Asterina help!

[Jimbo C]

What is a reef safe fish that will devour these pests?

 

[bribo12]

What is a reef safe fish that will devour these pests?

They are not a pest IMO. Why are you trying to get rid of them?

 

[melosu58]

I say they are not pest also but when I had my orange sea star they would devour them. Not enough to keep their numbers in check but they did do it. I dont think there are any fish that will.

 

[Jimbo C]

They are climbing on my clam+ zoas, but I don't think that they are doing any harm. ( yet)

 

[mr_X]

Leave them be. If they get out of hand or do anything upsetting, you can buy a harlequin shrimp. One will do the job, but remember, all they eat are starfish, so you will have to purchase starfish for it to eat after it's wiped out your asterina population.

 

[Jimbo C]

X, will the shrimp eat my brittle star or my sand sifter?

 

[mr_X]

Your sand sifter is doomed anyway....unless you have a few year old fairly deep sand bed. It will eat it. I don't think they go after brittle stars though.

 

[Jimbo C]

Ok, should I take out sifter or watch and see if he's ok?

 

[mr_X]

You won't know it's dying until it's disintegrating. It will be fine and then one day it will look like something ate it's leg off....and then it will melt away leg by leg until it's a pile of white goo on the sand bed. It takes months for them to starve to death.

 

[Swiftler]

I had an issue with those little stars not too long ago. They completely destroyed one of my sps and started to eat my gsp. Some species are good and some are bad, unfortunately you won't know until they start to attack. We got the harlequin shrimp to kill them and he did end up eating our linckia starfish. Be careful.

 

[mr_X]

Really? I never heard or saw them go after sps. It's usually softies like zoas.

 

[Swiftler]

I actually saw the little critters on my SPS eating the polyps right off the stalk and that's when I went out and got the shrimp but it was too late.