Asterina stars all gone??
 

I just noticed that all my asterina stars have disappeared from my DT. Had them for years, and now suddenly all gone. In fact my tank was over run with them, and used to wonder how I could reduce the population. I guess I don't have that problem anymore. I did a pretty good search, and can't find a single asterina.

But just wondering what would make them all go away in such a short time. I have not added any new fish for a while. The only major change, is more coral, mostly SPS, and a few LPS. Maybe they are stinging them to death??

I should mention they are still in my sump, so it has nothing to do with the water. I assume something must be eating or killing them in my DT.

Any ideas?

What's your fish and invert list ?

Now that you mention it, I'm down to very few of them, if any! Gonna go look again :)

Like I said, have not added any fish or inverts recently. But here is what I have in there:
Yellow tang (this guy is about 10 years old now)
Couple of firefish gobies
Big fat lawnmower blenny
Pearlescale butterfly
Azure damsel
Royal gramma
Dwarf flame angle

4 or 5 hermits (getting bigger and bigger)
Large bristle starfish (about 12 inches)
Cleaner shrimp
Couple of urchins, one small one that likes to hang out in the rocks, and one big black long spined one, mostly hangs out on the back glass.
Lots of stomatella snails (these are fairly new, and keep breeding)
Various crabs and other unknown critters hidden in the rocks, but I rarely see them. This tank is 12 years old...

Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. It's a 100g tank.

I asked for your list as I thought somebody might spot a potential culprit :wink:

I can't help as I used to have some in my sump and DT, but removed every one I spotted as I'd heard they can reach plague proportions

I bought a couple of Harley's. they cleaned me out good but there gone to a new infested home and the stars are on the rebound

Thanks Greg, makes sense, and I appreciate the help.

I am not sure when exactly this happened, as I just noticed it today. But I suspect in the last month. The weird thing is, they are still in my sump, although even there maybe not as many.

My tank has been running pretty clean lately. Nitrates always zero, and phosphates near zero. Although I still grow algae on the glass, which is where the asterinas were most often seen before.

SPS is growing really nicely, and great colours.

I should maybe mention one other thing. I can't keep any zoas. I tried twice now, and while they initially opened up, they would soon stay closed, and gradually melted away. Pallys are fine. No sign of any pests. So I have just given up with the zoas. Other softies, LPS and SPS, no problem.

Also, I forgot that I added a couple of peppermint shrimp a few months ago. They disappeared in the rock work, though, which is why I forgot about them. Do they eat asterinas?

Does a Harley look similar to a peppermint? Maybe I got a Harley by mistake.

No mistaking harlequin shrimp for anything else.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...749&pcatid=749

Maybe the stomatella are out competing the stars for food causing their decline. I noticed a couple months ago a few asterina stars but never any more. I also have epic numbers of stomatella snails so this may be why mine haven't grown in numbers as well

butterfly is my guess

Yeah, they don't look anything like that....

And yes, I got my first stomatella snails almost 6 months ago, and surprised how many I have now. I see a few big ones, and lots of small ones, so they are definitely breeding. They do a nice job of polishing my upper rock surfaces and around my SPS bases. I don't see them on the glass though, which is where the asterinas used to hang out, or at least where I really noticed them.

Asterina populations tend to ebb and flow. I think mainly due to the amount of available food. A person generally doesn't see a huge population in low nutrient, low feeding systems. A lack of Asterinas would make happy. :)

But I've had my butterfly for a couple years too, and this is a recent happening. I have never seen them eat an asterirna, although they do pick away in the rocks all the time, and who knows what they find. I do have a lot of pods, too, which are even visible often in the daytime, crawling around on the rocks.

Having said that, though, I was away last month to Maui for 10 days. Maybe the butterfly (or something else) got hungry and developed a new taste.

Maybe I should relocate a few asterina from my sump back to the DT, and see who goes after them. Then again, would rather not risk another infestation of them.

I had thousands and then same thing one day poof no more , same with the tiny round snails , i guess they just ran out of food or all got the flu and died.

The tiny white snails are collinista snails. Harmless. I have 540000 right now. I attribute it to over feeding as I picked up some anthias that were a little skinny. I've paid off the food and asterias ate on the decline but not so much for the snails. Funny though I don't have high nutrients. But the food is red plankton and cycopeze so I imagine it gets trapped in rock work

Given the widespread observation of their disapearance I think a return to the mothership more likely. :lol:

One other thing I noticed in this tank is a lot of the small mini brittle stars. Do they eat asterina stars?

I am wondering too if these mini brittle stars are the reason I can't keep zoas, as I saw them crawling over them too.

The mini brittle stars also hang around my dendros and sun corals, and try to steal the mysis I feed them. My tank is definitely full of them.

Are there any fish or other predators that eat the mini brittle stars?

I noticed the same thing in my tank last fall. My tank was infested with asterina's and they would cover the glass at night time. It was actually kind of a cool effect :lol: Then, almost over night POOF. All gone. No more starry night scene in my DT tank at sundown :sad: I do spot a few here and there but nowhere near the population I had previously.

the brittle stars wont hurt your zoos , if i am to pick up any given colonie or frag of zoos from my tank theres on average a dozen or more stars intangled in the polyps . i could estimate i bet a few thousand in my tank , asterinas on the other hand you def dont want, good or bad brown or not........

its not uncommon for butterflys diets to change , my guess would be thats the trouble for your keeping zoos , im not sure about them eating stars i mean anythings possible but ive never first hand seen that happen.

i know for a fact theres not a whole lot that eat brittle stars , i have about 8 wrasses, a butterfly and 3 mandarins....neither has ever touched the stars.

my harlequins keep the asterinas from ever appearing .