Any concensus on "asterina" starfish?

[sfsuphysics]

I've noticed some bare patches on a couple acropora species in my tank, a quick exam makes me not think AEFW. But yesterday I noticed some of the "asterina" starfish on all the bare patches of all the acropora in question.

Now my question is this simply finding someone at the "scene of a crime" and they pointing in my finger and calling it guilty, or is there any chance these SOBs might actually be consuming my corals? I realize they might be eating algae type matter that is now growing on a coral skeleton, and there's something else that's guilty of the damage, so I don't want to over react with my solution to fix it.

 

[greenbean36191]

I think it's fairly well established that some of them do actually eat corals.

 

[Pea-brain]

Some will eat corals, some will eat detritus, and some will eat algae, and some might eat all of it. The asterina star family is so widespread that ID'ing them is nearly impossible, so if you see suspicious activity, I would take action. At least thats what I've read

Dan

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah but what action could I take? I mean ok, I can manually remove every time I see them, which probably isn't that effective. Biologically I could get a harlequin shrimp, but I don't think that would be a very responsible thing to do because there aren't a lot of those buggers in the tank anyways.

I know they don't multiply like nudibranchs but still.

 

[Pea-brain]

physical removal sounds like the best action now. Look real close and get a feel for how many you might have (They blend in real good) If you start noticing alot more I would get a harlequin. Then when you see the population start to diminish start supplementing their feeding with starfish, or starfish legs.

Dan

 

[sfsuphysics]

They don't seem to blend though, they have a really dark color and contrasted against the white skeleton they pop right out.