Dam SPS Eating Starfish

[Obi-dad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11851445#post11851445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tang Salad
Yes, we know those are Asterinas.
The question was to the OP: are these the stars on his/her SPS?

Right - the thread starter said 'creamish brown in color' and no bigger than a dime. The asterinas I have had were completely white, much smaller than a dime and never went near sps. His starfish may be asterinas but not like I have, or the photos here on RC about asterinas.

 

[Tang Salad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11851508#post11851508 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Obi-dad
Right - the thread starter said 'creamish brown in color' and no bigger than a dime. The asterinas I have had were completely white, much smaller than a dime and never went near sps. His starfish may be asterinas but not like I have, or the photos here on RC about asterinas.

Yes, and the behavior he describes doesn't sound like Asterinas. I can't imagine Asterina stars having the dexterity to even hold onto an SPS.

 

[Emster]

Tang salad- I thought you were implying you had these in your tank and wanted to know if you should get rid of them or keep an eye on them. I think by his earlier posts he knows what he has. Mine are green.

 

[Emster]

Asterinas can hold onto sps's, I have seen them.

 

[Tang Salad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11851629#post11851629 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Emster
Tang salad- I thought you were implying you had these in your tank and wanted to know if you should get rid of them or keep an eye on them. I think by his earlier posts he knows what he has. Mine are green.

I see. Sorry for the confusion

I think we may need a picture, or more input from the OP, to figure out if he's talking about Asterinas. To me, it sounded like he/she was describing some kind of brittle star.

And FWIW, most people in the hobby see Asterinas as harmless, and not as corallivores.

 

[SuperNerd]

There are a bunch of different kinds of asterinas I think. Maybe you got major time unlucky. Mine just suck algae off the glass and rock. Mostly the glass though.

I heard somewhere that the harlequin shrimp actually do not do well longterm eating solely those types of stars. I think eventually you'll need to buy them live, larger types of stars. Too bad it has such a restricted diet.

 

[pco1988]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11851445#post11851445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tang Salad
Yes, we know those are Asterinas.
The question was to the OP: are these the stars on his/her SPS?

Yes those are the stars. I have had other ones that did nothing, but these I saw going after the sps at night one night.

 

[tkeracer619]

Asternia are bad mkay. The harlequin shrimp will devastate the population. You will need to feed it a chocolate chip starfish every once in a while. A lot of people keep the star in the sump and just feed the shrimp one arm at a time.

You will want the shrimp for a while so it can snack on the asternia as it sees them. MY 150 was rid of asternia within 2 days of adding a harlequin shrimp. The food supply won't last long.

 

[nrehman]

I've had two harlequins in my tank for about 3 weeks...still tons of asterinas. It might be my imagination...but they may be decreasing. Manual removal seems to help as they like coraline algae. Rocks are BARE of coraline.
On the other hand, this is mathematically a finite problem.

 

[gastone]

Nadir,

your equation becomes finite when all of my zoas are dead... not the solutions I'm looking for.

G.