Asterina Starfish are harmless??

[AdInfinitum]

I keep reading all over the place that Asterina Stars are harmless.  I guess that might be true if you don't have any Zoa's in your tank.  They clearly prefer some varieties over others, but they will clamp on and dissolve a polyp and then move on to the next.

I have been waging this war since I put some Zoa's in the tank.  I don't want a Harlequin shrimp so I am going to try a larger Fromia star to help keep their population down.

Any suggestions, other than picking them off every day or getting rid of the zoa's, would be welcome.

 

[TORX]

Wow, I have hundreds and never seen an issue. Will be tagging along on this thread

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[Reef Hero]

I have recently had some zoos start closing up .....I will be taking a closer look tomorrow.

 

[pulpfiction1]

wow,i didnt realize these guys could cause this kind of trouble,i too have had zoas dissapear from time to time,usually just figured a non reef safe  fish must of chewed em up,i googled this and tons of hits

https://www.google.ca/search?num=40&newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=asterina+starfish+eating+zoanthids&oq=Asterina+Starfish+eating+zoa&gs_l=hp.1.0.0j0i22i30.2953.15131.0.18339.12.7.0.5.5.0.175.722.6j1.7.0....0...1c.1.26.hp..0.12.761.-tw0HATFo6A

 

[Poseidon]

I've got a ton of zoas and alot of asterias , no deaths or melting zoas to speak off.
Do wrasse eat the little stars?

 

[DerekL]

In my biocube I had tons I these things and would wonder why every zoas I put in would disappear. I guess I know know why. I guess it a good thing that I am not really a big fan of zoas. I was thinking about getting some Rastas tho so I better keep an eye out for them in 90 before spending good money on them.

 

[copperkills]

I had similar issues and used to have nice pieces of LR and glass covered with GSP.  My GSP has become extinct!  However, I purchased a Harlequin and he has cleaned up my display so I had to move him to my sump.  I had to re-seed my display with these little buggers to keep my shrimp fed.  I didnt like the GSP anyways ;p

 

[Duke]

I have thousands in my tank.. And at least hundreds of zoos,  no issues here either. I do notice them hanging out on my gsp that grows on the back glass, looks like they are just cleaning algae from the skin tho

 

[TORX]

I have thousands in my tank.. And at least hundreds of zoos,  no issues here either. I do notice them hanging out on my gsp that grows on the back glass, looks like they are just cleaning algae from the skin tho

Same here. Never had an issue. I have dozens of types of zoas and a gsp wall as well, they havent touched a thing other then the glass algae.

 

[AdInfinitum]

There are many species of Asterinas, but they're impossible to tell apart just by looking.  That rock has 3 different kinds of Zoas on it but they only go after the green and black bulls eye ones and never touch the watermelons right beside.

A while ago they totally wiped out a colony of cool peach with baby blue center ones that I have never seen again.  Every morning they were just covered.  So I had no Zoas or Palys for quite a while in hopes of starving out the predatory ones.

No such luck.

 

[Gietz]

This is true for me!!!! I had Xmen zoas and within a month i noticed the stars all over them.... and poof gone, the next are my everlasting gob stopper zoas...  12 down to 1...

id like to get a Harlequin but i know my cleaner shrimp has eaten other shrimp before

 

[AdInfinitum]

Just the final word...

Over the holidays and with some family stuff going on , I gave up on picking Asterinas off this zoa colony everyday before work and when I came home.  Within a week the stars had cleaned the whole small colony down to bare rock...and I mean bare white rockand then all left.  During that whole process they never touched one polyp of the watermelon zoas that were growing up against the black and green ones.  Clearly they are very particular...

 

[Darryl_V]

Can i suggest that maybe they going after those particular zoa cause they were dieing on their own?  Asternias go after dieing flesh IME.

 

[AdInfinitum]

Can i suggest that maybe they going after those particular zoa cause they were dieing on their own?  Asternias go after dieing flesh IME.

When I first saw one clamped over the head of a polyp, I considered the possibility that the star was just cleaning up a damaged or dying polyp.  Based on that, on a couple of occasions I just left a star alone and watched the outcome and after.they finished digesting a polyp to the base they would move on to the next polyp that was open and happy looking.  Furthermore, when I would remove the stars the polyps they were attached to would recover and open up fairly quickly depending on how much damage had been done.

I can't say as a fact that they may not have been unwell in some way that was not visually apparent but the stars could sense chemically, but their growth and appearance would suggest otherwise.

There are hundreds of Asterinas in the tank but only a tiny percentage wet attracted to the zoas.

I don't know.....

 

[Darryl_V]

Another theory is that there are different types of asternia's...  some willing to go after healthy corals and others completely safe.  Personally I have never witnessed my asternias do any damage and I have hundreds sometimes.

 

[Reef Hero]

I have quite a few in my tank and have never noticed them bothering anything.... I have seen them crawl onto my closed polyps of zoos sometimes but it always opens again once the starfish is gone.
I read that a harlequin shrimp will clear them out.... I guess wrasse don't touch them??

 

[Poseidon]

I have quite a few in my tank and have never noticed them bothering anything.... I have seen them crawl onto my closed polyps of zoos sometimes but it always opens again once the starfish is gone.
I read that a harlequin shrimp will clear them out.... I guess wrasse don't touch them??

no wrasses wont but harlequins will. im on the lookout for one as my astreias go after my radioactive dragons and fire and ice, no other ones for some reason lol