Acro eating starfish???

[jackson6745]

Over the past few months I have been slowly losing every acro in my tank. I have checked every possible water parameter that I can test for including salinity, phosphate, nitrate, alk, cal, mag, temp, copper, nitrite, ammonia etc. I have done many water changes, carbon, and polyfilters etc. Treated for redbugs and acro flatworms. Anyway, I have still not been able to find the reason why my acros STN.

What I noticed is that every single acro with STN had those little starfish on them. I though they were just eating dead coral tissue or maybe algae, but after watching them closely it seems that STN starts when I see them on a coral. Has anyone heard of mini stars eating acros before?

I don't have a pic of them but they are the kind of stars that stick to the glass and are usually missing a leg or two.

 

[Deanos]

Has anyone heard of mini stars eating acros before?

Yes.

Coral Eating Starfish

Asterina FAQs

 

[Deanos]

And of course, the most inflammatory article of them all:

GARF on asterinas

 

[scarf_ace1981]

interesting articles dean. i think this line sums it up.

from one of the articles
"you will probably not find any "educated answers" (or at least consensus) on these stars, and part of the reason for a lack of agreement is that there are almost certain to be several species of similar small stars that are impossible to tell apart in practice. There are a variety of tiny sea stars in the genus Asterina that all look more-or-less the same but in practice they may have very different habits in aquaria"

 

[jackson6745]

Thanks Dean. So who can get me the best price on Harlequins

 

[scarf_ace1981]

ask ronen. he can get some nice ones

 

[mshur]

interesting .....
i do have some corals wich is reciding too...but, i never saw this start fish eating my acro's. i have to take a look more clouse.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

mike
they come out more @ night. they are tiny and can blend into the rockwork very well. good luck guys

 

[Deanos]

So who can get me the best price on Harlequins

Rich, I hope you don't have any fish with an appetite for ornamental shrimp :eat:

 

[fishywoo]

I had these in my system for a while they especially liked my Bali green Slimer. First I started using tweezers to remove them, placing them in a dish. After doing a quick count i realised I had removed about 1500. Yep 1500. They are very hard to detect and multiply quickly if left unchecked. 2 become 4 ect Harlequin did the trick for me in the end. eventually he will run out of them to eat however.

 

[Pedro]

Rich, I still recommend that you buy and keep a chocolate chip starfish in your fuge. The mini stars might not be enough to sustain it. And there might not even be a guarantee that they will go after them. So think about this.

 

[House of Laughter]

Rich,

If you need harlequins let me know, we can get em for ya - also, are we sure they will eat the smaller stars? I know they love chocolate chips.

House

 

[fishywoo]

Rich when I got my Harlequin I took one or two of the starfish in the tweezers and hand fed him after that he went at them like a duck to water.

 

[reefman]

omg. i post something about that not that long ago.
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-beginners/12698-id-needed.html

we should start a thread just for pest control where we can borrow pest control animals then return them after the job is done.
that way, we can gather alot of them and take care of the problem and not have to wonder hmmm... what should i do with them now :scratchch
of course this takes some effort but i think its a better conservation practice.

 

[jhale]

Rich what did you do to piss off the reef Gods?

Your getting every coral eating critter out there.

 

[jackson6745]

I've had these starts for a while but they really have multiplied. I would say I have at least 500 or more in my tank. They do come out like crazy at night.
The Harlequins have a long while to go before they run out of food, and when they do I have unlimited access to all the starfish I want (I work on a boat )

 

[jackson6745]

Rich what did you do to piss off the reef Gods?

Your getting every coral eating critter out there.

Yeah tell me about it. I'm still not sure if the stars are the cause of the STN or they're just eating a dying coral... I'll try the shrimps and see what happens.

 

[loismustdie]

What up rich? Sorry about the stars. I've got little stars all over my tank too, but no coral losses. May not be the same type?
As Jon said, you're batting 1.000 with the reef predators. Each of the local 3 pet stores I go to have had harlequins last time I was there. I'm sure they are readily available through the vendors here.

 

[mshur]

rich,
if u gonna order this shrimp, i will get one

mike

 

[ShaunW]

Do you guys have a pic of them on the acro?

I have alot of starfish in my tank, but none of them go near the acro tissue, so I would be very suspect.

BTW, another method may be a high dose of FWE, which kills mini stars quite well.