Zoa Killer?

[d9sccr]

I have had two zoa frags from the the same LFS and they both ended up dying. Both frags were in different tanks. In one tank, I found Asterina, but have been aware of their presence for about a year. There are other zoa frags in the tank and they are fine. The other tank does not have Asterina that I can find. The only other similiarity is this...thing..It looks like a brittle star, but I do not think it is. This one is white, but on the other frag it was yellow. Any ideas?

 

[J. Montgomery]

Its a type of worm (whose name escapes me now). The yellow one is probably a "medusa" worm. They harmless.

I've never had a problem with Asterina stars and I have thousands of them and hundreds of zoas.

 

[MinibowMatt]

Josh, Im not saying your wrong, but there are lots of species of asterina stars. I have had the grey mottled ones, that barely get past 1/2" across and they definetly did eat zoas, and lots of them.

I never believed it myself until I caught them devouring this colony in front of my eyes...

If your seeing them, I wouldnt risk it. Go get a harlequin shrimp and be safe now, instead of sorry later.

 

[MinibowMatt]

BTW, I saved that colony and is very good now here is a pre-incident pic, I will take a recovery pic later tonight...

 

[d9sccr]

I'm not sure if it's them or not, but I have taken about 15 out. I still do not think it is them. I only found one on the zoa rock, but it wasn't on the zoas. I firmly believe that it is whatever is coming out of the rock.

 

[MinibowMatt]

its entirely possible. Good luck with it, I hope you figure it out.

 

[photobret]

Look out for Nudibranchs, they will camo themselves and look like your zoas, also I have seen snails munching on zoas too. Bumblebee snails sometimes have a taste for zoas. Keep looking and good luck.

 

[d9sccr]

no nudis and no bumblebees..had nudis before..so I havean idea of what to look for

 

[ryddo]

Do Harlequin shrimp eat these type of stars? Will they eat a Serpent Starfish as I have 1 in my tank? I am looking for ways to remove these stars and pulling them out manually is getting old already.

 

[650-IS350]

Yes harlequins have been employed by other reefers, but they are specialized feeders, after the asternias are gone the shirmp starves.

 

[ryddo]

They will have PLENTY to eat before I would need to worry about that! Thanks for the info!

 

[MinibowMatt]

they do eat the asterinas, and they will eat the serpent..

After they are all gone, you can feed the harlequin a choc. chip star leg every other week.

 

[650-IS350]

Some folks grow a couple of C.C stars in their fuge and harvest them like cows. Cut a foot here , toss it for the harlequins and let the choc heal in the fuge and rotate that stars. Some just chop em up and put them in the freezer.

 

[swamprat]

The only thing I see in the first picture is a micro brittle star. As far as I know they are reef safe.My tank has hundreds of them. I bought some from Inland Aquatics. Get out the magnifying glass to enjoy them.

 

[650-IS350]

were talking about asterinas

 

[swamprat]

I understand that most of the talk has been about asterinas. Are there any in the first picture? I do see them in later pics. In the first picture all I see is micro brittle star legs.

 

[StephNewman]

Looks like a micro brittle star to me as well, don't think they are harmful to zoos. I am having the same problem with my zoos disappearing and can't figure out what it is.

 

[fraggin]

i'd check after lights out for a enucnid worm (sp)
i had a large one eating my palys at night

 

[phishy2]

I just found a asterina completely covering a completly healthy zoa like it was trying to suck it out or something, looked exacly like the ones eatting the colony in the picture above. pulled a few more out that looked like they might be moving towards the zoas, dont want to take any chances.

 

[Rackyrane]

I have witnessed asterinas eating my zoos just like in the picture. They munch a hole in the side of the zoo and munch away. They had cleared a pretty bright pink colony before I figured out what was eating the zoos. They don't seem to like the dull brown ones in my tank though.