Home from 9 days vacation and, of course, the first thing I do is run to check on my babies. What's this? Hmmm...a pile of cleaner snail shells and a starfish climbing inside one. Not an asterina star but a regular star like you would find at the beach. I have him quarantined right now. Is he the culprit? I also have a Coral Banded Shrimp. Grrr...
Killer on the Loose
- Thread starter Foody
- Start date
Eastamherstbias
New member
Pictures will help
Steve Canyon
New member
looks like a normal asterina to me, isnt' it?
Eastamherstbias
New member
It looks a little different...?
My asterina are small and white. One would fit on a dime with room to spare. This one is about the size of a half dollar, brown and textured on the topside. If you've ever gone to the beach or a public aquarium and seen the starfish, that's what this one looks like. Very much like this:
BuffaloReef
New member
Doesn't look like an asterina to me. Too big and far too symmetrical. It looks similar to a chocolate chip starfish. It may have a similar diet but it's hard to know. I wouldn't trust it in with corals though. I would keep it in my sump if I were you. Cool find.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
rule out the shrimp
rule out the shrimp
take a picture of both the star and the snail in that cup DRY (on a towel) next to a quarter (for perspective)
rule out the shrimp
take a picture of both the star and the snail in that cup DRY (on a towel) next to a quarter (for perspective)
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
I don't think that star is killing the snails- there's another culprit.
magdelan
Fish?
Now, seeing it in perspective, it looks like an average run of the mill asterina. Once again, imo, the snails were victim to something else and the star was just cleanin up shop.
Have you considdered that an "oops" may have occured while you were on vacation? Snails cannot deal with rapid changes/swings to their environment. Perhaps the tank evaporated and it wasn't "topped off" properly. A quick spike in salinity could cause a snails demise.
Maybe one died and the others followed suit out of sympathy.
Maybe they all drank the koolaide... did you check em for Nike's?
Maybe they were siblings and all expired at the same time.
Maybe it was genocide... have you checked for gastro prints?
I'm out of bad ideas.
Have you considdered that an "oops" may have occured while you were on vacation? Snails cannot deal with rapid changes/swings to their environment. Perhaps the tank evaporated and it wasn't "topped off" properly. A quick spike in salinity could cause a snails demise.
Maybe one died and the others followed suit out of sympathy.
Maybe they all drank the koolaide... did you check em for Nike's?
Maybe they were siblings and all expired at the same time.
Maybe it was genocide... have you checked for gastro prints?
I'm out of bad ideas.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
get out the flashlight
get out the flashlight
mantis shrimp or predatory snail
get out the flashlight
mantis shrimp or predatory snail
