Asterina eating my Chalice

[TheAcanLord]

I have had this chalice for about 3 months and it was doing nicely. It had finally started growing for a couple weeks, when about 2 weeks ago I started to notice the flesh receding out of nowhere. I also had a larger Acan that had the same problem. The Acan unfortunately died but not before I realized Asterinas were eating it. I have now removed as many as possible. I have only seen one in the past week. The question is should I do anything to try and help the chalice or not? Where the exposed skeleton is algae has started to grow and I don’t know if the coral will beat the algae or not.

My parameters are:
Sal 1.027
PH 8.1
DKH 7.0
Cal 460
Mag 1500
Nitrate 2.5
Phos 0.8
29 gallon aquarium
Dosing: All For Reef
And Coral Amino
15% weekly water changes

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Do you have picture of the asterina? Is it the whites ones or different color? I’ve never heard of Asterinas eating corals (except brown asterina eating zoa’s) but maybe it’s a different asterina? The asterina would normally eat algae and film growing on the exposed skeleton, did you see it on the skeleton or on the coral itself? Any pic of the asterina on the coral?

 

[Tamberav]

They eat dying corals....

Your corals are dying from some other cause and the stars are cleaning up.

That is exactly what mine do. They have actually helped clear some dead tissue and algae away on acro's for me so the healthy parts could come back.

It is easier to blame the stars but that won't help you fix the problem.

 

[TheAcanLord]

Do you have picture of the asterina? Is it the whites ones or different color? I’ve never heard of Asterinas eating corals (except brown asterina eating zoa’s) but maybe it’s a different asterina? The asterina would normally eat algae and film growing on the exposed skeleton, did you see it on the skeleton or on the coral itself? Any pic of the asterina on the coral?

I unfortunately do not have pictures of them on the coral, but I have a picture of them in general. I have seen them on the flesh especially when it was the Acan. One of the starfish moved closer to the center of the coral as he depleted the flesh. There is plenty of algae in the tank for them to eat so I don’t see why he wouldn’t move somewhere else beyond the one coral. The only reason I suspect them is because I have 12 other corals in the tank that are doing fine and I have never seen a starfish on or near them. They just seem to go for the “fleshy” corals if you know what I mean. They don’t bother my chyphastrea, goniopora or hammers, and they seem fine. I don’t think it’s a tank wide issue, but I don’t know.