Asterina Outbreak

[omard]

Asterina Wega

Has been quite a while since I have had a outbreak of these...(which have been a plague in my tank since onset.)

This AM (09 Nov 2007) - netted the following off glass. Have only seen one or two for quite a while, which I did not bother to pull out.

Apparently they are back with a vengeance. Have seen them come in "waves" before, and will have to go week or so, pulling them out daily to get population down. If this many on glass...God knows, how many are hanging out in and around LR. -- I can see a number of them, but cannot get to them without siphoning - which I do on water change days.

Nardoa and Asterina spp Sea Stars

There is some controversy over the Asterina species sea stars, which can multiply to great numbers in reef aquariums. Most aquarists report no problems with them, but some claim that they eat SPS corals and make every effort to remove them. There are more than one species of Asterina and it's speculated that some species may be harmful. It's also speculated that the Asterina sea stars will consume SPS corals once they reach a certain density. I happened to put a Nardoa species sea star into a small reef aquarium that contains a large population of Asterina sea stars. I discovered that the Nardoa sea star regularly consumed the Asterina sea stars. The Nardoa sea star san be a good biological control for those aquarists that want to reduce their population of Asterina sea stars.
GREG SCHIEMER

Starfish: Considerations for the Common (and Commonly Misunderstood) Varieties

Asterina sea stars have been accused, unfairly at times, for preying on coral tissue. While some individuals appear to eat some desirable reef invertebrates, the problem may be a simple matter of an opportunistic predator adapting to a change in the available, preferred foods (worms, algae).

Returning to our example of the common, small Asterina species found in some reef tanks, these sea stars in recent years have suffered, unfairly I might add, the reputation of being risky or just plain un-safe in the reef. This is interesting because for many years prior to that, they were not only regarded as harmless, but beneficial! What happened? Did they all change their voter registrations overnight? No, the answer really is quite simple. It also explains why some other "controversial" reef invertebrates have contradictory reputations like Mithrax/Mithraculus crabs. Many such creatures are opportunistic feeders. While they favor one type of prey that is convenient or popular to us, like sand bed worms, brown diatoms or bubble algae, they will adapt to eating other food items following the reduction or absence of a preferred food item. Thus, the reef keeper with a persistent growth of microalgae in a garden reef display will likely have less trouble with misbehaving omnivores than another aquarist with an aggressively skimmed and scrubbed tank that supports little growth of the matter. In a phrase, the hungrier that a so-called "reef-safe" creature gets, the less "reef-safe" that creature becomes. In the case of Asterina, many years ago during the bare-bottomed, nutrient poor Berlin style era of reef keeping, reef husbandry with early protein skimmers and limited nutrient export processes was not as efficient as it is today; diatoms and other nutritious growths grew quickly in our tanks. And Asterina were not considered un-safe by hobbyists.

Anthony Calfo

Originally Posted by omard

Had these little creatures showing up on my tank glass a couple of months ago...Thought to myself, way cool, am growing my own starfish...

But recently noticed the edges of one of my finger leathers appeared to be getting chewed off...took a couple of days before I found one of these little buggers chowing down on the coral.

Hopefully have most of the rest picked out...Was only a few large ones, so I suspect something else keeps the population down when they are small...probably my mandarin who I have also suspected keeping my nusaince snail population under control also (by eating the itty bitty ones)

Originally Posted by Matt Rogers

Well this is not the first time I've seen my asterina starfish on my montipora but I did notice the trail behind it this time. I am about to declare them guilty of slowing munching my Montiporas...

but first, I submit pics to the court of 3reef. What say you?

Originally Posted by Gresham

guilty

[Camilsky]

Gosh... I don't have any corals right now... And there are approx. 7 Asterina in my tank already. Shall I start extermination ?!

Cheerio!

[amcarrig]

So, are you saying that yours have come back as well Omar?

[omard]

Originally Posted by amcarrig

So, are you saying that yours have come back as well Omar?

Oh yes...point of post. They are back.

Even Harley's don't want them.

[omard]

Originally Posted by Camilsky

Gosh... I don't have any corals right now... And there are approx. 7 Asterina in my tank already. Shall I start extermination ?!

Cheerio!

Would strongly recommend getting them out while you still can.

If you see 7, you probably have 50. (tiny ones.)

I think my sixline may eat the little ones and is reason I go long periods without seeing them. - But when they show up, they show up in bunches. :mad:

Scott

[IBMGeek]

My LFS Has a nice nano with a bunch of corals and he is growing some little stars just like that on the glass.

[Nemo 2]

i have one of those in m tank that i have been trying to take a picture of but i havnt been able to.so if there leg breaks off that means they reproduse off the broken off leg correct?

[amcarrig]

Everybody should keep in mind that not all asterinas are coral eaters so no need to start killing them willy nilly. It seems that the white/grey ones are safe but the ones that are brown-ish are not.

[Nemo 2]

mine seems to change color.when i first discovered him he was very white now he is turning a tan brown color.he came on the lastbit of live rock i purchased.

[omard]

Originally Posted by Nemo 2

i have one of those in m tank that i have been trying to take a picture of but i havnt been able to.so if there leg breaks off that means they reproduse off the broken off leg correct?

Would be surprised if only one...