Good or Bad (stolen pic included)
- Thread starter thatguy
- Start date
Asterina sp. starfish is a whole genus. Most species are quite reef safe but it's hard for a regular hobbiest to know which ones are good and which ones are bad.
It's been my experience that the really large ones that look like this are bad.
It's been my experience that the really small white ones that look like this are good (as long as the population is kept in check)
It's been my experience that the really large ones that look like this are bad.
It's been my experience that the really small white ones that look like this are good (as long as the population is kept in check)
Letmegrow
New member
Mr. and Miss.-information !
They are fine, they wont go to town and are not definitely bad.
Astrinas are only reportedly predators on porities coral. Although very few accounts have been brought to light and confirmed.
Never once in over 8 years have I seen them or heard about first hand accounts of astrinas gobbling anything but algae.
What you have here is unfounded, bogeyman-esque heresy.
I say keep them because they are filling a niche and wont multiply with out a food source. If they are eating your corals you would notice and the 100,000+ other people that also observe them on a daily basis.
http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=1426
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1117194&highlight=asterina
I have seen them eat zoanthids firsthand. As with many things the family asterinas come from is large and SOME types DO eat corals. I have enough high-end corals in my tank that I do not want to play Russian Roulette with something that may or may not eat them.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1117194&highlight=asterina
I have seen them eat zoanthids firsthand. As with many things the family asterinas come from is large and SOME types DO eat corals. I have enough high-end corals in my tank that I do not want to play Russian Roulette with something that may or may not eat them.
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Letmegrow
New member
Less than 2% "eat" corals, the corals were probly damaged to the point of enticing them to eat the sloughing flesh.
Reread the whole thread if you are going to link it.
Pretty amazing starfish that one day eats zoas then one day eats sps.
Shame to kill them for the sake of they might be a predator because no one looked into it.
I doubt you have seen them eat healthy zoas and no one else has seen them eat zoas consistantly either.
Reread the whole thread if you are going to link it.
Pretty amazing starfish that one day eats zoas then one day eats sps.
Shame to kill them for the sake of they might be a predator because no one looked into it.
I doubt you have seen them eat healthy zoas and no one else has seen them eat zoas consistantly either.
Hey gang. Asterina sp. is a VERY LARGE genus and it's hard to ID them so lets choose our words carefully and present our views without argument. Most common species are great at removing microalgaes from rock and glass.
Let's not forget that we are all in this together.
This is just like urchins....what goes in, must come out. Urchins and Asterina actually spread coralline growth by pooping out coralline spores.
Let's not forget that we are all in this together.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9951446#post9951446 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JxMetal
I kill them because they leave white spots in my coraline...
This is just like urchins....what goes in, must come out. Urchins and Asterina actually spread coralline growth by pooping out coralline spores.
zt444a
New member
I just go by what I have seen in my own tank, however screwed up it might be. No misinformation, really just going on personal experience. If you keep SPS, and you see some on your corals, you take precautions, or at least I did because I did not want to take the chance that they were munching away.
As for asterina stars, I have read some about them as well. Curt is correct in that they are a very large group, not all will eat your corals. I can't tell the ones that do, so I try to keep the population down. Stlouisguy (Clark) had them worse than anyone I know.
zt444a
New member
I just go by what I have seen in my own tank, however screwed up it might be. No misinformation, really just going on personal experience. If you keep SPS, and you see some on your corals, you take precautions, or at least I did because I did not want to take the chance that they were munching away.
As for asterina stars, I have read some about them as well. Curt is correct in that they are a very large group, not all will eat your corals. I can't tell the ones that do, so I try to keep the population down. Stlouisguy (Clark) had them worse than anyone I know.
Letmegrow
New member
Howard you have seen them eating your corals ?
Or you got rid of them before they did ?
It sounds like a mixed statement.
I do not believe Clark ever had one problem keeping corals or loosing them due to Astrinas. He can state if he has ever seen them eat a coral or not.
When something is eating a coral it usually has one of two methods employed.
Method one: Group effort, the coral gets swarmed by a lot of one species of pest. Red bugs, Flatworms, Nudis, ect.
Method two: A single effort with a highly camouflaged attack.
Eunicid worms coming out only at night to feed, same as fire worms, or certain larger flat worms too that I have seen eating entire toadstool leather corals. Let us not forget our favorite Nudibranches that resemble what they eat ! Lisa how do 5 berghia eat an aiptasia ? As a group.
Astrina stars do not target one coral and feast en masse, they also do not resemble a specific coral or even a specific coral group. No one has witnessed them eating a specific coral from start to finish. They look like a funky old piece of live rock, for that is which they graze on.
I'm sorry but you are killing the starfish for a less than 2% chance that they might eat a coral because 1 or 2 people have a tiny bit information that they noticed a decline in one or two corals that might have been on their way out before the starfish got there to further harass the tissue.
I do recognize and appreciate pest as mentioned above and do belive that they need be eradicated, but the astrinas are being needlessly killed by your unfounded precautions.
I leave my statement open ended and hope we can further discuss this and not have this seen as an attack. I want to be able to learn something here not shun my friends away. So relax and lets talk.
Or you got rid of them before they did ?
It sounds like a mixed statement.
I do not believe Clark ever had one problem keeping corals or loosing them due to Astrinas. He can state if he has ever seen them eat a coral or not.
When something is eating a coral it usually has one of two methods employed.
Method one: Group effort, the coral gets swarmed by a lot of one species of pest. Red bugs, Flatworms, Nudis, ect.
Method two: A single effort with a highly camouflaged attack.
Eunicid worms coming out only at night to feed, same as fire worms, or certain larger flat worms too that I have seen eating entire toadstool leather corals. Let us not forget our favorite Nudibranches that resemble what they eat ! Lisa how do 5 berghia eat an aiptasia ? As a group.
Astrina stars do not target one coral and feast en masse, they also do not resemble a specific coral or even a specific coral group. No one has witnessed them eating a specific coral from start to finish. They look like a funky old piece of live rock, for that is which they graze on.
I'm sorry but you are killing the starfish for a less than 2% chance that they might eat a coral because 1 or 2 people have a tiny bit information that they noticed a decline in one or two corals that might have been on their way out before the starfish got there to further harass the tissue.
I do recognize and appreciate pest as mentioned above and do belive that they need be eradicated, but the astrinas are being needlessly killed by your unfounded precautions.
I leave my statement open ended and hope we can further discuss this and not have this seen as an attack. I want to be able to learn something here not shun my friends away. So relax and lets talk.
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