Asterina seastars

[symon]

I have these by the hundreds! I have never really thought of them as a problem, BUT i noticed my zoos looking munched! I kept an eye on them to hopefully catch the culprit! Well i found an Asterina star wrapped around the head of 1 of my zoos, needless to say it no longer lives! The xoo is making it's way back! So a word to the wise, keep your eyes out for them munching on your corals!

 

[floatingfish]

wow i never new they were coral munchers. the LFS here have them in there coral tanks. hey if you have so many send some my way. i have never even had one pop up in my tank.

 

[monalisa]

I had a pretty good break out of those in my 37gal before I switched tanks. I never noticed them disturbing my corals, but they made short work of the coraline algea (because there were so many). I don't have them in my 46gal, and if I do, they're under much better control. They're not bad for the tank, but high numbers of them may indicate extra nutrients in the system...at least that's what I've read.
Good luck with your stars.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[symon]

I have read there are some that will munch sps corals, But there is no way to really tell until you see it happening! But for the most part they are just cruisers, if i had not see 1 wrapped around my zoo i would not have belived it!

 

[ophiura]

I would still not rule out other issues. I have loads of these...was convinced at one point they were eating a colony of zoanthids, but the truth is only that one colony really suffered - not any others. If they were eating HEALTHY zoanthids, then why are the others fine? I think there was a problem with that colony. They WILL eat dying corals, without a doubt.