Asterina Starfish

[Sea Turtle]

My friend gave me a frag about 4 months ago with a Asterina Starfish on it. I thought that this was great. Unfortunately, I have been battling a war against something that is causing my zoas to stay closed up. First we thought that it was nudi's then pods, but know I have figured it out. It is the Asterina Starfish that are everywhere. I have also noticed that the bottoms of some of my sps corals are all eaten clean off. No more polyps at all, just clear white skeletons. So, I start taking a closer look at night and sure enough, they are covered with Asterina Starfish eating the corals. Not sure if they are eating the zoas but they are crawling all of them which I think is irritating them and causing them to close up. Long story short, I spent about a hour last night picking Asterina Starfish off the coral, zoas, glass and rocks. I can't believe how many I have in the tank. These guys are evil. How do I get rid of them completely?

Look at these pics. I could probably find another 20 or 30 if I sat there looking long enough. What should I do about this?

 

[Anonymous]

Harlequin shrimp are a natural predator supposedly, but you would then have to willing to provide them with live starfish to eat once they'd finished off the asterina (with implications for water quality as the starfish decomposes, particularly if the Harlequin shrimp drag it somewhere inaccessible). Otherwise, I think people tend to go for manual removal - siphoning them out at night using something to dislodge them first and then sucking them up with a hose.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Will the Harlequin shrimp only eat starfish? Also, I have a linkia starfish about 4 inches. Will it try to eat that as well?

I have been manually removing them but my guess is that this will never get rid of them completely.

 

[Anonymous]

Will the Harlequin shrimp only eat starfish? Also, I have a linkia starfish about 4 inches. Will it try to eat that as well?

I have been manually removing them but my guess is that this will never get rid of them completely.

Ah, the Linkia makes the Harlequin shrimp a no-go. They would eat it before they ate the Asterina.

Keep at it with the manual removal. You might have to do it every night or every other night for a few weeks, but if you stick at it, you'll be able to either eliminate the problem or keep it at a manageable level.

 

[Brian5000]

That's strange. I've had these for a while without any trouble. I've heard they can be an asthetic nussiance if you get a population explosion, but not about bothering corals.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I have heard a lot from both sides. Seams as if they can be very bad for the reef environment but at the same time, people claim they have no problems. I think that they are opportunistic.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, the problem is there are hundreds of "asterina" type starfish. I've seen them on corals before, but not very often, my view is sure they may be on corals, sure there may be a dead part on that coral, but I'm willing to bet if the starfish caused it, it's probably due to algae or something that was there already (and would have killed that part of the coral anyways).

Harlequins are nice to take care of them, their diet consists of starfish feet... so... yeah any starfish is potential prey, if your Linka is that close to you, use manual removal of the starfish, you'll never get them all, but if they really are a nuisance you can at the least keep them under control.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had these little starts in larger reefs, as well as in nanos in great numbers and have never had them cause a single problem.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had these little starts in larger reefs, as well as in nanos in great numbers and have never had them cause a single problem.

Yes, a lot of people say that. But a lot of people also have stories like Sea Turtle.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had these little starts in larger reefs, as well as in nanos in great numbers and have never had them cause a single problem.

Yes, a lot of people say that. But a lot of people also have stories like Sea Turtle.

I see people in restaurant eat food, so going to restaurant will make you hungry. Shut down restaurants will eliminate hunger for the world.

FWIW, I am closer to sfsuphysics on explaining the behavior of the starfish, that they are just eating the bacteria/rotting coral tissue rather than the offenders of the coral's health. But since these starfishes reproduce like the rabbit of the aquarium, it won't hurt to get rid of them.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had these little starts in larger reefs, as well as in nanos in great numbers and have never had them cause a single problem.

Yes, a lot of people say that. But a lot of people also have stories like Sea Turtle.

I see people in restaurant eat food, so going to restaurant will make you hungry. Shut down restaurants will eliminate hunger for the world.

FWIW, I am closer to sfsuphysics on explaining the behavior of the starfish, that they are just eating the bacteria/rotting coral tissue rather than the offenders of the coral's health. But since these starfishes reproduce like the rabbit of the aquarium, it won't hurt to get rid of them.

Go out there and do some research on people's experiences. There are a lot of credible accounts out there of asterina being a problem (from people who have not just casually observed asterina near dead coral, but actually observed them feeding on healthy coral). It's all too easy to say "well, they're no problem in my tank". And the "they must be eating already dead or dying tissue" argument is one that's trotted out in this situation all too often as well (when there is a tank inhabitant that is accused of eating coral when it hasn't displayed the same behaviour in the poster's own tank).

My opinion (as posted elsewhere in another thread), leave asterina where they are, until you suspect they may be a problem. Observe their behaviour to see if you're right and, if you are, ditch them. Most of the time they will not be a threat to coral, but some varieties might.

 

[Anonymous]

It might also be that they are only a problem if they reach a certain population density...

 

[Ben1]

I have heard a lot from both sides. Seams as if they can be very bad for the reef environment but at the same time, people claim they have no problems. I think that they are opportunistic

I agree and also agree there are different types. I know in my last tank (actually 2 tanks ago) I had two seperate types of these and one type was eatting my SPS, not just algae or dying tissue off the coral.

 

[Anonymous]

Mine ate my coralline algae. They never touched my corals though.

Agreed - different strains with different habits exist.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Sorry I have not responded recently. I have been on vacation for the past 5 days.

I am sorry to say that I am starting to lean towards the possability that the starfish are not casuing the problem afterall.

So, last week I removed at least 95% of all the starfish from my tank. But now after about 5 days, the zoas are still closed and my milliopora is continuing to be eaten from the bottom up.

Well, I looked again this morning with the flash light and there are no stars, but, there are amphipods on the coral and in the zoas. They look like they are eating the milliopora. There is no doubt that they are working in the coral. Is this possible?

 

[Anonymous]

I would think that these guys are just there cleaning up. I seriously doubt they are causing the problem.

IMO, if you removed the stars last week, it's too soon to make a decision as to whether they were the culprit or not.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I looked again this morning. They are eating the coral for sure. Has anyone ever seen them do this?

 

[Ben1]

By them you mean amphipods? I have heard of them eatting bacteria, decaying tissue, algae, and detritus but never live coral or healthy tissue.

 

[Sea Turtle]

What are your thoughts as to what could be eating the coral in this manor? Are there other amphipod looking creatures that could be doing this. I tried to get a picture but it is very difficult and really doesn;t come out well.

 

[Anonymous]

I would throw out red bugs as an idea but I'm pretty sure red bugs only attack acros. I bet you're right that they are amphipods but they are just there as opportunistic feeders eating tissue that has already died or already on the way towards death.