Small star fish taking over

[Alexrd09]

I have hundreds of these small star fish in my tank and i beleive they may have been the cause of some missing polys and even a dead blue sea fan. I have attached some pictures of them.

Are they harmful to corals or coraline? What can I do to get rid of them?

 

[Zer0]

That looks to be an astroidea starfish. They more than likely got into your tank by hitchiking on the live rock you got. I would remove them because naturally all starfish are predators of corals. And if you say that polyps are missing and so forth... then it wouldn't be hard to believe that those starfish are munching on your corals. Get rid of them if you want to save corals. Who knows, you might even be able to put them into your refugium or sump if you have one of those. Just make sure you get them out of a tank with corals.

 

[Alexrd09]

I have been fishing them out with a net but when i tell u they are everywhere im not exagerating. They are all over the live rock and glass. Is there anything that will kill them or eat them?

 

[Zer0]

Well, that depends.. what are the fish in your tank? Because if they are all peaceful fish/community fish, chances are they wont even bother with the small starfish.

 

[Alexrd09]

I got tangs, clows, wrasses, chromis, cardinals. None of which seem to have an appetite for them

 

[thominil]

Correct term is SEA STAR not star fish. Sadly links, I have to disagree, I have hundreds of mini/micro brittle stars in my tank and they have left everything alone (they are not sea stars, but VERY closely related). There are many people who have kept sea stars in reef tanks without problems. There are also quite a few reef-safe sea stars.

 

[Innovator]

I dislike asterinas since I tend to notice eventually, when food is not to their liking, they will prey on coral. I always pull them when I have a chance.

 

[Alexrd09]

My problem is i see the "sea stars" litteraly eating away at my sea fan and i have had polyps go missing out of nowhere. I also have NO coraline in my tank. As soon as u see some growing these sea stars seem to come in and clean it up. This is sad because the coraline adds color to the tank. I am trying to find a more reasonable way of getting them out. I have a 150 gallon fish tank and fishing them out doesnt seem to be doing much damage.

 

[Zer0]

Thom, im not disagreeing with what you said about the "sea Star" and all, but we are talking about two different things here. In the wild, most Sea Stars prey on corals, and others on sea urchins. I know that there are sea stars that are reef safe, like the brittle stars, serpent stars, and linkcia or however that's spelled, but that's not the case here. He HAS astroidea, and they ARE coral munchers. They are labeled as bad pests for the tank, since as innovator said, when they don't get food to their liking, they will eat corals. That is the problem here.

 

[Alexrd09]

While you guys are helping my I am also trying to catch a mantis shrimp that seems to have hitched a ride on my live rick along with the sea stars. He is killing all my blue legs and snails!!

 

[Zer0]

lol.. now that sucks. How big is he? If hes a decent size, i would keep my hands away from him as he can knock your thumb off, or slice it open. Im really not sure how to get rid of one of these things, but i think they have special traps designed for these things.

 

[Innovator]

For the asterinas you can make a small box of eggcrate with mesh on the bottom, roughly 4"x4" or 6"x6", which should be small enough for fish not to be able to enter. Put some food, such as shrimp, inside and see if the asterinas make their way towards it. After several hours there should be quite a few within and I have used this method before to catch large masses of them. As for the mantis, Yahoo or Google mantis traps

 

[match55]

yeahh for mantis, they have great punches, watch out.
Hope u can get it out for the snails and hermits ToT

 

[HN1]

Harlequin shrimp... just be prepared to commit if you choose to keep them. They are obligate star eaters. For the Mantis, use a trap.

 

[melosu58]

I have hundreds of the asternias in my tank. I`ve never seen them prey on my corals. As a matter of fact I have people buy them from me. I personally think they are reef safe but that is my opinion. I have a pic of them in my gallery.

 

[Alexrd09]

Innovator you wouldn't happen to have a picture of the egg crate trap would you? I think I am going to make a couple of those and see if I can make a dent on their population.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I don't think asterinas = death to corals. It all depends on the system probably. I have many (not to the extent as melosu58 though!) and have never had issues. But then again... I've heard stories from other folks that have watched them decimate colonies. Go figure.

 

[Zer0]

Lol, Nothing is this world is ever a problem, until that thing starts doing what it shouldnt. Then all bets are off. ;D

 

[Innovator]

I don't have a pic, but just make a 4"-6" cube with a mesh lining one one of the inside panels so you can firmly attach some food to it...nothing to it. You can use small zipties to make the eggcrate cube shape. I should've taken pictures, but I've had them on the sides of glass eating xenia...have also seen them devouring sps as well...I enjoy their demise

 

[Alexrd09]

lol thanks I should be able to figure something out.