Asterinas eating my zoas

[dirtycontour]

I've noticed some missing zoas lately and I'm 99% sure it's asterina stars. Any quick fix to get rid of them?

[mnat]

By hand pull them all out. I hate those little bastards. The other solution is a harlequin shrimp which will eat all of your asterinas but then you have to feed them. Good luck

[dirtycontour]

By hand pull them all out. I hate those little bastards. The other solution is a harlequin shrimp which will eat all of your asterinas but then you have to feed them. Good luck

How fast do they reproduce? Would it be worth my effort to pull them out as I see them?

[mnat]

Pull the ones you can see, especially the spotted or "salt and pepper" ones as they seem to be the worst. The more you pull the less you will have so i does work.

[dirtycontour]

Good deal, I pulled one of the salt and peppers this morning. Caught him on an empty patch where three or four polyps were the night before. He was a fat boy...a belly full of zoanthid I'm sure.

[kschweer]

By hand pull them all out. I hate those little bastards. The other solution is a harlequin shrimp which will eat all of your asterinas but then you have to feed them. Good luck

+1. They seem cool at first but they reproduce very quickly and can become out of hand really fast. I lost about $ 300-400 in high end zoas to them a few years back before I realized they were the problem. If your numbers are low manually remove them when you see them as previously stated. If your numbers are high you may want to get a harlequin. Good luck

[dirtycontour]

Thanks fellas. I'm gonna start picking them out as I see them.

[greybolt03]

I went with they Harleys to get rid of them cause for every one you see I am sure there is one that you can't see I just felt that it was a never ending battle to get rid of them.. My Harley's rid the tank of them within a few weeks.. But like stated you need to feed them once they rid the tank so that is a added expense to think about I feed mine a chocolate chip star every 3-4 weeks which costs $11..

[Ligershark]

i added peppermints to get rid of aiptasia for me, and within a few weeks my asterinas were also gone.

[dirtycontour]

Here is a pic of the star if anyone is interested.