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Blown76mav

Zoa eating Asterina Starfish

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Blown76mav
, 03-15-2012 at 09:18 PM (15947 Views)
Ok, I admit this problem is my own mistake of trusting someone who gave me a frag. I didnt' quarantine or even look at it as this friend had never had any pest and his reef was doing great. Over the last month or so I've noticed my zoa's dissapearing, some here some there but never a whole lot. Within the last two weeks I've lost at least 3 colonies of 30 polyps or more and seem to be loosing more every day. I have found Zoa eating Asterina Starfish on the polyps so I know what the culprit is, I'm removing at lest 30 per day from what colonies I can remove from the tank. I've had the white ones for years without any problems, these are the dark green/gray ones.

I know a harliquin shrimp will help but I doubt I can get one in time to save my colonies. So I've fragged off what I could, checked and tripple checked for those nasty little starfish and have set up a small 10g tank so hopefully they can grow and I can find a way to deal with this.

So I guess here is my question if I remove all my zoa's and these have nothing to feed on will they die off or do I have to take out all my rock and drain the tank and let everything dry out for a few days. These things are in the main tank, plumbing, sump, etc....


I'm about ready to PBITAWA, after 6 years I guess its my turn in the barrel.

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‎ NEED HELP STAT! , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. baker.shawn's Avatar
    i got these guys....they suck! it seems they like only expensive zoas, as they have not touched my normal ones, they also like GSP! answell as maybe my monti they are plastered to the bottom of it (im not sure if they are doing damage) i plan on getting a harliquin shrimp possibly
  2. melev's Avatar
    I had a mixture of good and bad asterinas years ago. The ones that looked blue in my tank were the bad ones. In my kitchen, they were tan or light green under normal lights. I had two Harlequins in my tank and they devoured them all. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again, after removing my pretty starfish first.