get ur asterina stars out

[charliethetuna88]

After a memeber posted on my tank thread saying astrina stars may be harmfull I did some reading and it looks like a lot of them eat zoos and procillapora I had a piece of procillapora in my tank and every day more and more would star to disapear ,funny thing is the part that didn't disapear was opened nice everyday with full extenstion I looked last night and there were a few starfish on the dead part working there wat up toward the meat.also I noticed they were on my zoos I don't know yet if they were eating the zoos but there all coming out I'm gonna pick them out with a tweezer .does anyone have any other ideas of how to get them out maybe a pest trap or a pair of haliquine shrimp does anyone know if the shrimp will eat the astrina stars for sure

 

[KathyC]

Harleys will definitely take care of your asterinas for you.
If you get a pair, be sure to get male/female as otherwise they will likely kill each other. Sexing is done by the markings on their abdomen - one has no markings there - the other does (forgot which is which this morning..lol)

If you do get Harleys remember that you will have to feed them after they knock off your asterinas- they eat live starfish - only. Some buy a chocolate chip star and cut a leg off, feed it to the Harley and pop it back in their fuge until they need to feed again. I just feed mine the whole star and it lasts them about a month - in my tank.
Mine lets me know more food is due by coming to the side of the tank where I sit (my tank is next to my desk) and waves it arm- things at me. It stays there until I go get another starfish for it. lol

Harleys are also a nice addition to a tank as a pair tends to travel around the tank together and they are interesting to watch.

A win-win for you

 

[Imbarrie]

I suspect mine are killing off my pipe organ coral. I had a luscious piece that is now pretty much all gone.
Im not positive still doing some research.

 

[Awibrandy]

What Kathy said!!!!!

 

[anthony27]

As what I told you, they will eat, I just take them out and place them in the sump or in the fuge. I foyu need help getting them out then I will help you

After a memeber posted on my tank thread saying astrina stars may be harmfull I did some reading and it looks like a lot of them eat zoos and procillapora I had a piece of procillapora in my tank and every day more and more would star to disapear ,funny thing is the part that didn't disapear was opened nice everyday with full extenstion I looked last night and there were a few starfish on the dead part working there wat up toward the meat.also I noticed they were on my zoos I don't know yet if they were eating the zoos but there all coming out I'm gonna pick them out with a tweezer .does anyone have any other ideas of how to get them out maybe a pest trap or a pair of haliquine shrimp does anyone know if the shrimp will eat the astrina stars for sure

 

[KathyC]

As what I told you, they will eat, I just take them out and place them in the sump or in the fuge. I foyu need help getting them out then I will help you

Huh? Anthony - are you says you'll help him take the asterinas out?
Unless you are going to take out all of his L/R - they do hide on the underside of rocks - he'd be much better off getting 1 or 2 Harleys.
Certain asterinas DO eat zoas - you may not have that type in your tank - but if does, he stands to lose a bunch of zoas while you wait to catch them all.

Do remember that even from your fuge they can 'walk' back up your plumbing and back into the tank :

 

[anthony27]

I have a built in fuge with the sump, so if they walk up they will get chopped up by the pump. But I told tuna fish, that he should take them out. I will help him take out what he can and then he will have to but the shrimp.

 

[charliethetuna88]

Awspome u gave me a reason to get a pair of harlys now I love them they look awsome but they def eat the mini stars right? Oh and I have mini brittles and 1 large brittle should I remove the large brittle and will they eat the mini brittles

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Ugghhhh. Just because you see a scavenger at the scene of tissue necrosis does not automatically mean they are responsible. Having a diverse (and free) cleanup crew is a huge asset and removing anything without a proper ID is counter productive. Micro brittle stars are great. There are websites that even sell them as part of a cleanup package and some of the species exhibit bioluminescence (which is cool on it's own). If the asterina population is so out of control that it detracts from the overall look of the tank than get a pair of Harlys like a few people have said. I wouldn't go nuts trying to remove something unless you know for sure they are bad for the tank. Pocillopora does use polyp baillout as a mechanism under stress and zoas do melt on their own sometimes. If they are sitting on the healthy tissue I'd be worried but loitering on the dead areas would be a sign to me they are probably just cleaning up what remnants are left.

