Some Hitchhikers from the swap
- Thread starter bkv1997
- Start date
geekdafied
In Memoriam
The 6 finger sea star is bad. They eat sps. here is a link about them on GARF's website. The first one is the original post and the second is a update.
http://garf.org/news26p2.html#STAR
http://garf.org/STAR/starfish.html
http://garf.org/news26p2.html#STAR
http://garf.org/STAR/starfish.html
geekdafied
In Memoriam
any idea where they came from?
geekdafied
In Memoriam
aight, PMs work well though 
P
P
cee
New member
Better let them know quick, because I'm surprised at the number of people over on MTRC who've already acclimated and added their corals to their tanks. Granted, they didn't have a 3 hour drive home, but I hope they were careful. Gary warned people about this, and a nice Lugol's bath would have taken care of both of those guys. BTW, I suspect the snail is a nerite sp., but I'm definately not an expert on those.
Dave
Dave
bkv1997
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9032319#post9032319 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by geekdafied
aight, PMs work well though
HEHE just treat all your frags like they have hitchhikers and you don't have to worry.
I dip everything even if it came from a reputible tank.. that way i have no one to blame but myself if I get something.
geekdafied
In Memoriam
I dipped all of my stuff, nothing came off, but I would rather be even more safe then sorry. I got a lot of frags, but only from a few people. People that I know check their tanks for various pests.
Angela Short
New member
First off big Thank you to Brandon for being profesional about the questionable critters 
He PMed me and was nice in open forum! I get kinda irked when people just call names in public forum without the benifit of the doubt or even knowing if it really came from the person being talked about kinda thing. The frag in question came from me . I have tons of the tiny snails and they never possed a problem. Sundials have a more distinct pattern.
Now the star....I honestly have never seen one so short and stubby looking like that in my tank. I have lots of the artemia (sp?) but they seem to have slightly longer leggs and are more tan colored. I have not noticed anything receding or missing polyps and haven't added anything in at least 6 months. If it came off the birdsnest, that worries me. I cut branches right off the colony into the containers so it would have had to be on a fleshy part. I only cut the farthest branches. 2 fraggs did fall onto the rockwork and I had to pick them out of cracks kinda thing and actually lost a nice frag down a crack. Its a slight chance it got inadvertently picked up with the grabs for the fallen branches but I am totally guessing! I did cut his first and one more before I just took the whole colony out because the fraggs were falling in cracks. Anyways..... Glad you dipped!! Especially as SPS packed as your tank is! I will post over in my forum for a heads up to folks to dip and look over there stuff from me extra good.
I set up a 20 for a makeshift QT and only put 4 things in unQTed in the main but I didn't want my most pricy SPS to be sitting under PCs for a few days till I get some dip and heartgaurd. Besides I know who they came from and I know they wouldn't dare have any bugs
My Christmas wrass is in a 10 gallon QT I threw together also. Can't take any chances for that "just one more" fish bringing in the crud. Glad I had a seasoned sponge for my unbelivable luck!
Sorry if he is bad! I never would pass on a FTD...(Frag Transmitted Disease) knowing I had it! I had tons of stuff to sell from my nano but didn't even offer then because I know I have Flatworms in there.
He PMed me and was nice in open forum! I get kinda irked when people just call names in public forum without the benifit of the doubt or even knowing if it really came from the person being talked about kinda thing. The frag in question came from me . I have tons of the tiny snails and they never possed a problem. Sundials have a more distinct pattern. Now the star....I honestly have never seen one so short and stubby looking like that in my tank. I have lots of the artemia (sp?) but they seem to have slightly longer leggs and are more tan colored. I have not noticed anything receding or missing polyps and haven't added anything in at least 6 months. If it came off the birdsnest, that worries me. I cut branches right off the colony into the containers so it would have had to be on a fleshy part. I only cut the farthest branches. 2 fraggs did fall onto the rockwork and I had to pick them out of cracks kinda thing and actually lost a nice frag down a crack. Its a slight chance it got inadvertently picked up with the grabs for the fallen branches but I am totally guessing! I did cut his first and one more before I just took the whole colony out because the fraggs were falling in cracks. Anyways..... Glad you dipped!! Especially as SPS packed as your tank is! I will post over in my forum for a heads up to folks to dip and look over there stuff from me extra good.
