asterina starfish

[cloak]

I'm just curious how many of you leave these stars in your tank and how many of you remove them. I don't trust them. If you have any stories about them that would be great as well. Thanks.

 

[shred5]

I'm just curious how many of you leave these stars in your tank and how many of you remove them. I don't trust them. If you have any stories about them that would be great as well. Thanks.

There are different kinds... some are bad some are not..

I have had them in one of my tanks for years with now harm. Usually the lighter in color ones are ok..

The ones that look like this are bad:

http://www.garf.org/Star/starfish.html

 

[EllieSuz]

I was just thinking about this yesterday during a water change. I have about 50 of them and have never seen them on any corals. They usually are visible on the back glass.

 

[cloak]

I've awoken quite a few times to find them on my zoanthids. Once I started removing them things started to look much better. Also, they just don't look good IMO, especially if your glass is covered with them. I saw a tank one time that had tons of them, it almost looked like chicken pox or something.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/asterina.shtml

 

[SushiGirl]

I leave mine, but only because observation shows me they're eating algae and coralline, not my zoas.

 

[Playa-1]

I put mine in the fuge. They tend to make a mess with the coralline algae if I let too many of them hang out in the DT. They don't seem to bother anything else.

 

[doonan75]

I thought that the pink ones were harmless until they devoured my acros on a tank about 5years ago. I wish. I had pictures you could see the outline of them after they fed in the morning

 

[OneReef]

I remove them cause they can get out of control quickly. They multiply like crazy.

 

[dixiedog]

I have a couple kinds, I think. Both seem harmless, with apparently stable populations.

I have one or two of these mac daddy ones that I rarely see, but I think are awesome:

 

[SushiGirl]

heheheh, we have one like that too, but never in a good spot to get a pic. My boyfriend freaked out the first time he saw it.

 

[mattgreene22]

Looks like I have them too...on rock and the glass where I'm holding the rock I bought off a local reefer until my display was ready. Not sure yet if I'm going to pick them out or let it ride. They might help with algae and diatoms etc in an immature tank. I guess I could always buy a harlequin down the road if I need to...I shop for other livestock around that potentiality. Thing is, now is probably the best time to eradicate if I need to...the rock and starfish are all contained outside my display.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/asterina-starfish-45802.html

 

[a.browning]

I have been removing them all slowly. After finding them on multiple healthy zoanthid colonies I have begun to take them all out. And these were the plain white ones, the ones that are supposed to be fine. There's a LOT more than you'd think.. Plus my corraline has started to grow again.

 

[westreef]

I try to remove as many as possible on the glass. In a few occasion, I found they were eating my zoa. They usually populate on the glass before all lights are on. So that is the best time to pick them out. I can never totally get rid of them, just thin down the population:uzi:

 

[elegance coral]

I have a pair of harlequin shrimp that controls mine. When I see the population getting to low, I throw in a chocolate chip star for the shrimp. The shrimp feed on it for a few weeks, which gives the Asterina star population time to recover. Then the shrimp feed on Asterinas for a while. Seems to work well. The Asterina seem to congregate in places out of sight, so they don't really bother me.
I didn't know how to vote, so I just didn't vote. I do remove them. Just not all of them.

 

[Znut Reefer]

I remove them ea time I do a WC. I haven't had any problems with them. I just hate to see them on the panes all the time.

 

[sponger0]

I remove them cause they do a number on coralline algae and if the population is large enough will make your coralline turn white.

 

[Santoki]

I keep them because they keep my tank coralline free.
Coralline sucks up alk and cal and IMO makes the tank look spotty, hence dirty.
-Robert

 

[mattgreene22]

all very interesting...

Elegance Coral - how big is your tank that supports this approach? Sounds like a lemons to lemonade scenario...I love the look of harlequin shrimp, but haven't researched their general compatibilities

 

[elegance coral]

all very interesting...

Elegance Coral - how big is your tank that supports this approach? Sounds like a lemons to lemonade scenario...I love the look of harlequin shrimp, but haven't researched their general compatibilities

The tank is a Marineland 200 gallon DD.

The shrimp are completely reef safe. They eat nothing but starfish.

David Saxby has a large harlequin shrimp in his tank, and the astrena stars reproduce fast enough to sustain the shrimp without any direct feeding. My system doesn't produce starfish fast enough to support my pair, so I have to throw in a chocolate chip every once in a while.

 

[tmz]

Hard to tell the good from the bad. I remove them. I've seen them tear into my zoanthids. Never seen one harm sps but others have reported damage to them and leathers too.