Convinced some Asterina stars eat coral

[TomD]

I know this has come up on the forums from time to time. I only have 2 soft corals in my tank. One is a green tree and the other is gsp and psp growing on my overflow.

Within the last month or so there were a bunch of asterinas near the gsp and a few weeks later there is a good size patch missing. Right under where a patch is missing they are there, on the mat. That area did not open for a while either.

I am not to mad about it, it is only gsp but an interesting observation.

I am 100% positive they are eating it. I have a couple different kinds in my tank. Some larger, but these are the smaller ones.

 

[RockSalt]

I know this has come up on the forums from time to time. I only have 2 soft corals in my tank. One is a green tree and the other is gsp and psp growing on my overflow.

Within the last month or so there were a bunch of asterinas near the gsp and a few weeks later there is a good size patch missing. Right under where a patch is missing they are there, on the mat. That area did not open for a while either.

I am not to mad about it, it is only gsp but an interesting observation.

I am 100% positive they are eating it. I have a couple different kinds in my tank. Some larger, but these are the smaller ones.

I have many of the small ones and so far they have kept to themselves. I watch them closely because I too have heard that most don't eat coral but a few do. I believe zoaid.com has them under pests but they also say that only some of them eat coral.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Hmmmm....an Asterina that eats GSP? Some people might be interested in this critter if that was it's only diet.

 

[TomD]

Hmmmm....an Asterina that eats GSP? Some people might be interested in this critter if that was it's only diet.

Greg, I could be wrong but I am pretty sure. They have congregated on this mat and they are now positioned where the mat is being eaten away.

I know GSP will close for a bit, but what would cause it to basically disintegrate if their presence is a coincidence? I am missing roughly a 2X4" area.

 

[Andy O]

I wonder if this could be what is decimating some of my SPS and LPS. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out why. Water parameters have been in check and no temp spikes, but I do have a ton of these little guys all over my tank and I do see them on my corals.

Could this be what is doing it? Is there a way to get rid of them?

 

[TomD]

Hmm, I have heard people speculate that they were munching on softies, but not any hard corals. I would bet it is something else but who know's at this point. I always thought they were harmless.

As far as getting rid of them it would be tough to pick them out because they populate fast and are small. Maybe if you had someone to give it to after you could get a harlequin sp? shrimp?

What exactly is happening to your corals?

 

[Andy O]

They are bleaching out from the tips down. Checked everything that I could think of including any cracksin the UV glass on my MH lighting. I have run this by different people like B, Liam and a few others and everyone seems baffled considering when they rattle things off I tell them that I have already checked it. I had what I believed to be monti eathing nudis but this is effecting more acros than montis. I have also taken frags of these various corals and put them in my frag tank which runs seperate from my main system and everything seems to be healthy in there.

 

[TomD]

They are bleaching out from the tips down. Checked everything that I could think of including any cracksin the UV glass on my MH lighting. I have run this by different people like B, Liam and a few others and everyone seems baffled considering when they rattle things off I tell them that I have already checked it. I had what I believed to be monti eathing nudis but this is effecting more acros than montis. I have also taken frags of these various corals and put them in my frag tank which runs seperate from my main system and everything seems to be healthy in there.

Hope you figure it out. Not to get off topic here too much but have you tried taking any out and blowing them off with a turkey baster? By what you describe it could be AEFW. You really can't see them in the tank besides maybe bite marks.

 

[skyedolphan]

I use to have alot of GSP and PSP at times it would close up for weeks on end to reopen with some dead spots I also have 1000s of asterinas and when there is some disintegration on ANY coral they do seem to come in an clean the dead/dying tissue I have never seen them go at ANY healthy corals soft LPS or SPS ....but as with any other aspect of this hobby , anything is possible I guess.

Bleaching out from t he tips down isnt all that bad I have had a few corals do that mostly my tris the new growth is completely white for a few weeks then it seems once it gets use to the light it slowly gains a nice brighter color than the rest of the coral only to match the rest then return to stark white tips and start the process all over again ..as long as there is tissue and and it is not the start of STN I wouldnt worry too much but again that is just me I tend to let nature takes it course 95% of the time ..

 

[RayD]

I have thousands of Astrenea Stars also. No notice of them doing anything destructive.

 

[Greg Hiller]

If you really want to get rid of/control them, harlequin shrimp will take them out pretty fast I believe.

 

[Moe_K]

I'm pretty sure the asterina in my tank eat coraline algae like an urchin.

 

[chew*]

I too have observed the small asterinas eating my coraline, thats about it, Maybe if you have a lack of coraline they will find another food source?

 

[Greg Hiller]

For the folks that observed them eating GSP, was this confirmed? Did they eat it all?

 

[Denise Goodheart]

FWIW, I had a small plate coral appear in one of my systems.. a few days after noticing the coral, I found an asterina on the coral and the next day it was a gonner...