Let's talk about asterina stars

[LobsterOfJustice]

Hey all,

I wanted to start some discussion on these little critters.

Unlike a lot of other things we keep, there seems to be a major rift between hobbyists as to what they believe in these guys.

My personal story: For the first four years or so in the hobby, I had an abundance of these stars (not an invasion though) and never had problems. However, in the last year or two, I have started having problems. I never really used to believe people who said they were problems.

I've pulled them off zoanthids, an arcopora, and poccilipora. I pull off a few per week, usually after lights out. There is noticable dieoff on the affected speciemens, and the stars are usually right at the line between live tissue and dead skeleton. I usually actually just leave them alone as they are causing some dieoff but nothing massive.

The main difference I've noticed is all the stars I pull of my corals have some black/darker pigmentation on them. I'm not sure if there are distinctly different stars that I introduced a while back, or if these stars are opportunistic and resort to coral in the absence of algae (I really dont have much algae... at all) and something about the new diet prompts the color, or if the color is a coincidence.

I'm thinking of borrowing a harlequin from my LFS to wipe them out, or at least cut them back.

Wanting to hear other people's experiences with these stars, it would be interesting if anyone else notices the color difference. Or if you have experienced them eating corals, what do you to to keep them under control? Are they just a little problem, or a major concern?

[widmer]

I would also love to hear more...

[Toddrtrex]

I only have one or two in one of my tanks. I haven't noticed any issues from it ( them ), but then again with the number it would be hard to notice any issues.

[cubsFAN]

i have had them in my two tanks for many years and have not witnessed any attacks on corals but my newer tank (8-9months) has more stonys so i will keep my eyes open. mine are generally white maybe with a tint of blue, but no black.

[tkeracer619]

I think the rift you speak of is pretty simple to explain. Apparently there are at least 100s if not a 1000 different types of them with very little documentation and almost impossible distinguishing attributes. One person might not have much of a problem with them even in plague numbers simply because they don't have an invasive type while another person might pick them off tons of their coral.

IME I have picked them off coral and there were spots where they were eating zoas. I pull them out manually when I see them. A harlequin will decimate their population in a short time span (week or two) so extra feeding of cc stars or return to the lfs would be needed. I did this but the shrimp did not get them all so they came back... feeding cc stars for an extended stay would probably be best as they would eat the asternia for snack time.

[dancewithethan]

Is this what you guys talking about? I thought it was a cute litter stars fish until it started to eat my zoas. the interesting was that it only go after one of my zoas and not the others. lately, I also see some dead tissues spot in the middle of my cap. I don't know what cause it. could it be this guys eating it? and how can I prove it?

[jhentr]

Never notice mines bothering any of the few SPS and Zoas I had.

[Toddrtrex]

Not sure if there is a visual distinction b/t the good ones and bad ones, but here is a shot of one of mine --- haven't noticed it bothering anything.

(( the shell right beneath it is a blue leg hermits, for size reference ))

[lowman31]

I am interested to see what everyone says. I have a healthy population of theese stars and never noticed them doing bad things. I have had some dead spots on my corals as some of you have described. I am going to watch close for awhile and see what I can see. I wii report back.

[stingythingy45]

I have 100s in my tank.
I lost a atlantic red zoa frag lately and noticed that it had at least 4 or 5 of this critters on it daily.I'm not sure if it was the stars that caused it's demise or the fact that I had it too high in the tank(too much lighting).We had a speaker at out local reefer club last year(Mike Paletta).He stated that the "bad"asterina will turn the color of the coral they are eating.

[snorvich]

If you like them, great. If not, Harlequin Shrimp will eradicate them.

[hyperfocal]

I had the acro-eating ones -- I consider myself very lucky to have been able to get rid of them by manual extraction. Unfortunately, I still have the zoa-eating variety. Any zoa colony I add to my tank must have more than 5 or so polyps; any less than that and the asterinas will gradually wear it down. I'm in the market for a harlequin shrimp...

