stinking asternia starfish

[mikedelgado]

Lately I have noticed an explosion of asternia starfish in my tank.I have always seen them here and there but now I see them on my zoos!! Some of my zoos look irritated so I think the starfish are to blame. I put a harlequin in the tank ut he doesnt seem to be keeping up. My green wrasse wont even touch em. Is there any other creature out there that is reef safe that likes to eat these little jerks?

 

[FaviaFreak]

yeah, some species of asterina will munch on your zoas so you definitely want them out, can you suck them out as you do wc's that's how I was able to reduce numbers drastically. The trick is doing the wc's while the lights are still out, once the lights come on the stars make like a tree and split

 

[mikedelgado]

I want them dead. All of them!! I dipped a few colonies of zoos this morning.there were tons of them dead in the bowl after I was done.I was hoping someone knew of a fish or something out there that eats themso I can rid them from the display. they are everywhere!!!

 

[holdyourlight]

harlequin shrimp, only problem is that they will run out of food quickly after it makes work of your asternias...

 

[Poseidon]

I think you should look at the cause of the increase in Population, rather then the symptom of having so many.

Astrina stars like Bristle Worms will populate to the level of food that is available. Once the primary food, like Algae or detritus is exhausted then they look for other options. What are your feeding and water change regimens? Maybe we could start there.

Harlequins will certainly help you move through the stars, but unless you change a source, then I bet the worms will increase to fill the void left by the stars.

 

[dbarker]

I had so many I finally got to the point where I pluck out with a pair of tongs. If they are on the glass you can take a net and scoop them off the glass. I got bunches of the little b's that way.

I have chocolate chip star in another tank with my manits shrimp so I have been putting all the asternias in there. Guess What??!! The starfish is eating the asternias! I have not picked for a week or two and I see that I am going to have to do that today.
Debbie

 

[mikedelgado]

my tank is mostly bare bottomed aside from the thin layer of gravel in the front, just enough to mostly cover the glass.About three months ago I lifted and loosened up my rockwork. There was a TON of poop collecting back there. It was disgusting!!I have since placed 4 powerheads back there and put them on a timer to run 15 minutes a day. I removed the big filtersock in my sump(that was wearing me out. clogged every 3 days!!)I replaced it with a mesh sock to knock down the bubbles in my sump. Now when I do a water change(every 2 weeks 25 gallons. 215 tank 75 gal sump) Ican easily remove the detritus as it now settles in the sump.maybe cause I took thier food away they are eating everything else now?I am ticked!! zoos are my faves.

I think you should look at the cause of the increase in Population, rather then the symptom of having so many.

Astrina stars like Bristle Worms will populate to the level of food that is available. Once the primary food, like Algae or detritus is exhausted then they look for other options. What are your feeding and water change regimens? Maybe we could start there.

Harlequins will certainly help you move through the stars, but unless you change a source, then I bet the worms will increase to fill the void left by the stars.

 

[mikedelgado]

O ya , now that I redid my tank my nitrate problem went from screaming to a low roar. I never really had algea but the short velvety fuzzy stuff growing on the walls went away. now all I see is purple coraline on the glass. and hoards of asternias!!

 

[Poseidon]

Yes, that is EXACTLY what is happening. At this point I would recommend manual control, rather then adding creatures to eat them. With your new water change and husbandry skills, this is a very temporary problem.

 

[mikedelgado]

I wish choco stars were reef safe. has anyone seen a wrasse or something take asternias out?

I had so many I finally got to the point where I pluck out with a pair of tongs. If they are on the glass you can take a net and scoop them off the glass. I got bunches of the little b's that way.

I have chocolate chip star in another tank with my manits shrimp so I have been putting all the asternias in there. Guess What??!! The starfish is eating the asternias! I have not picked for a week or two and I see that I am going to have to do that today.
Debbie

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Harlequin shrimp will definitely take care of your problem. Just be ready to trade or sell him off. Better if locals can keep him traded around.

 

[fishnreef Verified Sponsor]

Agree with revhtree. Even with hundreds, a couple of 2 Harlequins over a few months will take care of the problem. Once the population goes down, they will not return (except for the occasional one). Quick fixes will generally cause other issues.
Trade the Harlequins when done...if not for cash...for corals.

 

[Hypertek99]

I 2nd the harlequiun shrimp. They will wipe out your asterinas.

 

[Nate82]

+3 on Harlequins not only will they take care of the problem they'll look awesome doing it!

 

[mikedelgado]

they do look awsome. I will add a 2nd shrimp!!

 

[sexycorals]

hey mike i just saw some astrina on my 24 gal in my room.. ill take the shrimp off you after you are done... and you can pic a nice frag outta my website after you are for trade...=)

 

[Reefness]

Feed the asterinas to a linckia starfish...mine thrives on them.

 

[mikedelgado]

I really like the linkia star fish , I might get one down the road just cause they are cool lookin.Thanks for all the good info folks! The harleys took out the asternias. I keep 1 in the tank now just to make sure they stay away. The 1 harley I have still gets enough to eat because there are enough of them coming up thru my sump & overflows. The harley is the coolest shrimp ever btw.My zoos look much better now so I am going to start replacing the ones I lost.