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Asterina Starfish
Last updated on November 17th, 2023
About Asterina Starfish
Asterina Starfish are a very small, white or brown starfish. Asterina Starfish eat algae from the glass and rock, but they may also munch on coral as well.
There is much debate as to whether these asterina starfish are really bad. The chances of them eating coral is very low. Additionally, they are quite effective at cleaning algae off the glass.
How to Prevent Asterina Starfish
You can prevent asterina starfish by dipping coral in Coral RX Coral Dip and/or Beyer (BioAdvanced) Insect Killer before adding them to your reef tank. You can reduce chances of asterina starfish from entering your reef on rocks by inspecting the new rocks being added to your reef tank. You may want to treat live rock outside of the tank and not add wet live rock to any aquarium. This will help prevent asterina starfish as well as a variety of other pests from entering your reef tank.
How to Get Rid of Asterina Starfish
If you decide you want to get rid of the asterina starfish, there are two options. The first is to manually remove them, by hand. I always encourage wearing gloves when working in the reef tank. You can scrape asterina starfish off the glass very easily and remove them from the tank. The other option is to pick up a harlequin shrimp. Keep in mind that harlequin shrimp will eat ALL starfish in your reef, and will need to be fed starfish after the asterina starfish are gone.
What Eats Asterina Starfish
Harlequin Shrimp are known for cleaning out asterina starfish, in fact, they only eat starfish. If you add a harlequin shrimp, be warned that they will eat all starfish, including sand sifting and other good starfish. After the asterina starfish are gone, you will need to feed the harlequin shrimp starfish because this is the only thing they eat.
Recommended Products
No products to recommend for asterina starfish.
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