stealthfightrf17
Supporting Member
I now a Harlequin Shrimp will, but I also have brittle stars and a sand shifting star that I am not wanting to get eaten or rid of. Anything out there that will do this??
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Need something to eat Asterina starfish (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter stealthfightrf17
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kgk
Guest
stealthfightrf17 said:
Most of these don't bother coral - is there some reason you want them dead? I have them in my tank as well & just consider them part of the CUC.
steved350
Guest
There is not much else that your are going to find that will eat those little buggers.
stealthfightrf17
Supporting Member
kgk said:
I have just started to notice them all over the place lately and this morning they were on my clam. I have heard that in larger populations they will eat coral. Just want to thin them out before that starts
kgk
Guest
stealthfightrf17 said:
I grab the ones I see and throw them in my sump. My kids like them ... something magical about miniature starfish to my daughter.
krjackso
Guest
yea I didnt mind them either until I noticed them all over my clams too. Thats when I bought my harlequin. But I am not aware of anything else besides manual intervention or the shrimp. Could always move the likable stars to the sump while your harlequin does its job. Mine made quick work of HUNDREDS of them. talking a week or so. then sell the shrimp. seems to be a decent market for them.
stealthfightrf17
Supporting Member
I may just have to move the star into the sump. if I decided to keep the shrimp and move him to the sump later, could I put a chocolate chip star in there every 2 weeks for him to eat or would I have to do that more often?
stealthfightrf17
Supporting Member
kgk said:stealthfightrf17 said:
I grab the ones I see and throw them in my sump. My kids like them ... something magical about miniature starfish to my daughter.
my kids like them to, I just don't want the stuff I want to keep eaten
Hi, stealthfightr.
If it were me, I would not do anything until I was absolutely sure the asterina's were harmful. Chances are they're not. I've always had asterina's and they've never been an issue.
Also, if you put a predator like a harlequin in your fuge - I'm assuming you have a refugium and not just a barren sump - it will eat all of your beneficial pods in pretty short order. Even if you keep feeding it the choco stars.
good luck,
Steve
If it were me, I would not do anything until I was absolutely sure the asterina's were harmful. Chances are they're not. I've always had asterina's and they've never been an issue.
Also, if you put a predator like a harlequin in your fuge - I'm assuming you have a refugium and not just a barren sump - it will eat all of your beneficial pods in pretty short order. Even if you keep feeding it the choco stars.
good luck,
Steve
stealthfightrf17
Supporting Member
I pulled out a dozen in about 2 mins a little while ago. I guess I will see how many pop back up. So far I have only seen one more. How ever I did find an interesting creature. There are at least 2 Stomatella slugs. Kinda cool looking. Seem like a snail/slug imbreeding. Everything I see on them is reef safe so I guess I will leave them be
stealthfightrf17 said:
Yeah I have tons of the stomatella they are fine.
tmgrash
Guest
I agree on the "wait and see" idea. I havent ever had issues with them. I think its kind of cool to see mis-shaped starfish popping up in the tank. Plus, they have to be helping the CUC.
trb
Guest
They have "eaten" almost all of the zoas I've put in my tank, probably 6 or 7 frags worth. I would find them perched right on top of the polyps, and the frags slowly dwindled down to nothing. The last two frags I have are secluded away from everything, and I watch them twice a day for asterinas. Any I find get pulled immediately.
lesd
Supporting Member
If you can find a Nardoa sp. sea star they will eat the Asterinas. I had one for about two years, and it did great until it started getting arms chopped off by my Vortech powerheads.
Here's the one I had:
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=2&pid=1862&cid=85
-- Les
Here's the one I had:
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=2&pid=1862&cid=85
-- Les
lesd
Supporting Member
And here's a pic:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/gallery.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/gallery.htm
FireEater
Guest
Agreed, just leave them alone. I have a ton of them in my system and after 7 + years, they have done no harm.CBBSteve said:
Look at it the only way you should be, and that is a continuous clean up crew. Those guys can get everywhere to clean.
+1 on leaving them in there. I've never seen, or read any evidence showing that they eat any kind of corals. What happens many times is our corals/fish can die, and we simply rush to find a reason or something to blame. Sometimes they "just die."
AnnetteG
Guest
That Nardoa star is super cool!
I bought a small Harlequin shrimp a couple months ago from City Pets and he's doing great. I don't see him all the time, but sometimes he's right out front on a rock and I can usually find him at night. I always wanted one anyway, so I just waited till the asterina population seemed big enough and I got a small shrimp. The asterina are everywhere in my tank, if you look close, there must be a zillion of them. I've seen them on some zoa colonies I had but I think the colony was already dying and the stars were on cleanup duty. I have several other colonies that are healthy and growing and only rarely notice a star scooting around them at night, cleaning, I'm assuming
/hoping.
Here's my little guy:
I bought a small Harlequin shrimp a couple months ago from City Pets and he's doing great. I don't see him all the time, but sometimes he's right out front on a rock and I can usually find him at night. I always wanted one anyway, so I just waited till the asterina population seemed big enough and I got a small shrimp. The asterina are everywhere in my tank, if you look close, there must be a zillion of them. I've seen them on some zoa colonies I had but I think the colony was already dying and the stars were on cleanup duty. I have several other colonies that are healthy and growing and only rarely notice a star scooting around them at night, cleaning, I'm assuming
/hoping.
Here's my little guy:
rxonco said:
In some cases asterina starfish can and will eat zoa colonies. Search google and you will find countless threads of this happening. I never had a problem with mine until the population exploded, then I started losing many zoas.
I lost nearly all of a 30 polyp frag along with patches of zoas from other colonies. I ended up taking a dowel rod and drilling a hole in the end, then gluing a sewing needle in it. I used it to pull out easily more than 200 hundred of them. I still have to check daily to get any remaining ones that get too close. These are perfectly healthy, growing colonies that are being eaten as well.
I have read that the melanurus wrasse will eat them. I will hopefully have one soon for a red flatworm problem. I will let you know if it does eat them.
