Anybody have those little Asterina stars in their tank? They're reef-safe aren't they?

[homer1475]

Harlequin shrimp will eradicate them, but thier appetite is voracious. After they are gone, be prepared to rehome it, or provide it starfish to eat.

Chocolate chip starfish are cheap, and work extremely well for feeding them.

 

[Subsea]

For me, those Asterina starfish are a nuisance. In my 120G I gave up on trying to control them. Harlequin Shrimp did not do the job. I have never seen them bother any of my soft corals. In my systems, they focus on red ornamental macros like Bortacladia and Gracilaria Hayi. When I manually remove them from the seaweed, the damage is evident with a patch of white flesh where it eat away red color.

 

[Subsea]

I know Indo-Pacific Sea Farms sells them but it's a two day shipment from Hawaii. I thought they might make for a cleanup crew. IPSF also sells micro-brittle stars. AFAIK they're reef-safe and excellent scavengers. I thought if the Asterinas got too prolific just get a Harlequin shrimp.

: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :

Indo-Pacific Sea Farms produces captive-bred marine life for healthier reef aquariums: invertebrates, detritivores, live sand, snail grazers, amphipods, beneficial worms, macro algae, plankton, corals, coral food and beneficial bacteria.

ipsf.com

MiniStars are small, incredibly industrious sand stirrers and cleaners that will help keep your live sand bed healthy, aerobic and free of decomposing detritus - the organic particles that rain down every day from the water column above. These reef-dwelling ophiuroids reproduce readily in closed systems because they have direct development (no planktonic stage). Reef safe, will not bulldoze. Size of individual specimens ranges from approx. 1/4 to 1/2 inch; includes adults, sub-adults and juveniles. MiniStars do not grow larger than approx. 1 inch in diameter.

Yes to IndoPacific SeaFarm micro brittle stars. I saw no Asterinia Starfish at their website to purchase.

I purchased a Harlequin Shrimp that starved to death as he was surrounded by Asterina Starfish

 

[homer1475]

You must have had one lazy Harlequin.

I've used them twice over the years, and both times within weeks my plague of asterna's was gone.

 

[Hallowhead]

I have had thousands of these in my tank probably good guys mixed with bad guys. They'd latch on to the stalks of zoanthids and just eat through killing loads of polyps. I got a harlequin shrimp and he decimated the population never to be seen again. When they're gone just make sure to re home the shrimp.

 

[becon776]

Nightmare
Had one take down a bam bam zoa colony of 80.+ heads and grew to size of a nickel

That is not an asterisa starfish

 

[Goby Bryant]

If they are white, they are ok. If they are darker, get them out.

 

[bruno3047]

I pull them out whenever I see one. I don’t want anything in my tank I didn’t put in there on purpose.

 

[vetteguy53081]

That is not an asterisa starfish

Its an asterina. There are over 15 common varieties and this one likely Asterina miniata and IS an asterina. Ive been pulling these from tanks for 3+ decades and any thing I hate more than the sight of one is the sight of two

 

[Hallowhead]

Once you see (2) you're done for it! They multiply sooo quickly. I added a harlequin shrimp which devoured them, unfortunately, he ran out of starfish before I realized he needed supplemental food or could trade. They're expensive, so I am holding off for a bit to add one back as a second wave has broken out.

 

[Subsea]

Asterina starfish eat on desirable ornamental macro. Note the iridescent orange rings on red macro in first picture where I removed them. If second picture comes out, note starfish wrapped around stem of red macro. Also note, the surrounding iridescent orange as starfish moves along stem, sucking out life juices.

 

[hart24601]

I had a lot of them, probably several species. I had one that I caught eating my BC cricket spine acro. Ate about half of it, I don’t know if I took any photos but acro was encrusting, then half gone with the star on it, removed the start and the acro was back to growing and is very nice now. No changes to the tank aside from adding a harlequin to eat them.

So while most are perfectly fine, not all are. Typical in this hobby the answers are often not clear cut.

 

[Hallowhead]

They eat corals for sure. They would latch on to stalks of zoanthids and eat right through

 

[jmichaelh7]

Is there any study ? It seems mixed reviews

 

[SchrutesReefs]

They multiply faster than rodents, so there’s that.

 

[jmichaelh7]

They multiply faster than rodents, so there’s that.

No kidding

 

[MaxTremors]

I pull them out whenever I see one. I don’t want anything in my tank I didn’t put in there on purpose.

I see people say this all the time and it’s just really perplexing.

I had a lot of them, probably several species. I had one that I caught eating my BC cricket spine acro. Ate about half of it, I don’t know if I took any photos but acro was encrusting, then half gone with the star on it, removed the start and the acro was back to growing and is very nice now. No changes to the tank aside from adding a harlequin to eat them.

So while most are perfectly fine, not all are. Typical in this hobby the answers are often not clear cut.

Not trying to doubt you, but do you think a single star with a digestive tract smaller than a grain of rice can eat an entire zoa or half an acro frag overnight? I’d be just as inclined to believe the star was helping the coral out by eating away dead/dying tissue/algae.

 

[hart24601]

I see people say this all the time and it’s just really perplexing.

Not trying to doubt you, but do you think a single star with a digestive tract smaller than a grain of rice can eat an entire zoa or half an acro frag overnight? I’d be just as inclined to believe the star was helping the coral out by eating away dead/dying tissue/algae.

Honestly if it was your coral in your system you would have no doubts. It was a healthy encrusting acro, no other system issues, the star was a large one far as astrina go and it could have been on there a couple days without me noticing but once removed the acro regrew the base. It really couldn’t haven been more cut and dry to me.

 

[Alexraptor]

Asterina's can absolutely chow done on perfectly healthy corals, I've seen it happen often enough. However, this preference seems to be highly individualistic, so I just exile the individual troublemakers, and let the rest of them be.

 

[hart24601]

Here are some photos:

1st is when CS was new in that spot. Not good pic but that’s all I have.

this is after the star. Yeah it’s terrible quality as I cropped it off another photos because I had no desire to see it! You can tell all but a couple polyps were left I cut off the dead.

then around 8 mo later