Asterina starfish

[imdaring]

I have been starting to find these Asterina starfish are they good or bad do I need to start to remove them from my tank??

 

[dcantucson]

Different people say different things. I never had any problems with them.
Now that I don't have any, I won't add any just in case.

 

[little_fish]

I think if they run out of food (film algae) they will eat your corals or coraline, in that case they become a pest, but other wise i dont mind them.

 

[fastrd400]

Pull them out as you find them........................TRUST ME!

 

[Hiker4twenty]

I have issues with them just like Wade. They eat my zoanthids when they get hungry. I try pulling them out, but the multiply so fast its hard to keep up. I might look into a harlequin shrimp.

 

[Smitty]

I also pull mine out as soon as I see them, they eat all my coraline algae. Some people do keep them tho.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I have a few in my tank. I try to remove them, but only if I already have my arm in the tank doing water changes or the like. I dont dive in every time I see one. Keeps the population in check.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have a lot in my tank. They never did any harm for years, but then I started seeing them on the rocks where I USED to have zoanthids. I don't know if they were killing the zoas, or just cleaning up after the zoas died, but the zoas were previously healthy.

 

[fastrd400]

I had hundreds in my main tank, HUNDREDS! I pulled my sandsifting star, and my Blue Linkia and added 2 Harliquins. End of story for the Asternia!

 

[sen5241b]

They will eat coralline. Get a pair of tweezers and pull everyone out the momment you see one.

 

[supernatureal]

Is there a nother way to get ride of them beside getting a harlequin shrimp that works better than pulling out when you see them?

 

[little_fish]

You can suck them up when you do water changes, but that is about it

 

[supernatureal]

So the harlequin shrimp is the best way to get rid of them all but at the risk of losing all of the small brittle starfish in the live rock.

 

[little_fish]

I dont know if the harlequins eat the brittle starfish, but you need to make sure that you can feed the harlequins after the mini stars are gone, they wont eat anything else but starfish, or that you can return them.

 

[sen5241b]

I pull them out with tweezers the moment I see them --I never wait. I pull one out about every 2 months now. They are not that much trouble anymore. They will eat your coralline.

 

[fastrd400]

I got tired of pulling them out myself. I hired 2 hungry Harliquin shrimp to do it for me.

 

[AmberSunrise]

Harlequin shrimp are really awesome looking but I dont want anything that has to eat another live thing ewww plus I want to get a starfish down the road so that wouldnt work