[LobsterOfJustice]

Last night I pulled two more off the ailing SPS colony. They blend right in with dead skeleton, and the little bit of pigmentation looks like spots of coralline or other primary colonizers growing on the skeleton. Last night when I stopped the two, I went to grab tweezers to pull them out, and it took me a good 5 minutes to find one of them again - and I was looking right at it the whole time.

I said it in the first post, but I'll say it again. I used to post on all these threads saying "well, ive had them for years and havent noticed anything". But now four years later, they are definitely eating coral. I guess I just introduced a bad variety.

Those of you who have them and notice coral decline, check your corals a few hours after lights out. Personally, I would pull any out that are ON the coral. Algae eaters and cleanup crew have no business being on a living coral, coral-eaters on the other hand...

[luther1200]

I used to have 100's, I always found them on my stylophora first. Always at the live/dead line. I don't know if they caused it to start to die or if they were just eating algae on the dead surface. But I think they caused it. The reason I think this is because I would find them on dead spots that were alive the day before, so I don't think there was enough time for much algae to grow.

So I got a Harlequin Shrimp and he knocked them down very good. But it wasn't in a week or 2. It took more like 2-3 months. then I started feeding CC stars every 4 weeks. But that was to often because the tiny stars population started to creap back up. So I spread it out to 1 CC star evey 5-6 weeks. I have been doing this for about 1.5 yrs.

I still find them on coral from time to time, but very rarely. I have never found or seen them on my zoo's. Just Monti's, and Acro's. Basically only SPS, and only certain ones.

But 1 word of caution about the Harlequin Shrimp is that I have begun to have a NO3, and PO4 problem from feeding the CC stars. it is a lot of food for a system to handle, but I only have a 65. In a bigger tank you may not have that problem. Sorry for the long reply just trying to be detailed about it.

[tigereye37]

Ive never had a problem with the tan or bluish ones, but the darker mottled greenish ones definitely eat my zoos! I tend to leave them alone, but I do sometimes manually remove the bad ones. I wouldn't mind getting a harlequin, but I don't want the high nutrient issues.... Can it be done in a 65?

[luther1200]

I have mine in a 65 now. But I have been seeing my NO3, and PO4 creep up a little. I would try to get the smallest Stars to feed it as you can and just moniter your water very closly for a while.

[LobsterOfJustice]

If I were to go the harlequin route, I would only borrow it from the LFS, not interested in them long-term.

[cardiffgiant]

I've noticed some in my tank, but never on my zoas. Curious that I occasionally see them with as little as one limb. I have fish and hermits... wonder if something preys on them.

Last week I kalk pasted some aptasia. One was in the nook of a tonga branch that is covered in GSP. The next day a asterina star was on the same spot for the entire day, and all of the GSP remained closed. I know that they don't eat aptasia (though... wouldn't that be nice)... and I doubt that they eat kalk paste... so what was it doing? Weird.

[winstew]

My brittle star has been coming out more at night and actually scaling the glass. I couldn't figure it out because he never used to do this, then it dawned on me I cut back on feeding and after watching him it appears he is eating the astreas.... I to have 100's routinely on my glass day and night, but I haven't found them eating zoo's, SPS, or anything else. They are mostly on the glass.

[rkelman]

I have a pretty good population of these stars and they seem to be ok. I have noticed though if an acro starts downhill they will attack it. Healthy corals they leave alone. I've never seen my brittle star eat them that's cool.

[dc_909]

I pull some out every weekend.

[edgex]

They wiped out two six inch flat rocks covered in red/green button polyps in 2 weeks.Did not know untill looking at night for pods then noticed the stars on the last few polyps,too late.

[will16]

This is funny. Just tonight I picked probably 15-20 off of my zoa colonies. Without a doubt they are eating my zoas. I find them completely wrapped around a polyp. I manually pull off and the polyp is obviously being eaten. I guess I have the bad ones.