Wtf

[Dana42078]

Came home today and part of my green star polyps are eaten by those lil starfish looking things that usually hitchhike on LR. Ive had these things since i started my tank but they never affected anything before. He was on the polyps and i pulled him off and the soft part of the polyps was actually gone on part of the LR. Is there anything that i can do to get rid of these things besides pulling them out by hand? Ugh:frustrat::pooh:

 

[BL1]

Are you talking about asterina stars?

 

[Dana42078]

Yeea the ones that look like stars but most are missing an arm or two, thry are really becoming a nuisance

 

[BL1]

I'm not sure if they're any chemical treatments to get rid of them but, if yo don't have any other starfish in your tank, you can put a pair of harlequin shrimp in there to deal with them.

 

[Rcpilot]

I had them once. I spent about 30 minutes every day sucking them out with a turkey baster. They reproduce by dropping an arm or two and that grows into another one. They can reproduce into plague proportions in a closed aquarium, because there is no natural predators in a closed aquarium - unlike in the sea. In the sea, there's always a predator to eat something else.

If you can suck them out with a turkey baster, you can significantly reduce their population. It takes a lot of work though. The ones on the glass are easy to spot. They crawl around on the rocks too, so you have to study your rock work daily and suck out any that you find there, as well.

Or, buy a harlequin shrimp and find a new home for it when they are all eaten up.

 

[Ulta]

AHHH!!! I have pulled literally 300+ out of my tank(s) in the last 3 weeks and there seems to be no end in sight!!! Every time I look at piece of rock in a different way there is always another one! GRRRRAWR

btw, they will easily put a halt to your coralline algae growth, I actually didn't worry about them at all until I noticed that my coralline algae was actually dieing at an alarming rate. It wasn't until I pulled a few off and noticed that the coralline underneath them was bright pink where I had pulled him off, then a few days later that same spot was bleached white.

That began the extermination! My coralline was dieing fast but now that I have been pulling them out it is growing very fast! =D

But I still pull 5-20 out every time I put my hands in the tank... 3 weeks later >_<!!!

 

[Dana42078]

Omg ultra I was wondering why my coraline was bleaching when it wasn't touched by air... That explains it. Tomorrow the extermination begins ugh!!!

 

[mennazeher04]

good luck with that dana.....ive been lucky cuz i havent seen any since ive had my tank but i could be missing them.

 

[Bifferwine]

I've always had them, and I think normally they feed on film algae on the rocks and glass. But if they run out, I think they will eat corals. I've seen mine eating corals too.

 

[dcantucson]

I've had them in the past and did not observe any suspect behavior, however I don't think I'll have them again when I get up and running. Too many of you have made negative comments about them. Better safe, than sorry.

 

[ErinCahir]

I must be lucky... I've only ever seen two in my tank.