finally figured it out

i just figured out why i cant get my coralline algae to grow good. it always looks thin and dusty. i have kept an eye on some healthy thick dots of coralline on my back glass. i watched a one of the many little asterina stars in my tank go over it. it stayed there for about an hour and what do you know the dot is no longer there. how do i get rid of these things. my tank is loaded with them and now i know they are not allowing me to grow good coralline growth. it is a 55 reef

 

I don't think that asterinas eat corraline. I have plenty of both in my tank.

Do you have any urchins?

 

no. i literally watch this happen. a healthy thick dot of coralline. starfish goes over it, gone. it happened to a rock a new coral was on also. had alot of purple on it and the starfish have turned it all white.

 

anything is possible especially in a reef tank. Not doubting what you saw. Are you sure they are asterinas?

Harlequin shrimp will eat them (the foot tubes more technically) and are really, really cool but if you get them you will have to keep feeding them after the asterinas are all gone or they will starve. All they eat are the tubes from starfish feet.

Many people in my club have tons of asterinas and have no issues because of them. If there's nothing else going on other than wanting corraline, the best thing to do may be to simply wait longer and keep maintaining the tank params and it will eventually grow. What's your calcium and alk levels and are they consistent?

 

With soooo many different types of asternia it is hard to say which one eats what. I have heard of them eating coralline. Much more commom for urchins to eat coralline.

However if the conditions and age of the tank are right the coralline would grow too fast for asternia to do any real damage.

 

well my tank is well over a year old. my back glass used to be plastered with coralline but since these stars have really multiplied the back is just dusty looking. you can see new growth but it quickly gets stomped out by these stars. i just turkey basted a bunch of them out. my parameters are fine as far as coralline is concerned. i do regular water changes with reef crystals and have no sps or clams.

 

There are some people like me that would welcome something that ate coralline. But I think you would have to have a fairly large population of the them.

What color are they ? You should document the little buggers with some pictures, you could be on to something.

 

Asterinas do eat coraline, at least some. Why do you want to get rid of them though? They add to the biodiversity in the aquarium, plus, I doubt you will ever get rid of all of them. Many people with them grow coraline just fine. Not to sound condescending, but a lot of people are caught up on coraline algae, I don't get it. IMO, it's nice to have, but it can be a nuisance.

 

I have noticed the ones that eat coralline look bluish.