Asterina starfish eating zoas!

Payson · Nov 13, 2016

Get a harliquin shrip! Theycare beauties to watch and have a ( taste for starfish!

Lionfish Lair · Nov 13, 2016

You can't really ID the different species very easily. It pretty much takes an expert in the field to do so with any sort of reliability.

A. grandis · Nov 13, 2016

Well, not about the ID, but the colors and experiences...
Grandis.

TRPlacek · Nov 14, 2016

Video is still in progress. so far what I have seen is the asterina starts eating at the base of the polyp and weakens it. I'm still waiting for the asterina to get on top of the polyp to devour it.

TheEngineer · Nov 14, 2016

I'm very interested to see this video too. Following along.

donnievaz · Nov 14, 2016

Do any of you guys know if a Pygmy Coral Banded and a Harlequin can coexist in in a BC 29? I've had the Pygmy about 6 years and rarely see it, like once every 3 months or so. It's extremely timid.

Ryengoth · Nov 14, 2016

What color are those stars in white light?

TRPlacek · Nov 14, 2016

Ryengoth said:
What color are those stars in white light?

Ryengoth · Nov 14, 2016

Cream with black stripes? Hard to tell it's a bit fuzzy. Mine are either all white or have light brown covering the top and about 1/2 the legs.
I could snag a few and put them in quarantine with a zoa frag and see if they'll eat it. I'll have to rig up a micro sump in the main sump so it may take me a bit.

TRPlacek · Nov 14, 2016

Ryengoth said:
Cream with black stripes? Hard to tell it's a bit fuzzy. Mine are either all white or have light brown covering the top and about 1/2 the legs.
I could snag a few and put them in quarantine with a zoa frag and see if they'll eat it. I'll have to rig up a micro sump in the main sump so it may take me a bit.

The ones you're describing I don't believe do any harm as I also have those as well but they mainly eat my coraline. the one in the pic is hard to describe. it's not stripes or spotted. it's like cream color with black/ grey blotches. up close they also have a rough texture compared to other asterinas.

Reef.ductionist · Dec 7, 2016

Same thing happened to my zoas a few months back, I discovered that Asterina's and Bumble Bee shrimp don't get along and Bumble Bee shrimp eat asterinas. So I bought a Bumble Bee shrimp and things seem to be improving; there are fewer of those dang things and my Bumble Bee shrimp is happy. Have not seen my Bumble Bee shrimp for a week or so (but my tank IS crowded...) they can 'bee' hard to spot, especially when one is 'bumbling about' their tank as I do. [emoji4]

rosshamsandwich · Jan 26, 2018

Triggreef said:
All zoas in that pic are all fairly hardy zoas that seldom have issues. I'd bet that there's something going on with the colonies that are going away. And the stars are eating the dying tissue.

I tend to disagree with many people about these types of things. My reasoning here, is that I'm plagued with these stars as well. I keep mostly zoas and multiple frags and colonies of the same types. I've found my stars on some of my zoas just like you, and i would also feel the same way. What I've found though is sometimes there's a frag not doing well, and soon stars will be on it. Mean while in other areas of the tank the same type of zoas are doing well and are ignored by the same stars.

That said, keeping them out of your new set up sounds like a fine plan. I keep 2 Harleys in my 200g and they eat them but only enough to almost control them. I had one Harley before these 2 for a few years but one wasn't enough so i got 2 this time.

I disagree with you. Asterina Starfish are terrible, Eat coralline algae, Eat SPS, eat everything we know and love reef related

rosshamsandwich · Jan 26, 2018

Mmbra said:
Every time this gets posted people say its dying tissue. There are all kinds of asterina stars. The ones i have are the darker variety. All i have is my own anecdotal evidence to go by, and once i got the harlequin shrimp my zoas stopped dissapearing.

stars do eat coral, just look at crown of thorns starfish, so it's not a stretch that these are your culprits. I'd say that photo is enough evidence for me.

Triggreef · Jan 26, 2018

DEATH BY SNU SNU said:
I disagree with you. Asterina Starfish are terrible, Eat coralline algae, Eat SPS, eat everything we know and love reef related

The wonderful thing about the interweb, everyone has an opinion. There may very well be some asterina starfish that do eat coral, but if there are they are absolutely a rarity in the hobby. Through the years I've seen way too many people use them as an excuse for why their coral is dying. I've seen people say the gray ones, the one with red, always some angle to blame asterinas. So many people even try to put the blame on amphipods. Well, I have white asterinas, gray asterinas and asterinas with little red specs too. See them climb on coral everyday. Pull them off frags everytime I'm working with frags. Everyday those very same corals are still growing and doing well. So to the OP on this very old thread, I'd certainly look elsewhere.

rosshamsandwich · Jan 26, 2018

Triggreef said:
The wonderful thing about the interweb, everyone has an opinion. There may very well be some asterina starfish that do eat coral, but if there are they are absolutely a rarity in the hobby. Through the years I've seen way too many people use them as an excuse for why their coral is dying. I've seen people say the gray ones, the one with red, always some angle to blame asterinas. So many people even try to put the blame on amphipods. Well, I have white asterinas, gray asterinas and asterinas with little red specs too. See them climb on coral everyday. Pull them off frags everytime I'm working with frags. Everyday those very same corals are still growing and doing well. So to the OP on this very old thread, I'd certainly look elsewhere.

there's youtube videos of amphipods eating zoanthids...

rosshamsandwich · Jan 26, 2018

Triggreef said:
The wonderful thing about the interweb, everyone has an opinion. There may very well be some asterina starfish that do eat coral, but if there are they are absolutely a rarity in the hobby. Through the years I've seen way too many people use them as an excuse for why their coral is dying. I've seen people say the gray ones, the one with red, always some angle to blame asterinas. So many people even try to put the blame on amphipods. Well, I have white asterinas, gray asterinas and asterinas with little red specs too. See them climb on coral everyday. Pull them off frags everytime I'm working with frags. Everyday those very same corals are still growing and doing well. So to the OP on this very old thread, I'd certainly look elsewhere.

there's also videos of starfish eating coral.....