Asternia starfish eating zoas?

[Bryce M.]

So I have a bunch of the standard asternia, white starfish.
I found a bunch of them on my zoa colony and I pulled them off, one of the heads was dead.
I have 4 collectors zoas coming in on tuesday
Should I get a harlequin shrimp for tuesday?
I am prepared to take care of one (I have easy access to large live starfish), and I have been wanting one
am I just over reacting?

 

[Strawberry]

So I have a bunch of the standard asternia, white starfish.
I found a bunch of them on my zoa colony and I pulled them off, one of the heads was dead.
I have 4 collectors zoas coming in on tuesday
Should I get a harlequin shrimp for tuesday?
I am prepared to take care of one (I have easy access to large live starfish), and I have been wanting one
am I just over reacting?

I would just keep a close eye on the colony and your water parameters! But if you want a harlequin shrimp, do it! Those things are so cool

 

[Bryce M.]

I would just keep a close eye on the colony and your water parameters! But if you want a harlequin shrimp, do it! Those things are so cool

hmm, I'll test and watch them, if I can find one in stock I'll order one for Tuesday

 

[Dsnakes]

@DSC reef used a harlequin shrimp to take care of his after some asterinas were taking out a huge Utter Chaos colony. They are an awesome shrimp!

 

[Retro Reefer]

Some of of them will eat zoanthids, I have experienced this first hand so I remove any I see.. I have managed to completely eradicate them by manual removal but that takes a while, the shrimp would probably be more efficient if you don’t mind meeting it’s diet requirements or rehousing it when your astrea’s are gone.

 

[Bryce M.]

Oh no, looks like I'll finally have to get one of my bucket list livestock. that sucks

 

[Brian_68]

I had to get a harlequin as well as the asternia were eating my zoa and all the coralline.

 

[Marlon C]

I found one munching on my sponge bob zoa. When I pulled it off it had glowing yellow around its mouth. I noticed the ones that have red specs are the worse

 

[Vinman]

In the morning when the lights are off they will be crawling up the glass that's when I find them the easiest to remove when the shrimp have eaten all your starfish they will starve unless you keep feeding them starfish

 

[Bryce M.]

In the morning when the lights are off they will be crawling up the glass that's when I find them the easiest to remove when the shrimp have eaten all your starfish they will starve unless you keep feeding them starfish

yup! I have a source of lots of them, dont worry

 

[Bryce M.]

okay, where do I buy one now!
they are out of stock everywhere!

 

[Tahoe61]

Any good images of the specific Asternia would be awesome for reference. I have watched Asternia types munch my zoanthids, other types no problems.

 

[Bryce M.]

Any good images of the specific Asternia would be awesome for reference. I have watched Asternia types munch my zoanthids, other types no problems.

I have white ones, and the red speck one which are the culprits

 

[DSC reef]

Harlequins are great but they can make quick work of the asterinas. Ended feeding mine since I liked him so much.