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Some days I love this hobby! What the heck is THIS?

mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Ok, so I was admiring my tank a few minutes ago, and saw this little bugger stuck to the back glass.  I have NO idea where it came from, or how long it has been hiding in my tank!  Nothing new for the most part has been added recently (except some rocks from Salty28 with some mushrooms on them, and a couple rocks from concept3 with some GSP on them)

Any ideas?

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panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Asternia star. Some claim they eat corals and others say they only eat algae. I have them in my thanks and have never witnessed them eating corals.
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Well, right now, he is muching on the mess on the back glass I couldn't reach yesterday. I haven't had much coral in there for long, but no signs of stress to them so far.
 
C

Candi

I say watch them... I had heard they eat corals so I religiously pulled any I saw out of my aquapod... when my 50g went reef I got LR that must have been full of them because they were suddenly everwhere in there... I have some perfect stars, some with different length legs, and some that are only 2 legs etc. I didn't bother trying to get them out... didn't notice any damage (not many corals in there) however I added a tiny frag of a porcopilla (sp?) that had broken off from a coral in my 24g... it was doing excellent in the 50g and growing quickly... once night I noticed one of those weird starfish critters next to/on it... I didn't think much of it since they are all over as I said... by the next morning the part of the frag it was on was dead (white skeleton only thing left) I pulled him out and he met an untimely death. Now I haven't pulled any of the others, but if I see any on a coral out they come.
 
RichT

RichT

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
They will do zoos also....
Seen it first hand.
I pulled out a couple the other day......their drying out nice and crispy.....
 
C

Candi

RichT said:
......their drying out nice and crispy.....
Click to expand...

LOL love it... actually I did notice some of the zoos in there looking awful... guess maybe I'll start putting more effort into pulling them when I see them, does anyone know if the reproduce quickly?
 
salty28

salty28

Matt, that would be from me.. Have never seen them eat anything, but they do multiply quick. A few are OK , but every once in a while, I'll pull out 20 or so, just to thin the heard. Sorry.. I have some zoo frags that seem to be fine, and I KNOW they don't eat mushrooms. Just gotta find something that eats THEM! ;D
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

AHA! The culprit is revealed! LOL!

Man, that little dude must have had himself JAMMED inside that rock! That still amazes me.

Well, so far only one. And so far, all I have is a zoa colony, some GSP, and the shrooms I got from you. I'll keep my eye out for the multiplication and extract as necessary.

I have to look at the bright side, when my wife came home and found me staring at the tank again, first she said "what this time" then she said "COOL, LOOK AT THAT LITTLE GUY".

There is a glimmer of hope! ;D
 
E

eholceker

NJRC Member
that star wont eat anything. they multiply really fast in a tank excessive nutrients. If you have a lot get a harleuqin shrimp!
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

A harlequin will eat them? I've wanted one, but was worried about keeping up with it's preferred menu. I suppose I will let them multiply a bit before making that purchase.
 
salty28

salty28

Glad I could help spark a little interest from your wife in the tank. As far as I can tell, they don't bother anything. I alway look at it as "deversity" in the tank. Just something else to look at.. You might notice a few brown & white legged brittle stars too. Don't know where I got them from, but I have some of them in my tank too. Again, seem harmless. Now, if I can just get rid of the urchin that hitchiked in a while back ago!! ;D
 
W

Whitebird1

Hint on keeping a harlequin shrimp, I took a local starfish and cut it up in 1/2 inch pieces and froze them in a ice cube tray, any time mine looks hungrey i drop one in. he keeps the pest stars down as a second food sourse.
 
panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Whitebird1 said:
Hint on keeping a harlequin shrimp, I took a local starfish and cut it up in 1/2 inch pieces and froze them in a ice cube tray, any time mine looks hungrey i drop one in. he keeps the pest stars down as a second food sourse.
Click to expand...

Greg, does it actually take the frozen pieces? That would make keeping one a lot easier. I have a perfect tank for a pair, but don't want to have to keep buying stars all the time.
 
S

Steve Ho

See, I think the Asterina stars often get a bad rap, much like the reef-safe hermit crabs. Asterina stars will definitely eat dead/dying coral tissue (possibly before death is discernible to the human eye?), but the live-coral-eating species are very rare. Plus they're extremely difficult, if not impossible to eradicate from a tank. I think it's a waste of time and energy to remove them, personally.
 
W

Whitebird1

matt
yes he seems to look forward to the frozen food comes out in the front of the tank and waits when i drop one in he smells it, finds it, then takes it back into the rocks to eat. I have no little stars in that tank but have them in a tank without a shrimp.
Greg
 
C

cmsurfr22

i heard that some people buy two chocolate chip starfish and keep them in their fuge. when feeding time comes along they chop an arm off of the CC starfish and throw it in the display for the harlequin to eat. alternating starfish gives them time to regrow.
 
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