I’ve noticed a few times an asterina star on my single head of CB space monster zoa. Each time I pull it off and the zoa looks like doo doo for a few days then perks up. I wouldn’t say I have a star problem either. I’m not sure if they need more food or what. I noticed the one I do pull off has some color to it so I assume it’s been munching on other zoas too. How I’ve you guys taken care of these?
Asterina star eating zoas
- Thread starter hiimsean
- Start date
Harlequin shrimp.
I would go so far as to say that manual removal doesn’t work for Asterina. Even if you think that you got all of them... wait 4-6 months and you will see a few of them popping up again.
Harlequins or similar predatory species are a necessity.
Harlequins or similar predatory species are a necessity.
I would agree - but I also don't think all of them are damaging corals - I have them but 90%+ of them don't roam around on corals.
Snagging them anytime you see one on a coral may eliminate the bad ones, leaving the harmless ones.
Or - I may be fully crazy.
I've always just removed them manually. When I see them, I pull them and I've never had anything more that the occasional issue over the years. If I were in you position, I's try removing them when you see them before going the shrimp route. I wish there were a hard and fast rule about these things but the idea of "bad ones" and "harmless ones" seems to be be pretty accurate in my experience.
I used to pull 6 or 8 a month off my glass and throw away but since hearing from @sharis100 that she feeds them to her bubble tip anemones I do the same. Now it might be one or two every month or so.
Oh Man - Imma start doing that now.
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