Asternia Star?

[FITZ7]

Hi everyone! I got some live rock to add into my tank yesterday and have spotted a hitch hiker...

My tank is still cycling so I’m curious if it’s bad and if it can even survive in harsh parameters. It was cool to see something alive and moving at least haha. It’s probably about 1/4th inch. The rock has been in there for roughly 20 hours. Tank has been up with dry rock for 2 weeks.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

It's a asterina. Some are good and some are bad. It's almost impossible to tell the good ones from the bad.

 

[FITZ7]

It's a asterina. Some are good and some are bad. It's almost impossible to tell the good ones from the bad.

Do you think I will even have to worry at this point even if it is a bad one? From what I've read stars are pretty sensitive to water quality.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Do you think I will even have to worry at this point even if it is a bad one? From what I've read stars are pretty sensitive to water quality.

It might not make it through the cycle. And if it does make it as long as you are doing a fish only system or at least no zoas or palys and don't like the coralline algae look then it shouldn't be a problem keeping them in your tank.

 

[FITZ7]

It might not make it through the cycle. And if it does make it as long as you are doing a fish only system or at least no zoas or palys and don't like the coralline algae look then it shouldn't be a problem keeping them in your tank.

Thanks for the quick response, I'll probably leave it in and give it a chance to survive. I don't plan on keeping any coral for several months while the tank matures. Not sure in what manner it decides when and what to eat, but I've seen it move over a couple small parts of coralline without any change to it in the past few minutes.

 

[Palyzoa]

Be warned, they multiply like rabbits! haha almost everyone has em or has had em at some point. I agree with what @Lovemyreef2015 said above.

 

[FITZ7]

Is it true that harlequin shrimp are the only way of dealing with an infestation of them? I don’t know where it went so I’ll have to just hope for the best haha.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Is it true that harlequin shrimp are the only way of dealing with an infestation of them? I don’t know where it went so I’ll have to just hope for the best haha.

We actually own a harlequin shrimp for the propose of getting rid of our asterina problem. The down side of having one is they eat a lot of starfish. We had thousands and one shrimp took care of them in less then a month. We have decided to keep him so we now buy him chocolate chip stars to feed him.

 

[Palyzoa]

Harlequin shrimp should help if you had an infestation.

 

[pjdiddy]

I had one when I was cycling my tank a year ago. Now there must be a dozen of them. I think I got the ones that behave because I dont see them causing any harm. I will choose them over Vermited snails any day.

 

[FITZ7]

Yeah, I’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the stars. I hope I got good guys haha. Harlequin shrimp are awesome in more than just looks, but my tank isn’t nearly ready for one.

 

[OriginalUserName]

If you see him grab him, if not then don't worry too much. I had a massive infestation (like hundreds) in my cube after not touching it for a year. When I rebooted the tank I had a major cycle due to some ill advised dosing and it killed 99% of them. Now I have a few left that I'm slowly picking off. The ones I have are pink and I have seen them eat zoas and eat/damage my monti.

 

[vic5hands]

Get them now before a outbreak

 

[FITZ7]

Did some more research on these guys, seems like a pretty hotly debated subject if they are good or bad. At this point in my tanks life I’d have to imagine they are beneficial due to the food sources available. I may have to deal with removal later but for now it seems like they can only improve my tanks growth.

 

[Snuggs]

I thought that little blue starfish was cute too. Now I have hundreds of them.

 

[tastyfish]

Personally, I would remove them as you see them. With a food source, they will multiply exponentially and you really can't tell if they are going to be the kind that will munch on zoas or softies until they start eating them.

They survived through my live rock being in a holding vat for a year and through a tank cycle, so they'll survive.

 

[FITZ7]

I've been putting a lot of thought into taking it out due to potential issues in the future. My tank params are clearing up Ammonia has been at 0 for a week, Nitrite has been low, .25 today, and Nitrate is at about 16. I think it would have died by now if it was going to. I also saw a small brittle star from the live rock. I will have to decide when I see it, but I don't want to tear up the rock work looking.

 

[tastyfish]

I've been putting a lot of thought into taking it out due to potential issues in the future. My tank params are clearing up Ammonia has been at 0 for a week, Nitrite has been low, .25 today, and Nitrate is at about 16. I think it would have died by now if it was going to. I also saw a small brittle star from the live rock. I will have to decide when I see it, but I don't want to tear up the rock work looking.

Brittle stars are great little clean up crew. Asterina out. Brittles can stay

 

[JasReef]

The ones I have typically seem to eat the leading edges of coraline algea. I would estimate I have at least 2000 in the tank. I wonder if I added a harlequin what impact that would have on the tank. They may be small but the total mass of all of them is affecting the system by taking nutrients out via the creation of more stars.

I have this coral that seems to like eating them.

 

[FITZ7]

@JasReef It's said that they will hunt them to extinction in an aquarium. Some people in here that have hands on experience may be able to give you more info.

I'm on the lookout for the Asternia, don't have much interest in keeping a thousand or so stars. I did see it again 2 days ago and it didn't look like it had split yet, so hopefully I can find it sooner and that it was the only one in the tank.