's not, so no I have not been concerned since all coral have been looking good.

I have been wanting to get a few more and new tests, so today when we go get our potting soil for our garden seeds I might stop at the LFS and get one.

And yes It would be awesome to see a whole starfish grow from this leg! And that is another reason I would like a new test kit, I have been playing around on trying to find my MAX limit on how much phyto I can add each day to supply him with as much food as he needs.

But then again, never know, it could of been as simple as a hermit or somthing had died, I dont think one has but never really know I guess.

And today the leg is still doing good, no sign yet of a new body, but where the break is, it dont look as bad as it did, but it could be just me. I might be looking at it way 2 much, If I stop looking it might grow.

[Dan_cochran]

still no body as far as i can see. Still alive and moving.

Would anyone know somekind of time span it might take to start seeing a body grow it if is going to grow a new body?

[Dan_cochran]

well 1 day ago it stoped moving, and removed it today. no sign of a body growing.

It was really Odd on how it moved around this Long, so I guess I still can not fully say a basket starfish dont grow a full new body from half a leg, it still might happen i guess. I even took some tank water to Two diffrent LFS for testing just to see if my API tests are correct, they both say Perfect. But my tank might lack somthing to keep one alive, never really know i guess.

I did get talked into trying out brightwell aquatics implace of my normal Kent stuff. So far so good! I even bought a 5gal bucket of the brightwell aquatics salt to give a try since I have started to see the name pop up all over.