Asterina stars ...good or bad?

dewboy1127 · Mar 30, 2016

Just as title says i would like to know peoples opinionsand any facts to the asterina stars being good or bad in the reef tank. My vote at this point is bad ...ive jad some for quite some time and never fails if there some zoas closed up guarantee one of them are on it and if there acro not doing to well look around and theres another. So I would like to see what everyone else feels and if they are bad whats best way of removing them?thanks guys and gals and happy reefing.

shoelaceike · Mar 30, 2016

Mine have been eating SPS.

dewboy1127 · Mar 30, 2016

shoelaceike said:
Mine have been eating SPS.

Do you know this for sure or just figuring cause see them on dead parts...I ask cause always wonder if there the actual culprit or if there the clean up crew afterwards

shoelaceike · Mar 30, 2016

Quite sure....about 95%. Got a Harlequin. Hopefully he takes care of them

Waters · Mar 30, 2016

Some species are known to eat SPS....most are not. I have never had any issues with them but they can easily be manually removed (unless of course you have hundreds which is often the case).

dewboy1127 · Mar 30, 2016

Yeah i have more than manual removal could take care of ...i thought about the harlequin but i also have a sand sifting starfish and kind of expensive to get and have give back or watch die because eventually runs out of them to eat

Steven C · Mar 30, 2016

dewboy1127 said:
Yeah i have more than manual removal could take care of ...i thought about the harlequin but i also have a sand sifting starfish and kind of expensive to get and have give back or watch die because eventually runs out of them to eat

Yea @dewboy1127 that's a tuff call but i am sure if you see about 5 to 10 there are a lot more got myself a harlequin took care of that issue within 2 weeks now I am trying to keep it alive cause its a really awesome shrimp

dewboy1127 · Mar 30, 2016

Steven C said:
Yea @dewboy1127 that's a tuff call but i am sure if you see about 5 to 10 there are a lot more got myself a harlequin took care of that issue within 2 weeks now I am trying to keep it alive cause its a really awesome shrimp

Do you or anyone else know how to keep them alive once the starfish are erdicated?..Are they easy to catch so i would be able to get it once its done his job?......I see 5-10 on frontglass on the reg i have alot im sure had for several yrs sometime they seem get worse than others...but i have always wondered for sure about them eating my zoas but now looking at sps too