asterina stars

[reefnetworth]

i have asterina starfish, blue and white. untill lately all theyve done is consume algae on the glass and LR. they dont bother my ice-blue zoa's, green zoa's, or watermellon zoa's. i got some orange zoa's two weeks ago, i cant keep them away from them. why only the orange ones? just courious...thanx,
JDM...:confused: :cool:

[GobyJohnKenobi]

I had the same experience. Kinda like Japanese beatles eating yellow roses down to twigs and ignoring all the others. Must taste better to them.

Do yourself a favor and get rid of the asterinas before they turn into a plague of locusts,

[GobyJohnKenobi]

I had the same experience. Kinda like Japanese beatles eating yellow roses down to twigs and ignoring all the others. Must taste better to them.

Do yourself a favor and get rid of the asterinas before they turn into a plague of locusts,

[surfnvb7]

have you actually seen them ON the polyps? not just around the polyps?

if so, got any pics?

[dc_909]

Asterinas always make me wary because they are ONLY found near my zoas. I rarely see them on my zoas, but they are always in close proximity. I remove them just in case.

[IBASSFSH]

I believe Harlequin shrimp will eat them.

[reefnetworth]

ive seen one wraped around a zoa that had closed, the ones around it were open. as mentioned by GobyJohnKenobi: "plauge" they are starting to multiply pretty fast. about a year ago i saw one white one on a piece of Fiji, and a blue one on the Kaelini. now i have appx. 50+ (that are visible) of them. i place them into my 8"-9" anemone, everytime i can.

i have a 3/8" acrylic dowel that i modified with a needle in one end. i stab them and then drop em off in him. i also have a toothpic in the other end to feed silversides to it also. :lol: i replace the toothpic everytime i feed it.

thanx everyone, have a great weekend!!!
JDM...:cool:...:p

[LeslieH]

There are many small stars in the family Asterinidae spread among many genera, not just in Asterina. Even the genera are hard to tell apart. Feeding preferences vary so it sounds as if the orange one is a different species.

[jjmcat]

I shot a few pics tonight of these little terrors.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/jjmcat/2007_0401Image0010.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/jjmcat/2007_0401Image0011.jpg