From what I have read, there are many sub-species or variations on these. Some of them can be mostly benign and only create a plague in the tank...others have been known to eat corals.
I tried removing them, but they reproduce by division and keeping up was impossible.
So, I got the coolest solution...a harlequin shrimp! Not only is this the most interesting looking invert, he has a voracious appetite for those little buggers. I had at least a thousand of them and after 8 weeks in the tank, not another could be found.
So, I was told that he would now starve...so I did what I was told to do and put a chocolate chip starfish in the tank. This sucker was 3-4" in diameter. I thought, ya, right this 1.5" shrimp is going to eat that!. Well, as soon as I put the star on the glass at the top of the tank, the shrimp smelled him and came out of hiding. He went right to the glass and started shimmying up until he climbed on top of the starfish and then proceeded to pry it off the glass by pushing his big pincers against the glass and poking the feet of the star. Once he had it on the sand, he has been "riding" it ever since. I know people tell me he will eat the whole thing, but I still do not see how that is possible.
Get a Harlequin and your asterina problem (if you see it that way) will be solved.
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