Eliminating the tiny starfish

How the hell do you get rid of them!!! They are all over the place including my Zoe garden and I believe they are killing them! I literally pick them off my Zoe's ok a daily basis. I hear they aren't bad for the tank and a sign your tank is good but they are a pain in my butt!

 

What type are they? micro brittle or astrena?

 

After googling they are asterna

 

Asterina starfish.

Manual removal and some types will eat zoanthids. There are several (hundreds of different types) most are harmless some are coral eaters.

 

So basically just keep removing untill they go away?

 

Yes.

You can get a Harlequin Shrimp, but unless you can feed them after the infestation that is ill advised.

 

Alright thanks much!!!

 

Don't want to contradict such an experienced member, but I have to advise against this.

Harlequins will starve on asterinae alone. They need a more substantial amount of tube feet per starfish than asterinae can provide.

Sometimes, harlequins won't even touch asterinae.

 

If you have alternative opinion please by all means post it.

Maybe you missed the part about ill advised or not, either way post away.

 

Forgot to agree with manual removal lol, pretty much the only way. Cutting back on feeding sometimes helps with their numbers, depends on the species.

I saw the ill advised part. Just providing my experience with Harlequins. It's not fair to the animal. They do starve when people throw them into a tank with only asterinae. Assuming the OP wants to keep the shrimp alive, he'd have to feed other starfish (probably choco chip, though in the wild its typically fromia sp. and linckia sp.) defeating the purpose of getting a harlequin.

I'm not sure I've seen any proof that harlequin's can thrive/survive on asterinae.

Edit: when I say asterinae, I mean the teeny tiny kind often found in our tanks. the family asteriidae covers a wide spectrum of sea stars.