I set up a 20 for a makeshift QT and only put 4 things in unQTed in the main but I didn't want my most pricy SPS to be sitting under PCs for a few days till I get some dip and heartgaurd. Besides I know who they came from and I know they wouldn't dare have any bugs
My Christmas wrass is in a 10 gallon QT I threw together also. Can't take any chances for that "just one more" fish bringing in the crud. Glad I had a seasoned sponge for my unbelivable luck!
Sorry if he is bad! I never would pass on a FTD...(Frag Transmitted Disease
) knowing I had it! I had tons of stuff to sell from my nano but didn't even offer then because I know I have Flatworms in there.Angela Short
New member
Oh crap, I just re read your PM and it was on a old PM listed as "birdsnest"!! OK that makes me feel better it was not "on" the birdsnest frag. Now if it came off something with a rock attatched it could just be a dark looking artemia maybe?
We have had the starfish bad or good discussion recently on here so dip, do reaserch on your own and make your own judgement call I guess on if its bad or good I am just glad it was not on a SPS branch. Makes me less worried but it does look like the bad ones they show being darker colored.
We have had the starfish bad or good discussion recently on here so dip, do reaserch on your own and make your own judgement call I guess on if its bad or good
I am just glad it was not on a SPS branch. Makes me less worried but it does look like the bad ones they show being darker colored.
Tomoko Schum
New member
Hi y'all,
Here's what Dr. Shimek wrote about asterina starfish:
"A few species of stars may be kept successfully in aquaria. Probably the most ubiquitous of these are several (?) small species of cushion stars, possibly in the genus Asterina. These small stars are gray, white, or sometimes mottled with green, and are about one half inch across. They reproduce by fission, and are seldom seen with a complete array of arms. There appear to be three distinct types, which may be different species, found in reef aquaria. The most common variety is one that appears to eat algae and surface films. The second most common variety (although it is quite rare) eats zoanthids and soft corals. The rarest variety of these small white stars eats stony corals. Fortunately, aquarium control of them is pretty easy. They are not the speediest of animals, and if you find you have a type that is causing problems, periodic starfish safaris can generally rid a tank of them."
As for the small snails, could it be the beneficial collonista snails?
http://melevsreef.com/id/collonista.html
Tomoko
Here's what Dr. Shimek wrote about asterina starfish:
"A few species of stars may be kept successfully in aquaria. Probably the most ubiquitous of these are several (?) small species of cushion stars, possibly in the genus Asterina. These small stars are gray, white, or sometimes mottled with green, and are about one half inch across. They reproduce by fission, and are seldom seen with a complete array of arms. There appear to be three distinct types, which may be different species, found in reef aquaria. The most common variety is one that appears to eat algae and surface films. The second most common variety (although it is quite rare) eats zoanthids and soft corals. The rarest variety of these small white stars eats stony corals. Fortunately, aquarium control of them is pretty easy. They are not the speediest of animals, and if you find you have a type that is causing problems, periodic starfish safaris can generally rid a tank of them."
As for the small snails, could it be the beneficial collonista snails?
http://melevsreef.com/id/collonista.html
Tomoko
bkv1997
New member
Just to clear something up only the starfish came off your zoa colony Angela. I don't know if either is truely bad or not and because of that I only posted this to try and make people more aware of how important it is to dip your corals and how small things can be, so its important to use a magnifying glass to double check for nudi eggs and other things.