 

[charliethetuna88]

I have a ton of them in there I always felt they were ok so I left them I also have a ton of micro brittles I am def gonna get a pair of harlys just as a control measure

 

[daisy]

+1 on what Kathy C said. The harleys worked for me, and after the asterinas were gone, my zoanthid population, which had been flagging, took off!

 

[charliethetuna88]

The stars were def on the zoos which were doing fine so I gotta check after work and see how that zoo colonly was doing after seeing the stars on them they open everyday to the fullest so if I go home and there closed then I know the bandits I'm gonna get a pair of harlys anways cause I just have way to many stars

 

[aznt1217]

damn... I think I have a reason to buy harlequin shrimp now lol.

 

[charliethetuna88]

Me too bro lol kathy thanks now I can add more shrimp to my collection I have
5 cleaner shrimp
2 sexy shrimp they are the coolest thing
2 peppermint
1 anenome shrimp
1 pistol
2 anenome crabs

 

[Killerdrgn]

Wait a harlequin won't eat a frozen starfish? Where can you get a constant supply of them (Stars) then? And if you buy more than 1 at a time how do you keep them alive?

 

[ctxmonitor]

From what i have read, the blue asterina are the one that eat corals. The white one are fine, since i have a whole bunch of them in my tank.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Ugghhhh. Just because you see a scavenger at the scene of tissue necrosis does not automatically mean they are responsible. Having a diverse (and free) cleanup crew is a huge asset and removing anything without a proper ID is counter productive. Micro brittle stars are great. There are websites that even sell them as part of a cleanup package and some of the species exhibit bioluminescence (which is cool on it's own). If the asterina population is so out of control that it detracts from the overall look of the tank than get a pair of Harlys like a few people have said. I wouldn't go nuts trying to remove something unless you know for sure they are bad for the tank. Pocillopora does use polyp baillout as a mechanism under stress and zoas do melt on their own sometimes. If they are sitting on the healthy tissue I'd be worried but loitering on the dead areas would be a sign to me they are probably just cleaning up what remnants are left.

+1

If you do get a Harly, he will eat the asteria starfish but I really don't think you need a pair. These guys eat alot

 

[brandon429]

--

I have an interesting view on the matter although likely only to me lol


My tank is one gallon, all of them have been, and I've been purposely stocking asterinas for 8 years in them because the little echinoderms fit the scaling of the aquascape perfectly and if I keep about 15 of them in my pico reefs you can nearly always see one or two on the glass which just makes the reef look so great to me. If I could find something that ate zoanthus sociatus I would buy that too, the zoanthids are my new aiptasias that are overgrowing my reef. I -wish- asterinas ate zo's...any genera of them, but they don't. Since I don't have fish, anything that looks and acts reefish helps my tank to look like a larger one.

The lFS used to just pick some out of the sumps for me, until about the 4th year of purchase they got smart (supply demand) and started charging me 3 bucks because the $20,000 dollars in pico reef supplies and stocking I've paid them since 2001 isn't nearly enough from a niche hobbyist lol

The inner workings of the reef is too complex to tie these coral issues to asterinas, my pics show zoanthid success in spite of huge numbers of them actually on the zoanthids. I am 99% sure they crawl over zoanthids to eat the slime, detritus and bacterial floc associated with grouped octocorals. I have never ever ever seen them actually eat a zoanthd. I have seen them cup over the top of a zoanthid for 24 hours, move off, and the zo open just fine same coloration. Now the zo's are overtaking my dendrophyllias, if blue asterinas (which I've also never seen in ten years) will do the job I will pay someone to ship me a handfull. it can't be asterinas...especially when Ive overstocked them in systems 1.10th the size of the tanks you guys use where my current vase, the one in the pic, is nearing five years and probably has 25 asterinas and 15 micro stars Im just guessing...Im only posting this picture to show I need help with zoanthids, not that Im losing them lol.

I have not found any coral they damage yet and I've been looking since the early 2000's. I know there are strong anecdotal reports that they do eat corals. Let me chalk that up as the 25th thing that doesn't happen in pico reefs that seems to always happen in large tanks
B

 

[charliethetuna88]

U have any in andy

 

[Avi]

I started this thread some time ago...take a look because it may help you rid your tank of asterinas

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1745175