Asternia - Caught in the Act?

[billyWhite]

Hello,

I have a coral that I thought was suffering from STN. For the past few months (at least), I've noticed the tissue dying, starting at the base, up until the point you see in the attached photo. But! Today I saw the huge Asternia that I have in my tank (a little bit smaller than a quarter) lodged in the coral branches. I'm hoping I can close 'The Case of the Dying Coral', give this guy the boot, and watch my coral grow a new coat.

Am I too far off base? The only other experience I've had with coral health issues was Nudis, and with that I pretty much had to throw all my coral out. If it is indeed the starfish, can I expect a full recovery?

Bonus points for identifying the coral. I'm terrible with these names.

Thanks! (^_^)

 

[dvanacker]

The asternia might have been munching on the dead tissue but they didnt cause it.

Looks like classic STN from the base. I can't tell you for sure what caused it in the first place but even if the initial problem is corrected the coral can still slowly lose tissue from the base. Sometimes fragging it out can help the problem.

 

[Alex T.]

+1.

I believe there's only one type of Asterina star that is responsible for munching on SPS. Unless you find the stars above the necrotic line munching in the middle of a fresh branch of coral I wouldn't sweat them. I have hundreds if not thousands of them and never had them cause a problem. If I siphon a few out during maintenance I never put them back in though.

 

[RynosReef]

+1 as well. I'd look for something else as the cause of the stn. My tank is full of them too and they've only messed with corals who weren't doing so hot. But they've never hurt living tissue on anything.

 

[billyWhite]

Ugh, that is unfortunate. Should I frag off the dead parts?

 

[chefzif]

get a Haralquin Shrimp and say bye to the Asteria, they will irritate sps

 

[RynosReef]

That's a good option if you want to rid of the asteria. Just remember that once they're gone your harlequin shrimp will likely starve to death. Harlequin shrimp eat starfish. That's it. So they will eat any starfish in the tank and then.. say bye to harlequin shrimp

 

[billyWhite]

No, I definitely don't want a Harlequin. He'd probably just get eaten by my filefish, anyways. This big Asterina is the only one that I've ever seen in my tank, so it's not like I have a problem with them, per se. I'll move the starfish to the refugium just to be safe.

I guess I'll just frag the coral and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the input, everyone!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

get rid of that Asterina!

get rid of that Asterina!

certain Asterina stars will eat healthy coral tissue