Asterina sea stars control?

[dilligaf_biker69]

Need help....i have an infestation of these stars, and for all you nay sayers that say they do not eat polyps or corals well you are wrong...they are slowly eating my montipora caps....green and regular ol purple rim, I have been trying, with tweezers to get the majority out...but everytime I pick out a rock I see many many more all over and under...is anyone doing any studies to see what can "kill" these?..I know the Harlequin Shrimp is a good idea...but the last $28 I spent fed my neon dottyback...as I was breaking up the caps that had some die off on them I did a dip with seachems reef dip/coral disinfectant hoping iodine would hurt them...but as I dipped the cap i saw a few baby brittles drop off the rocks but none of the asterinas fall off...(guess if it kills baby brittles it may kill asterinas?)..I still had to use the tweezers after a short dip of about 5 min, guess I can try a longer dip?...any ideas?? will get pics up asap
Roy

 

[Kent E]

I had a simular problem a couple of years ago. A harliquin shrimp will take care of them but make sure you don't ahve any other stars.

There may be some fish that eat them, not exactly sure which.

 

[Sk8r]

Harlequins will die after they do in all the starfish. Bumblebee shrimp are also advertised to eat starfish, but are not that fussy.

 

[RichConley]

my melanarus wrasse eats them

 

[otolith]

I have seen my purple linkia chowing away on them (pretty cool watching it puke out its stomach onto the glass to swallow the stars). I've never seen my blue linkia touch them, but barely see those small stars any longer.

 

[SVXH6]

my blue linkia has eaten them..

 

[imbuggin]

blue

blue

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7550216#post7550216 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SVXH6
my blue linkia has eaten them..

my blue linka will eat them. It will not keep them under controll by any means though. I think they eat the corals after they start to receed. I thought they were eating my corals till I realized they were the "clean up crew" for AEFW and Monti Nutis.

 

[onehundred20]

ive heard of flatworm exit killing just about everything but fish and corals...not sure if it would work on starfish though.

 

[imbuggin]

will not

will not

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7552759#post7552759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by onehundred20
ive heard of flatworm exit killing just about everything but fish and corals...not sure if it would work on starfish though.

no it will not sorry

 

[CamBarr]

tagging along i have had mild sucess whith taking them out whith tweezers i have not seen them for a couple of daye well see though the also will eat coraline algea

 

[jman77]

How do these things spread ?

 

[CamBarr]

by fission
the split and divide them selves

 

[jman77]

How big of a tank would you need these stars in to keep a Harlequin shrimp going ? This would be a great way to keep the Harlequins fed and healthy if the shrimp eat them .

 

[CamBarr]

Im not quite shure, they procreate pretty fast.
im shure it's possible

 

[dilligaf_biker69]

and they do a great job of hiding under and through the rocks just like copepods and all...so as much as I pluck with tweezers they will be back with a vengance.....wonder if because I use NSW they procreate/split faster???...and yes they do a number on coralline too.

 

[melev]

I've had harlequins in my tank for several months now, and they eat asterinas on a daily basis. I have a blue one and a pink one (a boy and a girl, I assume). Here's Mrs Harlequin Shrimp.

They are nocturnal, and they won't erradicate them quickly. I do have serpent starfish and a brittle starfish in this tank as well, but they haven't been interested in them.

 

[jman77]

neat....anyone willing to send some stars my way ...

 

[CamBarr]

melev
How bad was the out break? Did you notice a change in the volume of them in you’re tank???

 

[BlueStag]

Harlequin shrimp works great. I had a large outbreak of the little stars too. I purchased one Harlequin for a 180 gallon. He keeps the population down very well. As long as you have a sump, refugium or overflow, the stars will still be in the tank. I still see the stars, but not nearly as many as before. Just enough to keep the Harlequin fed. Harlequin are fun to watch too.

 

[melev]

Well, they were everywhere. At this point, there are less of them, but I still see at least 50 scattered about on the glass daily. I used to see them on almost every square inch of rock, when I looked hard enough. They blend in well.