Asterina ? Or safe star fish?

Jon956 · Dec 29, 2018

Jacked Reefer · Dec 29, 2018

That is an asterina but I would not call him not safe. Asterinas can be an invaluble cuc member like dwarf bristle stars. It is estimated only about 5 percent of asterina species eat coral.

DSC reef · Dec 29, 2018

Asterina starfish. With so many species it's almost impossible to tell what's good or bad. I'd say remove it, they reproduce very fast.

norfolkgarden · Dec 30, 2018

Yes, asterina.
Yes it's one of the darker ones (not that that matters, they are all bad).
Yes, I would definitely recommend removing it.

Probably, high nitrate will cause a population boom.
We have gotten rid of over 600 in the 3 years I've been trying to eradicate them. Our parameters are often high fifties for nitrates. Tank has too many fish. Running for 6 years.

Other people say that they have had no issues with them and they don't have an explosive outbreak at lower nitrate levels.
YMMV.

If you decide to keep it I would be curious to revisit a year from now. [emoji846]

Plenty of people claim they are fine or a nonissue but after 6 years I am happier to be rid of them.

Jacked Reefer · Dec 30, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
Yes, asterina.
Yes it's one of the darker ones (not that that matters, they are all bad).
Yes, I would definitely recommend removing it.

Probably, high nitrate will cause a population boom.
We have gotten rid of over 600 in the 3 years I've been trying to eradicate them. Our parameters are often high fifties for nitrates. Tank has too many fish. Running for 6 years.

Other people say that they have had no issues with them and they don't have an explosive outbreak at lower nitrate levels.
YMMV.

If you decide to keep it I would be curious to revisit a year from now. [emoji846]

Plenty of people claim they are fine or a nonissue but after 6 years I am happier to be rid of them.

What harm have they caused in your tank? I have over a hundred ( my geuss) in a 10 gallon and they only eat detritus.

Gonebad395 · Dec 30, 2018

I have had them and bought a harlequin shrimp to take them out within a month I had none been that way for a few years now. I watched them all gravitate towards my zoas and wasn’t going to take the chance. If they are good at being a cuc that’s great but I want to dictate what is in my tank and they weren’t one I chose. PSA no harlequin where harmed in the eradication of these pests from my tank after they were gone lfs took back shrimp for store credit

DSC reef · Dec 30, 2018

Kayden Hutchings said:
What harm have they caused in your tank? I have over a hundred ( my geuss) in a 10 gallon and they only eat detritus.

Just because you haven't had an issue doesn't mean others haven't and we are all inclined to our opinions. I've been reefing many years and from real personal experience I can without a doubt tell you they can destroy corals. In 2 seperate tanks they have devoured colonies of zoas and the asterina were all shapes and colors. Once you realize the ones you have are eating your coral it's usually by then that there are hundreds in the tank. It's great that your are posing no threat but there are many species and no real scientific proof besides anecdotal as what eats what.

Jacked Reefer · Dec 30, 2018

DSC reef said:
Just because you haven't had an issue doesn't mean others haven't and we are all inclined to our opinions. I've been reefing many years and from real personal experience I can without a doubt tell you they can destroy corals. In 2 seperate tanks they have devoured colonies of zoas and the asterina were all shapes and colors. Once you realize the ones you have are eating your coral it's usually by then that there are hundreds in the tank. It's great that your are posing no threat but there are many species and no real scientific proof besides anecdotal as what eats what.

Very true. I am not discrediting anyone and some may have experiences that prove contrary to mine. Just sharing my thoughts. From what I have heard only about 5 percent of the thousands of species eat coral. I could be wrong tho

DSC reef · Dec 30, 2018

Kayden Hutchings said:
Very true. I am not discrediting anyone and some may have experiences that prove contrary to mine. Just sharing my thoughts. From what I have heard only about 5 percent of the thousands of species eat coral. I could be wrong tho

I haven't read anything about the 5 percent so I'm not sure. In other tanks years ago we always had some and they never seemed to bother anything. At one point we had 5 tanks going. Of course the ones that decided to eat zoas had to eat the expensive ones! Decimated the utter chaos colony that was growing for a year but went right by the eagle eyes, lol.

Kelso · Dec 30, 2018

Would look cool in a pico on my desk. I would probably end up suspending a tasty frag from a piece of monofilimant just out of its reach and watch what it does.

norfolkgarden · Dec 30, 2018

Kayden Hutchings said:
What harm have they caused in your tank? I have over a hundred ( my geuss) in a 10 gallon and they only eat detritus.

Mostly zoas. They leave the palys alone. We have a lot of soft corals.
You could make a case for "cleaning up dead tissue" but I don't want them around any more. [emoji846]

Another interesting thing, we started with 2 small white ones I intentionally added to the tank 6 years ago.
Now all of the ones I'm removing from the tank are grey or black.
(Removing 3 or 4 a week)
Another concern is our beautiful red with yellow tips fromia star.
It is finally passing the 1 year threshold.
I believe the asterinas live on similar substances (the infamous "biofilm") but do it better. I prefer the fromia and keeping the asterinas to a minimum.