asterina star infestation, need killing advice

[prsnlty]

Okay, I've heard they kill zoas, and that they don't. Well, they do and not only that, they strip your tank of coraline and go after monticaps. I have the little grey ones and they are taking over. I have tried manually removing them and spent hours and hours doing so but they are winning :cry: When eveything moves to the 180g I don't want them coming along. I am hoping for a natural enemy (that doesn't take a lifetime to eradicate or kill my other stars and feather dusters) or will a bayer dip do the trick? I realize to do the dip I will have to do every single rock and may still not get them all if any are in the sand. Plus I can't dip my acros or monti cap. Dipping killed my green monticap so I'm not risking the red. That is why I prefer a natural predator. Will a harlequin shrimp be a good choice or will he go after my other inverts such as other shrimps?

Thank you for any help you can give :)

 

[Naiad]

Harlequins will eat your other stars. I am in the same boat. They are killing my corals and multiplying like mad. I have not found anything yet that will hurt them and not the other inverts.

 

[prsnlty]

I feel ya :mad: These things are horrible! Maybe someone else will be able to help both of us ;)

Jackie

 

[dogum99]

Harlequin shrimp are the way to go just put your other stars in a refuge or somewhere safe.

 

[luke33]

Harlequin is the best bet, i have also used aptasia eating file fish and they did eat these guys as well. But the file's may go after other things like lps so they are hit and miss. But i'd go with the harlequin, if you have other stars put them in another friends tank or something like that.

 

[prsnlty]

The only other tank within an hour or so from me is in the other room. My daughters 27 hex and not well taken care of I might add. She leaves the lights on and has algae issues (go figure), plus, she has a mean over grown hermit, a general cc star and a coral banded shrimp. The stars I would have to put in her tank are a nice size sandsifter and a giant serpant star.

I guess if I have to, I'll do some adjusting to her tank (for her to have one, the deal was that she takes care of it -_- . It's amazing all of her fish are quite well!

Jackie

 

[hybridazn]

Blue linkia starfish.

 

[prsnlty]

No harlequins or blue linkias in my area or local online stores :( I'd rather do instate shipping if one has to be shipped due to shipping costs.

Jackie

 

[NanaReefer]

Here's a very cool observation I witnessed while treating my tank for cyano. I noticed while doing a 3 day lights out, by the second day At least 20 of the A. Stars had congregated onto the front glass where it was lighter :) Scooped em out with a net!

 

[nitro'sreef]

No harlequins or blue linkias in my area or local online stores :( I'd rather do instate shipping if one has to be shipped due to shipping costs.

Jackie

your close to Tampa check lfs and find out if they can ship

 

[Naiad]

So any suggestions on getting brittle stars out of a 150 gal. I only ever see his legs.

 

[Mattyice008]

I have a Nuvo 16, and these things are everywhere. As for the ones eating zoas, I've seen the darker asterninas on top of already unhealthy polyps, but not healthy ones. Frags that I knew didn't have a good chance to make it, would be smothered by a big asterina by the next day. Either way, my tank is better without them. I added a harlequin today.

 

[prsnlty]

your close to Tampa check lfs and find out if they can ship

Good Idea, I'll check it out :)
Jackie

 

[straydog]

The serphant star will be ok with the harlequin but the sand sifting star would need moving. I've bee through leesburg fl and stoped at a store there that had a decent invert section . They may be able to order you a harlequin shrimp. I picked my harlequin shrimp up in vero beach a couple of weeks ago and it has been cool to watch

 

[prsnlty]

The serphant star will be ok with the harlequin but the sand sifting star would need moving. I've bee through leesburg fl and stoped at a store there that had a decent invert section . They may be able to order you a harlequin shrimp. I picked my harlequin shrimp up in vero beach a couple of weeks ago and it has been cool to watch

Thank you :) Leesburg is still a bit of a drive from me but I'll call around.

I may even wait. In about a month I'll be setting up the180g and I will be killinga few aptasia of my existing rick. I may just scrub the all and hope for the best in the new tank. If they make a reappearance I will find a harlequin.

Jackie

 

[Pete polyp]

Bumble bee shrimp will take care of them. And you won't have to feed it starfish once the infestation is taken care of. I have hundreds upon hundreds of these stars and they're not a problem for me.

 

[straydog]

I have two bumble bee shrimp in my tank and have never seen them eat an asterina star fish. I have seen them stalk and eat the feet off a sand sifting star.But mostly they just aggravate the snails in my tank by using them as transportation , or pinching them so they will go inside their shell.

 

[Pete polyp]

I have two bumble bee shrimp in my tank and have never seen them eat an asterina star fish. I have seen them stalk and eat the feet off a sand sifting star.But mostly they just aggravate the snails in my tank by using them as transportation , or pinching them so they will go inside their shell.

Wow, really? Maybe they won't put a dent in asterina then.

 

[prsnlty]

One thing I've noticed about these coraline eating stars besides how quickly they can get out of control, they are not that difficult to remove from the rocks. And they are mainly on the rocks, snails or anything hard that has algae of any kind on it. They don't seem to be on the sand unless crossing over it.

I have pyramids on my snails and removed them to scrub them off. In the process there were also many of these stars on them as well that came off easily.

So I tried to see how easily they would come off a rock in a 5g bucket. 1st I blew them off with a PH and most dropped off. But in small crevices I had to use a toothbrush. In the end, they all were gone.

So for me, and since I won't be reusing my sandbed, when I do the move to the new tank I'll be cleaning the rock and corals in between.

Some people say they aren't a problem, but for me they are when the numbers get so high they strip away all of the coraline we work so hard to establish. In a FO tank they might even be beneficial to keep algae away but not in a reef.


Jackie

 

[Pete polyp]

One thing I've noticed about these coraline eating stars besides how quickly they can get out of control, they are not that difficult to remove from the rocks. And they are mainly on the rocks, snails or anything hard that has algae of any kind on it. They don't seem to be on the sand unless crossing over it.

I have pyramids on my snails and removed them to scrub them off. In the process there were also many of these stars on them as well that came off easily.

So I tried to see how easily they would come off a rock in a 5g bucket. 1st I blew them off with a PH and most dropped off. But in small crevices I had to use a toothbrush. In the end, they all were gone.

So for me, and since I won't be reusing my sandbed, when I do the move to the new tank I'll be cleaning the rock and corals in between.

Some people say they aren't a problem, but for me they are when the numbers get so high they strip away all of the coraline we work so hard to establish. In a FO tank they might even be beneficial to keep algae away but not in a reef.


Jackie

The only coralline they don't mess with too much in my tank is on the glass. There may be 500 on the glass every morning. My rocks stay almost completely stripped of coralline and I do think there may be some benefit to that. If they were covered in coralline then detritus would surely collect under it. I blow my rocks off with a turkey baster several times a day to remove detritus. I don't think it would be as effective if they were covered in coralline.