Juiceman Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Is there another way to get rid of these Asterina Stars without risking my Blue Linkia being food or dying? I've thought about getting a Harlequin shrimp, but i'm pretty sure he'd go after my Linkia I've had for about a year and a half. Experiences, Options? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+o0zarkawater Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I used to pick them out every morning by the dozen. Finally bought a harlequin to do the work for me. Might banish the linkia to the sump for a couple weeks while a harlequin does his job, then pay it forward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Put your linka in your sump until the harlequin has done his job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Are they easy to catch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 When he is hungry you should be able to bait it out with a starfish. Maybe save a couple of the bigger asterinas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I did the opposite on my tank, I put the harlequin in my overflow and let him work on the asterinas that inevitably made it in there. I would also then use a small net to scrape the asterinas off the tank sides at night and drop them in the overflow. He lived for over a year that way and definitely diminished my asterina population. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mlaw Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 What are the Asterina's doing that has you worried? Over population or damaging things? I caught one munching on some macro algae the other day. Removed him and haven't seen any of the others come any where near the macro in question. Matter of time until they do but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 What are the Asterina's doing that has you worried? Over population or damaging things? I caught one munching on some macro algae the other day. Removed him and haven't seen any of the others come any where near the macro in question. Matter of time until they do but... Mine were so overpopulated on some live rock I bought from another member that they had stripped it of coraline algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mlaw Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Minor thread hijack, but I hear people complaining about keeping various inverts that love to eat starfish but not wanting to buy choc. chip stars due to the ongoing cost. Why doesn't someone farm Asterinas? I realize that you probably wouldn't want to release them in your reef tank but a FOWLR tank and a harlequin shrimp or two might be fun. Just seems like a cash crop that isn't being tapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Over populating more than anything. I have seen them on my green leather when it's closed up. Not sure if they are causing it to close but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 wow i saw one of these guys in my tank. picked it up and it felt hard so i thought it was just a dead star fish. so i set it on my frag dish. i looked a few minutes later and it was gone. i have lots of softies and zoas. i havent seen it or any other since. should i worry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I have some that love my zoas. I pluck em off if I see em on my zoa rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 are they quick to multiply? i have a 6 stripe rass do they eat them? if not what does. i like my zoas and dont want to hurt their growth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 If you have one, you have many. Keep an eye on em, if you see them getting close to your zoas, pull em just to be safe. Personally, if they eat coralline I'm ok with it. And no, a 6 line wont touch em. To my knowledge, the only predators are harlequin shrimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I have never had problems with asternias bothering corals in my tank. They mostly graze on film algae on the glass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Same, never bothered by any of them. At worst they graze some of my coraline algae but that stuff grows so fast, no biggie. They are the first to clean up anything that is rotting in my tank so I give them a big thanks for doing a good job. I'll see them on a zoa... my opinion is they are eating one's that are rotting and dying, not attacking a healthy one. If they were attacking healthy one's in my tank, I would see it more often... just my 2 cents. Only one's I see them on were colonies that weren't doing so well in the first place. Who knows though... whole chicken and egg theory, which one was first? Rotting Zoa or zoa eating starfish... with over 1,000 polyps in my tank and hordes of asterinas in with them... my money is on the rotting zoa. -Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 to my understanding (keep in mind I'm the FNG) there are several species with different iterations and patterns, some have been 'known' to nibble on zoas and other coral, and others seem to be harmless. Personally, I found an asterina, white with greenish blue tints to it, pestering my small zoa frags. I have also seen white ones, that seem to stick to the glass and pumps and meander throughout the tank all day. I've also noticed some have 3 trailing points with one lead point, and others have more around the 5 or 6 mark. I pluck out the non white ones immediately. Bad Asterina Good Asterina 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 to my understanding (keep in mind I'm the FNG) there are several species with different iterations and patterns, some have been 'known' to nibble on zoas and other coral, and others seem to be harmless. Personally, I found an asterina, white with greenish blue tints to it, pestering my small zoa frags. I have also seen white ones, that seem to stick to the glass and pumps and meander throughout the tank all day. I've also noticed some have 3 trailing points with one lead point, and others have more around the 5 or 6 mark. I pluck out the non white ones immediately. Bad Asterina Good Asterina do you know how fast they reproduce?i know i got at least one i a frag i purchased about a week ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 by the way the one i saw was dark grey just like ur bad astrea pic. and excuse my ignorance but whats FNG? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 "Freaking New Guy" Asterinas can reproduce quite quickly based on my experience. I started my tank and had one. Within a month I had more like 12. But the rule as mentioned above is, if you see one, you have dozens. To my understanding, the higher your nutrients, the faster they reproduce. So, more food = more stars. They all reproduce by splitting, but some also have the ability of reproducing sexually. To slow the reproduction rate, you'd likely want to examine your feeding schedule, and algal build up. From what I've read, six line wrasses and harlequin shrimp are your best bet. However, in my BioCube I've had decent success placing some Nori seaweed/algae in a CLEAN test tube, and laying it flat on its side in the bottom of the display tank. The stars eventually wander into the tube to feast on the algae. On a good day i'll pluck about 10 of them out of the tube on retrieval. On a bad day, maybe one or none. Your mileage may vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mlaw Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 (edited) Not sure that the white = good, dark = bad is scientific but I can say the one I caught munching my macro algae was dark and the few that I see that are white don't seem to mess with anything. Just wish they'd eat diatoms... My current plan is to pluck them all out of the biocube. The dark ones are euthanized. The white ones go into the fuge on the 130 gallon tank. If I get a big enough population of them going I'll get a harlequin shrimp for the biocube and reintroduce the white stars as a food source. Edited November 13, 2012 by Mlaw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I look at them as beneficial. Does nobody else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I look at them as beneficial. Does nobody else? I do ... like I said in my previous post, never had issues with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 cool, i know the little guy i got hitch hiked on a piece of frag rock. and i do have a 6 line rass. so hopefully it wont be a problem. thanks for the info from one FNG to another Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I agree with the post and what you said but I had to laugh when the "bad" star was a top pic and the "good" star was a belly pick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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