Asterina Starfish? Need ID

[djkms]

Found this guy on my rock, should I remove him?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/Dr_digitaL/DSC00824.jpg

[Sk8r]

It's asterina, but just drop him in the sump. Some varieties are reputed to bother zoas. I don't have zoas, but I've had a handful of asterinas for years with no problems.

[Sapooloo]

+1 asterina. i have em in my tank, jsut part of the cuc imo. the question with these guys and zoas is were they bothering the zoas, or were the zoas dieing for other reasons and the stars just doing their job?

[HanoverFist]

Watch your coralline. I just had them and was going to leave them in until I noticed very visible white trails behind them on my coralline algae. Now they get removed whenever I see one. Seems to be a bazillion species of asterina so I'd ssuggest watching yours until you know they aren't doing anything silly.

Oh, and mine spent most of the time on the glass until they found the pretty purple stuff on the rocks. But, there could have also been two species. Either way - they've sealed their fate in my tank.

[89Foxbody]

I have one in my tank and he doesn't bother my zoos or my coralline. I rarely ever see him anyway, maybe like once a week I'll see him out on the glass or oozing along the rocks.

[djkms]

I sent him to the fuge.

[aleonn]

Good call on sending him to the fuge. IME they multiply relatively quickly, and mine have been eating coralline and bothering some corals.

[gmneil]

i would get them out of the tank completely. i have had them for years but just recently the population in my tank exploded for some odd reason, and they are tearting up all my zoanthids, i am on a daily hunt to remove them from my tank, and my harlequin shrimp dosent even seem to be making a dent with them

[zachfishman]

It's asterina, but just drop him in the sump. Some varieties are reputed to bother zoas. I don't have zoas, but I've had a handful of asterinas for years with no problems.

+1 I have tons of both Asterina stars and zoas in my tank and have never noticed any problem.

[Alysiak00]

I've had population booms and then all of a sudden i have none. i think my sixline chewed em up :D

but IME i think they're a good cuc addition. yea they might munch some coraline but they're actually pretty neat to watch. its a good pickup line for chicks too. "hey, have you seen my cute starfish collection?"

[DustinB]

I never had any problem out of asterinas for several months. Only recently after a population explosion have they started eating my zoas. Good move getting them out. I had to make a harpoon out of a dowel rod and a sewing machine needle to remove the offending starfish. I have to remove several at least twice a day from my zoa colonies and I'm still losing zoas left and right. I've probably removed a few hundred and they still keep coming.

I don't know what it is, might just have ended up with a bad species. Weird that I went so long without any problems though. Maybe I only had a couple of the bad ones in the tank and they finally repopulated to devastating numbers.

[zachfishman]

I never had any problem out of asterinas for several months. Only recently after a population explosion have they started eating my zoas. Good move getting them out. I had to make a harpoon out of a dowel rod and a sewing machine needle to remove the offending starfish. I have to remove several at least twice a day from my zoa colonies and I'm still losing zoas left and right. I've probably removed a few hundred and they still keep coming.

I don't know what it is, might just have ended up with a bad species. Weird that I went so long without any problems though. Maybe I only had a couple of the bad ones in the tank and they finally repopulated to devastating numbers.

A mid-sized wrasse will pick them puppies out fast! Just make sure your DT is of an appropriate size.

[DustinB]

What about a christmas wrasse? I had been pondering on one of those for a while now. I ordered a harlequin shrimp that should be in soon to hopefully help me combat the asterinas.

Sorry to the OP if this is veering your thread off course.

[inigomontoya]

+1 on getting rid of them. I found them because they were on top of my zoas, mine have been kept under control but I grab them when I see them.

[djkms]

What about a Yellow Coris Wrasse? I just had a buddy of mine post in our club forums that he found zoa nudi's on one of his plugs. Go figure I get most my frags from him. I do dip all my corals and inspect but there is a chance I missed some eggs.

Figured I would get a yellow coris if I noticed any nudi's around my zoas, maybe kill 2 birds with one stone if these starfish multiply.

I do have 2 shrimp though, 1 scarlet cleaner and 1 fire shrimp. Not too worried about the fire shrimp, he is a beast, the scarlet though, is just a tiny little guy and I hear that they could be on the menu with a yellow wrasse.