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Crzyfshguy 
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 Topic: Asternia Starfish Solution?
Posted: February 20 2009 at 4:56am |
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Well... I must have had a hitchiker on a frag I got recently... The other day I noticed a small white starfish and thought I hope he isnt a pest...
Today I can count 10, and I am sure there are many more.
So what is the best solution, Shall I look into a harlequin shrimp? Or is there another easy way. Also, What do these eat? Other than multiplying like mad, are they detrimental to anything in the tanK?
Edited by Crzyfshguy - February 20 2009 at 5:05am
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45G w/ leds
15G sump
MP10es
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Mike Savage
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 8:07am |
Some of them can be detrimental but most are benign. A Harlequin could help but can't climb the glass to get them. They may also need supplemental feeding.
Mike
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Sculpin
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 10:10am |
Here is my star fish story. I had probably 1000 of these asternia growing like mad in my 235 tank. I got tired of picking them out one by one off the glass and out of the hundreds I could catch there seemed to be thousands underneath the LR.ÂÂ
I finally decided to get a Harlequin shrimp and within a couple of weeks I already noticed a difference but then they came back and in even greater numbers and my Harlequin was no where to be found. We bought a new one that was huge (for harlequin standards) and the same day we were releasing him in the tank we found the first one in our refugium. They teamed up and hunted 24/7 killing every one of those little buggers over about 2 months. Oh and Mike, they will for sure hunt on the glass, I've watched them do it about 4 times.
Now our harlequins are one of the coolest things in our tank and I'm happy to give them a chocolate chip star leg every week or so. I would highly recommend buying a pair.
Here is a pic I shot just yesterday of them teaming up on a chocolate chip.
Oh and BTW Bird World has one in and so does Fish 4 U
Sculpin
Edited by Sculpin - February 20 2009 at 11:51am
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Mike Savage
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 11:06am |
Thanks for the information. I can't wait to get home so I can see the picture.
Mike
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Chad
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 11:26am |
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The only bad thing about the harlequins is that I have beneficial stars that I wouldn't want them to eat. Granted I don't have the little pests in my tank but they are easy to accidentally introduce.
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What?! You pooped in the refrigerator, and ate the entire wheel of cheese?! I'm not even mad.... That's actually amazing!
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Sculpin
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 11:52am |
Ya they are. Even my nano has a few asternia's in it and all I've shared with the my 235 is the water. Go figure.
Sculpin
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Corey Price
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 1:17pm |
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I used to pick the small asterina starfish out of the tank and throw them away, but they never got to be a plague. I've read articles on how they can be coral eaters, but I'm not an invertebrate expert. A harlequin shrimp is really cool, but specializes in starfish, so make sure they don't starve.
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Mike Savage
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Posted: February 20 2009 at 5:18pm |
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: February 21 2009 at 10:24am |
Very nice pic. A new friend came to see my tanks the other night and noticed Asterinas all over the place in a 75 gal. They cause no problems for my any of my tanks. I have two cleaner shrimp and 2 Peppermint Shrimp in that tank and would not be surprised to discover that they are eating Asterina Stars. I love algae (not nuisance algae) so my tanks always have food for the Asterinas. 
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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JS
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Posted: February 28 2009 at 5:06pm |
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I could swear that the Asterinas in my tank eat coraline algae like chitons. Maybe I an wrong but whenever I see one on a patch of coraline there will be some of the coraline gone when the star moves.
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Be careful who watches your tank! http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27846
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cl2ysta1
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Posted: February 28 2009 at 6:43pm |
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we've had them. You can just manuaally remove them. Whenver you see them just pull them out. Eventually you will only find one or two here and there every few months.
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I <3 Boxers
Achilles tang lover
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Will Spencer
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Posted: February 28 2009 at 8:31pm |
I have hundreds, probably thousands in my office tank. Everyone thinks they are great including me. They help keep down the algae and have never touched a coral.
My boss tells me that one day a client came in and mentioned that he like the tank and that everything was thriving, but we better get those starfish out or they will eat all the coral. I just thought, "Like the coral would be thriving if those thousands of stars decided to eat it." As many as I have could wipe out my tank in a couple weeks if they were going to.
The only time I ever pick any out of my tanks is if I see them on a coral in my home tank. I'm not sure why I even bother then, but I do.
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Andreason
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Posted: March 01 2009 at 10:06am |
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We have seen them eating zoos so we pick t hem out whenever we see them.
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Andreason's
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thefu
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Posted: March 02 2009 at 9:59am |
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OK, so I have been seeing a few of these here and there. I haven't given them much thought. They mainly cruise the LR and the surface of the back overflow. I have not seen them attack coral yet but I am very interested to know if they really do attack it, and if so which type they prefer (LPS, SPS, sofities).
The biggest one I have seen is about 3/8" across, is that big, small? I have no idea. Should I be concerned?
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Shane H
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Posted: March 02 2009 at 10:27am |
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I also used harlequin shrimp to erradicate asterina from my tank. I had thousands of them. I was never convinced that they were harming healthy coral, but I did observe them on sps, and leathers. My main problem was the shear quantity. They would cover the bottom several inches on my glass! The harlequins (I introduced 2) made short work of them. I began feeding choc chip stars to maintain the shrimp - they never messed with the brittles or the serpents???
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Riverton_Ten
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Posted: March 23 2009 at 4:56pm |
Last of all -- a great solution for a massive outbreak of asterina
is......you PM me and I come over and scrape off as many as I can find,
repeatedly if necessary, so I can get them out of your tank and into
mine. MY SON LOVES THEM. I don't own any corals that they'd
bother, and even if they did, so be it. I'd rather have the
stars, personally. Besides, I have a fish-only 10gal tank with a
choc chip star a few cheap fish, and they'd love it in there.
Anyone in need of my free asterina-removal service? Anywhere
between Ogden and Draper -- I'm there, so long as you've got sufficient
quantity to make it worth my time and yours. 
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john hill
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Posted: March 23 2009 at 5:35pm |
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i used to pull every one i could find then i stoped and i think they find a balance where there is not to many of them
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out with the large and in with the nano
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: March 24 2009 at 9:54am |
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I never thought they were a threat until I got a large population and they really started to have an effect on my tank (if they were eating the corals or just sitting on them an "bugging" them I don't know). I used a harlequin to get rid of them. I would just pick them out of the tank whenever you see them unless you have an "outbreak".
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thefu
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Posted: March 24 2009 at 5:23pm |
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I see some about 1/4" in size on the base of one of my coral plugs from time to time but I have never seen one on a coral. I also see them on the coraline algae of the return as well as on rocks here and there. I have picked out a couple that were about 5/8" across. There aren't many of them - should I worry?
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