I forgot the name of the type of starfish that multiply like craz ... little white ...split a lot... but the seem to like my star polyp frag ... harass it everyday knock one off and another ends up on it so its closed up a lot should I get a harlequin shrimp for these imo pests? or will polyps be fine or are they being eaten??
star polyp being eaten by that little white invasive star?
- Thread starter Sydoriakp
- Start date
Here's an article: http://www.reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/45-reefkeeping-101-
I've never had a problem with the pure white ones. The ones that have some red on them have caused issues for people I know.
I've never had a problem with the pure white ones. The ones that have some red on them have caused issues for people I know.
MrIcky, great link, I haven't seen that before. I've had micro stars for years with no issues. This helps explain why some people have had problems while others don't. The stars on the green star polyps could just be eating any algae on it. Look to see if there is any damage to the coral, if not they are most likely safe.
NanoReefWanabe
Active member
my 5G tank has thousands of asternia stars...GSP is a very peculiar coral, in that it is sink or swim...i had it in my tank flourished like crazy, all of a sudden started to receed, as it died the asternias ate it...i am100% confident they werent eating healthy coral though...as there is still thousands of starfish in my tank, no coral damage, and GSP has been gone for months...if they where predatory and eating coral, other coral would show signs, or populations would be on drastic decline, not so is the case though...
way too often people see this creature on a coral in trouble and assume it is the star creating the problem....
way too often people see this creature on a coral in trouble and assume it is the star creating the problem....
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
Harlequin shrimp will get rid of them before they multiply into thousands... and even when they do the shrimp make short work of them. I have asterina in my tank and I have a pair of harlys living it in.. I feed them frozen starfish legs every few days to keep them.
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
They get used to it after awhile. You can keep any coral if you have the right lighting. Just get a harly and end the starfish problem and you should be good.. also make sure that the tankmates are reef safe as well.
HurricaneSystem
Member
There were some of these stars at a LFS about 3 years ago. My daughter thought they were just the greatest things. I had never seen them, so I bought 2 of them for like .20 cents.
I didn't see any of them for over 2 years and just thought they didn't make it. Low and behold, seemingly overnight, I have about 500 of them. I have had to brush them off my acropora a few times, but they don't seem to bother anything else. Nothing like Pyramyd snails, little devils.....
I didn't see any of them for over 2 years and just thought they didn't make it. Low and behold, seemingly overnight, I have about 500 of them. I have had to brush them off my acropora a few times, but they don't seem to bother anything else. Nothing like Pyramyd snails, little devils.....
NanoReefWanabe
Active member
i never said they eat coral....i said they eat dead and decaying things...i have never seen one bothering any of my healthy corals...
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
Some are reef safe, few are not. You can only find out the hard way. Either way they will be breeding and multiply like rabbits and its best to just get rid of them no matter what.
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