Dying Starfish?

[speedykeys]

I've had this starfish for about a year and a half and today I found him like this. He's been living with all the same crabs, fish and other animals with no one attacking him that I've seen. I don't know how he hurt his leg but I'm wondering if he will recover or should I get rid of him before he gets anything else sick? Since I took these pics he's still moving around the tank but the tip of his injured leg has completely come off and I removed the little piece that came off. I'm not sure if these guys are very toxic when they die but I know they can smell extremely bad...I don't have a qt tank so should I take him back to the lfs or do you think he might be able to heal? Everything else living in the tank is doing really well. Heres my current parameters:
trate-20
trite-0
phos-.01 (went out and bought poly reactor w/ phosar media yesterday after the results of this test, wondering if that might be the problem?)
sg-1.026
ca-450
kh-9 (swings between 8-10, use kent 2 part to buffer ca and kh)
ph 8.4
mag- 1440
temp-always 79
24g nano

Thanks!

 

[tamableanimal]

From my experience when a linkia starts showing signs of injuries they very seldom get any better.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

I agree, I had one that did exactly the same thing and it died.

 

[speedykeys]

Well I'm getting ready to leave town for the night and I don't want this guy to die while I'm out so I guess I'll be taking him back to the lfs before I leave. Thanks for the info.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

Just sorry it's probably not what you wanted to hear

 

[Fishieness]

the linkias are quite sensitive.
THey tend to starve to death in aquariums, as they only natually eat macro and micro fauna and flora on liverock, and especially in a tank that small, there isnt enough to sustain them. It usually takes them 6 months to a year or so to starve, so it is actually impressive that you got one to survive for so long in such a small tank. I wonder what he was eating...
sorry about him.

 

[speedykeys]

I kinda thought he might of been starving because I feel like he was a little bigger when I got him. Right before I left out of town, I noticed another one of his legs were starting to rot away so I put him on a rock in an awkward position to see if he would move and he didn't move at all for like 30 minutes, except for the injured leg which was just kind of bouncing with the flow of the water. I'm pretty sure that he was dead, or very near death so I had to throw him out since I didn't have time to go to the lfs. I just got back into town and the tank looks good so luckily he didn't get anything else sick.