I am having a mass sea star & baby snail invasion

[Kevin McG]

This is just 1 small area of the back wall of my tank. There are litterly hundreds of little sea stars all over the entire tank. The baby snails are everywhere too, the overflows are loaded!!!

 

[crzy4reefs]

i had an out break like that for awhile then when we moved into the new house the population went down for a bit.

now it' looks like my clowns turn to spawn..........

 

[dz6t]

his will solve your problem:
Harlequin Shrimp
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=749

 

[nitrofish]

would it hurt the big starfish though?

 

[zemuron114]

yes they will. They will probably go for the bigger ones first as well.
Try a halichoeres wrasse (sp) like ornate, radiant etc. Or a 4-line, 6-line, mystery. I believe they will all help you out on the star fish (someone correct me if im wrong please )

 

[Mr. Slippery]

Give them to Minh I know he loves them.

 

[seahorse1]

I just found a very tiny starfish ( at least I think its a starfish) on the glass of my tank. Are they a pest or should I just leave it alone?

 

[Kevin McG]

I just found a very tiny starfish ( at least I think its a starfish) on the glass of my tank. Are they a pest or should I just leave it alone?

Have a picture? most of the time they are missing a few of there legs so they don't look like a typical starfish. At the top of the thread there is a picture with lots of them to compare.

As for them being bad.....not sure. I don't notice them anywhere except along the sides of the tank and the overflows. I did notice one yesterday as I was taking a closer look at a digitata colony I have, it was on a dead tissue part of the colony but I am not sure if it is due to the sea star.

 

[~Flighty~]

My CBB and mandarins eat them.

 

[mascaret]

I think those are Asterina Stars. Harlequin Shrimp are the best known predator for them, but harlequin ONLY eat stars.. Once the supply is gone, the shrimp will die.

These little guys are normally pretty harmless, but I did have them decimate some colonies of zoos. They didn't seem to bother hard corals much.

 

[this is me]

Give them to Minh I know he loves them.

Scoop them up!! I'll take those bastards. I used to hate them until I got a pair of these.

 

[RichConley]

I wonder if theres any way to culture asterinas. would be useful for people like Minh.

 

[grendel]

My Mandarin's getting fat on the bloom of stars I have.

 

[this is me]

Mandarins eat these stars? Interesting.

 

[grendel]

Yep. I've seen him targetting them mid water column on the overflow.

He's getting outrageously fat, too.

My CBB and mandarins eat them.

The Stars, not the snails from what I can tell.