Whats wrong with my Zoa's?

Hey guys,

Ive had a colony of Zoa's for about 2 months now, and although they are growing new polyps, there are a ton that are dying off. I started with a rock that had 3 color morphs and now almost one entire color morph died off.

I have inspected the colony and I can only see two possible things that might be the problem.

1. I had 2 of these little guys on the rock


It split into 2 and last night and today I caught and pulled both of them and they are no longer in the tank

and

2. This random white thing between and on the polyps


Here is the close up (note the Y shaped white thing above the polyp reflecting blue)


Here is another angle




And you can see it on the side of another polyp as well


Close Up


In the tank


Are those white tube thingies whats causing the problem? Or was it the star?

Also, if you notice anything in the pictures that might be the problem, please let me know.

Thank you in advance

 

Thats what I thought about the starfish... I read that it was harmless, so I left it alone, then when the polyps continued to die off, I looked online about zoa eating starfish, and lo and behold, I found pictures of them eating it...

Right after that I scouted the tank until I found 'em and yanked them out... I hope there isn't more in there :grumble:

Do you think its necessary to pull off the zenia of the polyps?

 

That doesn't look like xenia to me. How does it look with no flow in the tank?]

I try to take asterina out whenever i see them as it seems all of my coralline is gone.

 

If you are talking about the tube, its attached to the surface of the polyp... if you're talking about the zoa's then they are the same as with the flow on..

 

I had the same thing happen to my Zoas a year ago. I put new zoas (pink and yellow) in half year later and they are fine. You may wish to read about slow tissue necrosis (STN) and rapid tissue necrosis (RTN). Also, although zoas need high light they can get too much. How close are your zoas to the light and what kind of light do you have?