Another one bites the dust!!!

[JMM744]

Well another colony is gone. Pulled these stars off it. I have lots of asterina stars but these guys are bigger and black. Must have been around 8 on the Colony. I dipped the skeleton hoping to get a clue but it's still too cloudy to see thru the container. My paramiters are solid and it's an older tank full of nice live rock and plenty of corals but every week I loose a colony or frag. They seldom are close to one another either. A hope and a prayer that something pops up as causing it. I am doing 25 to 50% water changes every other week and running carbon and resin ( cuprisorb) for metals. Good lighting and flow. I have checked everything several times but can not figure it out.

 

[Kyle_bania]

Parameters?

 

[JMM744]

Alk 10
calc 425
mag. 490
no3 20
phos 1.3
everything is stable. No3 is a bit high but very little algae .

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Alk 10
calc 425
mag. 490
no3 20
phos 1.3
everything is stable. No3 is a bit high but very little algae .

1.3 phosphate is super high especially for sps and I assume 1490 mag

 

[JMM744]

Sorry.13.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Sorry.13.

How stable is that 10 alk? What do you use to dose and what doser? How much is the fluctuation thru the day ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also asterinas and are destructive but blame is likely on parameters, flow or lighting.
Any changes in light or flow?
What test kits are you using ?
High Phos CAN cause this

 

[JMM744]

Brs Dosers and it's very stable. I use Salifert and check at least every second day. Alk has crept up over the last month from 9 to 10 but hardly any kind of swing. This problem started many months ago when pho's was running around .03 to .05 and no3 was around 5 to 8.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Those black asterina starfish are coral eaters. I had a bunch nearly wipe out all my zoas. I got a harlequin shrimp and they are all gone now and my zoas will thrive. The light gray asterinas are harmless but the black ones are not.

 

[JMM744]

That might explain my much smaller zoa garden. Thanks! Gonna have to expedite getting the Harliqen.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Those black asterina starfish are coral eaters. I had a bunch nearly wipe out all my zoas. I got a harlequin shrimp and they are all gone now and my zoas will thrive. The light gray asterinas are harmless but the black ones are not.

I've also had the dark asterinas kill two plating montes. Brought in a harlequin and I haven't lost another one.