Asterinas

[teddyb]

I was a non-believer. I thought everyone that said that asterinas ate zoas was paranoid. Until I saw it myself, twice.

My VDM's have been closed up for the last couple weeks, and two days ago, I saw an asterina on one of the polyps. I pulled it off and it left the polyp barely hanging on and a nice black smudge on the stem. The next day I found the polyp totally detached but partially open, so I put it in an area of low flow. I thought it would recover.

Then just now, I found another asterina totally wrapped around the single polyp I put aside, it is pretty much gone. My theory is that they will just prey on the weaker, dying polyps. :sad2:

 

[650-IS350]

manual removal period. Unless you have a massive amount of them then you can use a Harlequin shrimp to control

 

[Skeptic_07]

Yup, this happened to me as well. I was skeptical of it until i saw it happening right in front of my face. Then I looked carefully at my rocks and realized there was literally hundreds in my small tank. They reproduce by dividing and the bigger the population gets the faster it grows (exponential growth). I think they will turn on zoas as an alternate food source when their current food source isn't enough to support their population. A harlequin will decimate the population very fast so if you keep it you'll have to feed it stars. Maybe you could borrow one from the LFS or a local reefer.

 

[flyyyguy]

Re: Asterinas

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15172993#post15172993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by teddyb
My theory is that they will just prey on the weaker, dying polyps. :sad2:

There are hundreds of different kinds of asterinas. Some are predatory, some are harmless grazers. the only way we at a hobbyist level could tekll them apart is by where they hang out and what they actually eat. I have encountered both sps eating ones and polyp eating ones at different times and even they are not the same IMO even though they appear to be. The ones that I have had eat sps do not eat polyps and vice versa. I have tried to get them to and they wont do it.

I do not discriminate, if I see an asterina I get it out and release them into the wild. I live in a high desert.

Same thing goes for amphipods IMO. Many people dont believe they wil eat polyps(including myself) until they witness it with their own eyes. I dont think the ones that eat polyps are the same as the harmless ones that many want in their tanks. If they were, then how could we explain them not being an issue for years, and then all of a sudden just going rogue on us?? not likely.

just more reason to make sure when you introduce new things to your tank, all you introduce is the coral and kill very dead everything else

 

[Kdocimo90]

So if you're only seeing asterinas on the glass and walls then they should be considered harmelss ones? I've got a few on my tank walls, but I have never seen one on a rock or coral.

 

[650-IS350]

If I see one, I get rid of it. No point of waiting to find one chomping on your expensive polyp. I could care less if its on the glass, that's the reason I employ snails and algae blenny.

 

[dalston]

Re: Re: Asterinas

Re: Re: Asterinas

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15175103#post15175103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyyyguy


I do not discriminate, if I see an asterina I get it out and release them into the wild.

+1, After catching an asternia chowing down on some blue Indo polyps, they all ride the porcelain express.

 

[650-IS350]

I go by this saying .. WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT or at least place in your sump ( if you have one ) till it gets properly ID'd and history known.:bum:

 

[jose300z]

Anyone know of a way to get rid of them other than a Harlequin shrimp. Any other predator?? Have taken a few hundred out manually but they keep reproducing.

 

[flyyyguy]

you sound like a prime candidate for a harlequin, as well as sound like you have harmless grazers and a abundance of food for them. If they were reproducing prolifically like that and were eating yur corals, you would clearly notice it

 

[jose300z]

yeah they have an appetite for Pink Zoas and Coraline algae.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

I have heard somthing about the white ones being ok, and the bluish or grey colored ones not being ok.

Any input? What color were the bad ones that have posted so far?

 

[flyyyguy]

the color thing is a myth

color, size and number of legs mean nothing. Or at least men nothing at a hobbysit level of trying to tell the good from the bad.

Im sure it means something, but having conversations with people who really know what they are talking about such as leslieh abut these things, little is actually known to be fact.

Like many pests, they can sometimes take on a little of the color of what it is they are eating sometimes.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

^ good to know, thx flyguy.

I have been under this impresion, and am glad to here another opinion. I will think twice on the subject for sure.

Just outa curiosity-

Any other experiances with look/color of these little stars that have been caught predating on polyps??

 

[jose300z]

In my tank I have taken small, big, 3 legs up to 6 legs, gray, white all types off of the zoas. They all will attach themselves to the zoas and melt it away. They seam to go for smaller zoas and affect them faster.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Re: Re: Asterinas

Re: Re: Asterinas

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15175103#post15175103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyyyguy
There are hundreds of different kinds of asterinas. Some are predatory, some are harmless grazers. the only way we at a hobbyist level could tekll them apart is by where they hang out and what they actually eat. I have encountered both sps eating ones and polyp eating ones at different times and even they are not the same IMO even though they appear to be. The ones that I have had eat sps do not eat polyps and vice versa. I have tried to get them to and they wont do it.

I do not discriminate, if I see an asterina I get it out and release them into the wild. I live in a high desert.

Same thing goes for amphipods IMO. Many people dont believe they wil eat polyps(including myself) until they witness it with their own eyes. I dont think the ones that eat polyps are the same as the harmless ones that many want in their tanks. If they were, then how could we explain them not being an issue for years, and then all of a sudden just going rogue on us?? not likely.

just more reason to make sure when you introduce new things to your tank, all you introduce is the coral and kill very dead everything else

flyyyguy, I agree % 100 my friend, great answer to all three of your replies. I remove them all even though all aren't bad ones. They key is protecting your investment with the price of these polyps today. Sure some are harmless, but do you wait until your colony or 3 polyp frag is consumed before you take the action to prevent the mow down?

Just my 2

 

[circusink22]

yup those little bastard stars started eating my zoas too I got a harlequin he cleaned the tank of them in 3 weeks. there are a few strays but he will still eat a couple a day. i herd other people say they got there harlequin to eat frozen starfish peices, im just going to cut the legs of a chocolate chip starfish everyother week to feed mine. watching these guys find and eat starfish is awsome better than feeding a rat to my snakes, if your in to that sorta thing when i put my harlequin in the tank within hours hundreds of starfish moved to the top of the glass they knew they were dinner.

 

[Morbidious]

I pull them out whenever I see them now. I have seen them on many different types of zoas and they are definitely eating them. I use a long pair of tweezers to remove them and it works
great.

 

[dark_stranger]

I have to disagree about the colour statment as have previoulsy had bouts of zoa eating asterinas and all of the offending star's where of the dark variarity and took the decision of picking out all dark ones, but leaving the light coloured ones. I have never found a light on eating or even on Zoa's only dark ones.

 

[flyyyguy]

I just looked but couldnt find it. I am on a slow internet connection and have thousands of pics loaded to photobucket....surfing through them is tough. I have pics of light colored ones munching on polyps. I wil find them.

When you are talking about creatures that the colors of which change to some extent according to what they eat, color means nothing. Its like saying green zoa eating nudibranch wont eat your orange zoas.

Even the people that know lots more than even the most experienced reefkeepers about these creatures, know very little about them when it comes right down to it