Jestersix

Mistakes=bad hitchhiker

jacuzzi

jacuzzi

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Ok so my tank is zoa dominated and this last week I picked up a favia frag. So my mistake came from not dipping it but I did notice two light blue startfish, looked like asterina stars on the side of the plug. Now two of my larger colonies of zoas have partially closed and my research tells me I picked up a type of asterina starfish that munches on zoas. What actions can I take? Will a harlequin shrimp do the trick or can I try something else that doesnt require re-homing the shrimp later? I am pretty mad at myself now for letting it go.
 
Harlequin shrimp might find and take care of the starfish however with as few as you probably have I would say definitely a poor choice.
 
Well I actually have alot of asterina starfish in the tank. I just noticed that the ones on this paticular plug were kinda bluish compared to my others. So the harlequin shrimp would have a source of food for at least a while. Tonight I will just put the lights out early and see what I can catch!
 
Have you actually seen stars on the zoas? Zoas can go through periods of closing up for no apparent reason, at least ime. Before you start ripping out possible detrivores wholesale you might watch them for a few days.

Also imo the way to do it would be to go in after the lights go out, pull out the affected zoas and pick off all the stars that are residing on them specifically.
 
I have yet to see the starfish on the zoas, however I have been running the tank for over 1.5 years with no issues with zoas opening and closing for no apparent reason. What made me consider that it was an issues is because they have remained closed for over 24 hours which has never happened. They look generally irritated and its only the two colonies within a couple inches from the new frag. I am going in on lights out tonight to find and erradicate.
 
Gonzo said:
Semi Off Topic: Do coral dips remove/kill asterina stars? I thought it was more for parasites/bugs?
Click to expand...

Dips kill/stun asterinas.

I wouldn't worry about them having different pigment than your other stars, asterinas tend to use the pigment found in their diet to help camouflage themselves, they most likely are the same or a similar variety to what you already have in your tank.
 
Yes I use coral RX to dip & it stun and kill asterinas.

I did found the asterinas mowing my zoas and cause them close and eventually died, Palys are stronger and seems defend themselves better.

The asterinas did sometimes climbing to branches of my acros, not 100% if that did any harm but on the safe side I am going to start a war to mass reduce asterina population.
 
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