why did i lose all my aquarium stars on fishdom

As you can image it would be difficult to remove each starfish one by one. Here we see a small misshapen Aterina about 1/4 inch acrossĪsterina starfish are small, around 1/4” – 1/2” across and can reach a maximum size of 3/4″, or 2cm. The Asterina species commonly found in aquaria multiply through Fissiparous Reproduction, or simply splitting apart. This is also why it can seem like suddenly overnight what used to be a handful of tiny starfish are now covering your rock work. The Asterina star can have an asymmetrical appearance, and it could look like your have a bunch of 3 legged starfish crawling around in your tank. See also How To Get Rid Of Vermetid SnailsĪsterina stars reproduce by fragmentation (fissiparous reproduction) and their bodies will split apart losing one or two legs at a time which regrow as new starfish.

If you start noticing jagged white marks it’s possible your starfish have gotten a taste for corals polyps and it is best to remove them from your aquarium. Should a starfish outbreak occur you want to keep monitoring your corals, especially the base of the coral. It is up to you what to do with them as a consensus has still yet to be reached whether the Asterina is friend of foe.

If you are keeping a reef tank, we can almost assure you at one point you will come across an Asterina starfish. The business (mouth) end of a typical Asterina, although they are rarely this well ‘starfish shaped’. It’s true that some Asterinas can grow up to be coral munchers, but by and large Asterina are innocuous members of a mature reef aquarium population.

The Asterina starfish is seen as more of an aquarium pest than a pet, and although most species of Asterina can coexist in your tank without killing your corals, it can be difficult to tell which species of Asterina you’ve inherited. Have you ever wondered what that itsy bitsy starfish is doing in your tank? The sneaky starfish probably hitchhiked its way in on some live rock or new coral, but now there are dozens of small grayish starfish roaming your tank. It’s likely that this ‘outbreak’ of echinoderms is in fact the Asterina starfish.

Why did i lose all my aquarium stars on fishdom