What eats Yumas???
- Thread starter jmj6239
- Start date
socal57che
Active Member
Over the last 3 days I have removed every asterina I could find. After acquiring some extra nice orange rics, I noticed asterina stars on them. I'd pull one off and 30 minutes later another would be on them. Each time I removed one I turned it over. Every single time, the stomach was out on the star indicating it was dining on my rics. One is too far gone. I have little hope that it will recover. The other is on the road to recovery. These are by far the smallest frags I have ever introduced. The stars never bothered any of my other specimens. The only difference I could come up with was that the asterinas were too small to fully encompass any polyps but these. They munched and munched. I was urinated big time!
ps...these frags were smaller than my pinky fingernail. 1/4 inch or so in diameter.
ps...these frags were smaller than my pinky fingernail. 1/4 inch or so in diameter.
reefkprz
Active Member
I know there is the One in a thousand type of asterinas that will munch leathers, and zoanthids. I am not sure if there is a tywe that will eat yumas but it would not suprise me much. generally they are harmless but again I remove as many as possible just to avoid potential problems.
flricordia
Active Member
Are you sure something ate them and they didn't just melt? Sometimes, especially with wild collected yumas, and I have seen it on colony rocks more times than I want to recall, they will melt away due to inabiltiy to acclimate to tank conditions. I personally suspect that yumas, being a deep water coral, do not fair well if exposed to air, of which they are in most cases when collected, transported and transfered to most LRS.
I have seen hermits chow on dying corals, rics included, so maybe the stars were doing a clean-up.
I have seen hermits chow on dying corals, rics included, so maybe the stars were doing a clean-up.
tankgeeks
Member
sorry for your losses, but i second that.....wild caught yumas are known to , randomly up and melt on you in a short time span, thats why when possible getting aquacultured pieces are always the better/safer route to take, as they are already acclimated to life in a home aquarium system. if they are wild caught its best to put them off to the side where its getting indirect lighting and let it slowly adjust to your lights.