Brandon
Brandon
I have millions of those starfish in my old tank with SPS and had no problems, they would come out at night and cover the glass. I think they are fine. I had the same snails as well. Only problem with the snails is that they will clogg your becket if you have a becket skimmer
FWIW the Asterina "good or bad" arguement has been going on for years. I have never seen anyone post proof that they actually do any harm. Lots of people on both sides of the arguement. I have had them in my tanks and they have never harmed anything that I know of and I personally would not group them with any known coral parasites. The snail looks like a Nerite to me as well.
Chris
Chris
I have only seen Asterinas on some of my zoas... And that is only after they get turned over by my hermits... I think if they sense something stressed or rotting they attack them... Purely my theory... I pitch them outside or into the fire... I used to throw them into any FOWLR tank I had going, but you guys know me, the FOWLR's turn to reef in a matter of weeks...
Oh, and thats definately not a sundial... I have a bunch of them in my tank, and I'm sure most of you guys have those snails in yours if you check in the middle of the night...
I have been debating whether to get a harlequin shrimp in order to deal with the asterinas... But I don't want the poor guy to starve out after he's finished...
I had a few undesirable hitchikers at the swap... Aptasia and Hydroids... Some of the aptasia was made aware to me before hand, which I appreciate... Some was not... The hydoids were not... I would have left that frag at the swap... Oh well... I'm still happy with my overall haul...
Oh, and thats definately not a sundial... I have a bunch of them in my tank, and I'm sure most of you guys have those snails in yours if you check in the middle of the night...
I have been debating whether to get a harlequin shrimp in order to deal with the asterinas... But I don't want the poor guy to starve out after he's finished...
I had a few undesirable hitchikers at the swap... Aptasia and Hydroids... Some of the aptasia was made aware to me before hand, which I appreciate... Some was not... The hydoids were not... I would have left that frag at the swap... Oh well... I'm still happy with my overall haul...
H@rry
In Memoriam
I have these starfish and I've never known them to harm anything. I usually see a few on the glass when the lights first come on and then they start looking for a place to hide. I figured they were good if they were on the glass. FWIW, they are more than welcome to eat anything they find on the glass, saves me the scraping.
Angela Short
New member
OK Sorry about the rants earlier and long winded posting! The frag they came from I decided to frag that morning just to try and make a little extra cash. Seriously, that colony I have had for at least 8 months and its the healthiest looking polyps I have ever had. Every polyp is 100% open and multiplying like mad so I would think if it was a bad star like some think at least 1 polyp in 8 months would have looked stressed at the least. The mother colony started as a tiny 10 polyp frag and I have enjoyed watching it grow like a weed and actually paid close attention to that zoa because it is one of my favorites. Knowing the star came from a awsome heathy colony it puts my mind at ease over it being bad.
Someone else that got my other frag of this had a star on his also. So if they were bad I think 2 on one small colony would have made it a little stressed and it wasn't so even more fuel to the they are not bad theory.
The frag they came from I decided to frag that morning just to try and make a little extra cash. Seriously, that colony I have had for at least 8 months and its the healthiest looking polyps I have ever had. Every polyp is 100% open and multiplying like mad so I would think if it was a bad star like some think at least 1 polyp in 8 months would have looked stressed at the least. The mother colony started as a tiny 10 polyp frag and I have enjoyed watching it grow like a weed and actually paid close attention to that zoa because it is one of my favorites. Knowing the star came from a awsome heathy colony it puts my mind at ease over it being bad. Someone else that got my other frag of this had a star on his also. So if they were bad I think 2 on one small colony would have made it a little stressed and it wasn't so even more fuel to the they are not bad theory.
rcmike
Active member
I have asterinas in my reef also and have never seen them bother a thing. I thought they might be my problem when I started having acro issues but I never actually caught one on a living branch. After an acro died they were all over it cleaning off the rotten flesh. I actually think they are what is keeping algae under control in my tank now. I do remove any that happen to be on any frags that are going to someone else since I know some people don't like them.
