starfish

[tmkx3]

I have 3 starfish one brittle, one bahama and one five star general or a crown of throns. I recently read about some star that eat fish. I am terrified. My two turbo snails just died and now I am wondering if the stars are to blame.

Thanks,
Tinia

 

[TCTFish]

Starfish are known to eat fish. I once had a large green brittle star that made meals out of all my gobies. Never again. I'll stick with the little reef safe stars. Snails would be a hard snack due to it's shell, but if the snail is weak and the shell easily broken, then the star may prey on them. In that case, the stars would be doing you a favor by ridding the system of sick snails. I'd advise you to test the water quality to see if that has any bearing to the snails deaths before looking to the starfish as culprits.

 

[austinsdad]

I don't think it's your stars either. Turbos are some of the first kinda snails to go when water conditions change for the worse. I get plenty of turbo shells laying around empty when others - astrea, nassarius, and others are still thriving. Turbos seem to be more sensitive IMO.

 

[tecwzrd]

The Bahama Starfish could be the culprit since the other ones usually wouldn’t mess with the snails. As austinsdad said turbo’s seem to be a lot more sensitive to changes in water and despite the name usually are not that active and are more susceptible to being overcome by a starfish. I’ve found that if you drip acclimate them forever (like 6+ hours) they seem to last a lot longer.

Also I would get rid of the crown-of-thorns starfish if you ever plan on getting corals.