Orange Linkia

[demodiki]

Drip acclimated this guy for about 5 hours yesterday...

Today he looks like he's been through a 5 hour bar fight in Tijuana ( no, I wouldn't know what that's like <_< )

Really, he seems to be melting and falling apart. I haven't seen anyone pick on him this morning but sheesh...is this guy too far gone? Should I get him out of there?

[GaryP]

Yes, I would.

I think the problem we often run into is that we may have acclimated him correctly but how was he acclimated at the LFS? They rarely take the time to do it correctly. You may be dealing with the damage done at the LFS. All Echinoderms are sensitive to rapid changes in water quality.

In defense of the LFS, there is some info that shows its better to get them out of the bag they have been in for up to 24 hrs. then it is to do a slow acclimation. Maybe we can get Richard to jump in here.

[scuba_steveo]

The great Linkia or starts in gereral debate.

Ok, here is what I know. Gary is right that there is info on some things that shows its better to get them out of the bag they have been in for up to 24 hrs. then it is to do a slow acclimation. This is NOT true for stars. and Linkia are the hardest to acclimate of the common starts that we see in the trade. I would not ever buy a linkia (or any star but that's just me) out of a LFS tank, unless I know the LFS did it right and most do not. I talked to Mark at CB yesterday about this. They do not even order Linkia anymore because they are so difficult. But CB does it right. There are others too. Anyway, a linkia should be dripped for at least 18 hours, if not more. And they need to be kept at the same temperature as the tank while they are being dripped. I do this by putting the bag in the sump and dripping from the display. So do not just have the bag sitting out of the tank next to the aquarium. They may not mely away soon with impropper acclimation but they can. They can also look good for a week and then start to melt from the impropper acclimation. This is why you can buy a dying one in the store and not even know it. If the LFS did not acclimate it right chances are it will die. There are exceptions to this, Pete has one. Some are bullet proof. Most are not.

In your case, get it out of the display and flush it. It will not make it and it can screw up your water levels.

[demodiki]

Ya we got him out and he is continuing to disintegrate. We called AA and they're not going to take him back because of the sale:( We'd really like to have some nice Linkias but man...this is going to be tough.

The good news is that we have found our pepperminnt shrimp! He was lost, btw...we looked everywhere for him this morning and just now I found him in the big powerhead! Melissa and I were arguing about who was going to dig him out...I unplugged the PH and I'll be ****ed if he didn't fall out and start swimming!

He seems a little traumatized...a little skittish...but he's alive. Who knows how long he was up in there...poor guy:)

[Reef69]

Linkias are a bit hard to keep, since they are hard to acclimate, i have attempted one, and honestly wont try again..they hide and i wasnt able to feed it.they are nice though.

[blueboy]

i have had an orange linkia in my reef for 6-8 months now. i have actually been considering getting another because i like him so much. i guess i got lucky and got a good one the first time, dripped him for about 4-5 hours. i had done a little research, and learned that they were hard to aclimate. it has only been since then that i've heard more stories like these, otherwise i probably wouldn't have gotten him. but, he looks good and fat, and moves slowly but steadilly around the tank, really adds a nice focal point when he's out. there's a pic or 2 in my gallery.

[blueboy]

oops, sorry, i have a fromia. momentary lapse of clarity. but i love the little guy.

[demodiki]

(Melissa here) I'm glad I read that post about "humane death" a few days ago :cry Poor starfish had five healthy-looking legs yesterday, and today three of them were half gone with a fourth looking like it was about to disintegrate, too. I'm truly crushed. I had to make Danny put her in the freezer - I couldn't bear the thought of flushing her. I suppose it will be a good long while before we attempt a starfish again. They're so beautiful, and I would love a couple in our tank, but I get so attached to these critters so fast! You should have seen me the last week withour first baby, and emerald crab! I talked to him and checked on him constantly... :lol I'm a nerd, what can I say?

I was so afraid that our lil peppermint shrimp had become fish (or crab) food today - I still can't believe that crazy shrimp survived half a day sucked up in a powerhead! His little whiskers look a little bent, but he's back to zooming all over the tank!

Thanks for the advice on our star, guys. We're sad she didn't make it.

[Tim Marvin]

The other thing is, you don't want to touch linkia with your hands. Pour them out of the acclimation bag. The slightest bit of oil off of your skin can kill them also.

[Richard]

Unless your lucky it will take a few trys to get a "good" linkia. I do not believe the damage is generally done at the LFS but rather during the collection and wholesaling stage of the game. On a couple of occasions I've recieved hitchhiker linkia on corals and they have done fantastic even though they recieved no special Linkia care. The difference is they were not shipped in a box or tanked with another 100 linkias to/at the wholesalers IMO.

I've tried all methods with a variety of linkia. The method that worked best for me was...
1.) Get a 4" X 4" piece of stryrofoam
2.) Float the linkia for 15 minutes or so to get the temp matched
3.) Float the styofoam in your aquarium
4.) Remove the linkia from the bag wearing latex/plastic gloves and place it on top of the strofoam. Don't forget to turn off your lights so you don't have cooked linkia. Then just let it crawl into the water on its own.

[Tim Marvin]

Excellent idea Richard, by the way this also works for snails.

[demodiki]

Yep, I definitely didn't touch our lil guy when we put him in - I poured out all the water and then gently lowered him into the tank in the bag and coaxed him out. I wasn't sure about the styrofoam method for the linkia - I've read that exposing them to air could kill them, but I believe that is misinformation. I just learned about the styrofoam method a couple of days ago and plan to use it on my snails when I get them. Whenever I'm ready to try a star again, I'll try this with it, too.

I tell you guys, it was really sad watching her legs just fall apart like that. This is going to be the hardest part of the hobby for me - losing critters. :cry

Melissa (psst... <~~~~~wimp) ;)

[Moonrs]

I have a had a blue linkia for a year. I must be one of the very lucky (ignorant) ones, because I didn't do any of the special precautions listed above. Although I acclimated it for an hour, I didn't try anything else special. I think Richard hit the nail on the head when he talked about shipping/storage of the livestock.

[::pete::]

I wouldnt call myself ignorant and have had one in the tank for almost 2 years. I did at first do all the above mentioned acclimation procedures, but after the move back I did not and its still fine. I guess I am lucky!!

I guess I am again lucky because I just added another 2 days ago it also is doing great roaming about the tank and looking as healthy as can be. I acclimated for 2-3 hours and poured him in! I dont drip acclimate anything either and never lost anything due to adding it to my tank!

Sorry if it offends anyone, but its just my experience!!

[demodiki]

Well I think it must have been on its way downhill before I got it. There can't be such thing as OVER acclimation can there? And with so many people doing star acclimation for like 18 hours, my 7 or so should have been fine. So either my crab had a snack (which I doubt) or it was just doomed. I'm still sad about losing my star. She was pretty tiny, so maybe I should try a bigger one next. Maybe age is a factor.

[eric]

I didn't even know what mine was until it "split" a few times. I got one of Richard's hitch hikers some 6 months ago. From what y'all are saying, it probably had a better shot just because it wasn't hunted as a Linkia. I thought it was so cool though to start seeing a body and legs growing from the broken off legs.

I was very tempted to get one of River City's orange ones last week but refrained thinking I've been lucky enough with my one (really three). Carlos said he had had them for about three weeks and they looked good then (I guess a week ago Tuesday) My only point being that I if I were tempted again, I'd make sure they were in the best of shape before the stress of another move.