A critter that actually eats Cyanobacteria

flower

flower

Well-Known Member
The bat star. The only thing I ever read on them is that they eat algae and are great scavengers. I have two, and sadly my tank developed a huge pile of cyanobacteria that began last week. It was getting pretty thick on my sand bed, and I was dreading the step ladder climb to remove as much as possible... my bat star crawled over it last night, by this morning it's 100% gone.

I have these stars because I have a cold aquarium for the potbelly seahorses I keep, and was told they would just fine with them, they do feed a little my macroalgae but never depleted it. Seahorses are very messy eaters, and I don't have high water flow in their tank...a perfect storm for cyanobacteria.

Now that I know they are cyano eaters, I have been searching for more info on them...I can't find anything that designates them as only cold water critters. I don't think they are reef safe, so fish only systems. I do have live rock and peppermint shrimp, which it hasn't bothered at all. The seahorse is perfectly fine with them. These stars at least 5 inches in diameter, so they are not little guys.

I don't know if they can live in a warmer tank, but maybe somebody could shed some light on the possibility.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
That is very interesting! If you get more info, please post. This topic may need to go achieves. Let us know the progress of your cyano issue.
 
mandy111

mandy111

Active Member
They must have been very hungry indeedy, their bellies must be ready to pop by now, watch out for all that poop ! lol
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
beth said:
That is very interesting! If you get more info, please post. This topic may need to go achieves. Let us know the progress of your cyano issue.
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I have not had cyano in the 90g now for many years. I have a bunch of macros in the tank since I can't do regular water changes anymore. Thing is, I lost all the seahorses over the past few years and only one was left...even the half chunk of frozen Mysis was polluting the tank since all that's in there now besides the one female potbelly horse, are the two star fish, a little blue stripe pipefish, and two peppermint shrimp and lots of snails.

The nutrients were building up in just one spot, about an 8 inch area in the center of the tank... it was getting to be pretty thick carpet and I kept telling myself I had to get out what I can, and try to take care of the situation, then one bat star found the area and cleared it overnight. If I see anymore cyano, I will let you know.

They didn't bother to keep it from happening, but they sure cleared it up fast. I really would like to know if bat stars are only for cold water tanks...I can't seem to find any info on temps concerning them. The potbelly tank stays at 66 to 67 degrees.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
silverado61 said:
Check out georgiaaquarium.com
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I checked it out, it's just an online store, and not for even aquarium stuff...shirts and junk... I didn't see anything useful, why did you want me to look at it? I didn't see a thing about bat stars, I even searched the site for something about bat stars...it offered me starfish shaped jewelry
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Just keep googling it. I searched it and found a website about all kinds of info including bat stars.
 
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