Drying Asterina Stars

DracoKat · Dec 21, 2017

Random question.. that I couldn't find googling.

my niece learned that I've been picking out asterina stars from my tank (have so many!). She wants a small jar filled with dried asterina stars.

There are dried sea-stars out there.. but not sure how to go about doing this for her? I don't want it stinking up my place either.

skiergd011013 · Dec 21, 2017

We have an entire wall covered in dryed asterinas at work. They dont stink. Dozens and dozens of them. at home, everytime i see one, i pull it out and just stick it to the 5 gallon bucket lid of my top off water. I dont like them and consider them a pest. It seems to be doing the job because I havnt seen one in my tank is almost a week.

DracoKat · Dec 21, 2017

you don't have to put them in the sun or anything to dry out? just leave them out of the water?

the wall of stars looks cool!

skiergd011013 · Dec 21, 2017

DracoKat said:
you don't have to put them in the sun or anything to dry out? just leave them out of the water?

the wall of stars looks cool!

nope. just take it out of the tank and stick it on anything you wish. they dry hard and solid in a few hours. Sometimes after you take them out and stick them, they manage to crawl an inch or so before dying.

DracoKat · Dec 21, 2017

OK, thanks

I almost feel bad for killing them, but there's just so many! Lol.

skiergd011013 · Dec 21, 2017

DracoKat said:
OK, thanks

I almost feel bad for killing them, but there's just so many! Lol.

me too. it seems like a strange thing to do, but like I said, most consider them a pest. If you dont keep them in check, they become so thick that you pretty much have to mag float them off the glass! I have even seen just "legs" crawling on glass before. If you have them, pluck them out now before they over run the tank.

ChiCity · Dec 21, 2017

DracoKat said:
OK, thanks

I almost feel bad for killing them, but there's just so many! Lol.

... you could consider a bongo shrimp, or even a harlequin if your asternia infestation is really bad

andrewkw · Dec 21, 2017

I have 1000s in my tank. They are my primary cleanup crew. Sure compared to a snail they do nothing but when you start comparing 500 to one snail they do a lot. In fact in my fowlr they are all I use. I do have snails as well in my mixed reef but a relatively low number (1 turbo and maybe 8-10 other snails 112 gallon). If they were eating coral my corals would be wiped out, or at the very least I'd have some missing corals over the years. Sure I see them on zoa or paly polyps but if they are open again after they move off clearly they aren't eating them.

That being said I do remove some every week in water changes, I usually toss a few back in but if they don't get back in it's no big deal. I have on occasion found a dry one on the floor and while I can't say I've smelled them I don't think they would smell. That being said you may want to soak them in something that won't necessarily break them down if you wish to preserve them long term.

skiergd011013 · Dec 21, 2017

andrewkw said:
I have 1000s in my tank. They are my primary cleanup crew. Sure compared to a snail they do nothing but when you start comparing 500 to one snail they do a lot. In fact in my fowlr they are all I use. I do have snails as well in my mixed reef but a relatively low number (1 turbo and maybe 8-10 other snails 112 gallon). If they were eating coral my corals would be wiped out, or at the very least I'd have some missing corals over the years. Sure I see them on zoa or paly polyps but if they are open again after they move off clearly they aren't eating them.

That being said I do remove some every week in water changes, I usually toss a few back in but if they don't get back in it's no big deal. I have on occasion found a dry one on the floor and while I can't say I've smelled them I don't think they would smell. That being said you may want to soak them in something that won't necessarily break them down if you wish to preserve them long term.

If they only ate detritus or nuisance algae, id be less apt to grab them out of there. In an old tank i use to have, I was losing coralline algae quickly. I didnt know what was killing it. I researched on the forums, and some people said that certain asterinas eat coralline. One night, I watched one crawl ontop of a patch of healthy coralline, and half hour later it was white and flaked off. I dont know how these things could destroy such a hard algae, and i dontthink they all do it, but lesson learned and I prefer to get rid of them now.