View Full Version : EMERGENCY Starfish/Parasite
futurecanadian
12-23-2007, 9:11 AM
A tiny 7 leg starfish that is tan in color and flat has just shown up on my glass. I got new LR last night, so I assume he hitched a ride on the LR. How do I know if he is one of those pesky starfish/parasites?
futurecanadian
12-23-2007, 9:21 AM
Yup that bugger is an Asterina Star... I have now read all of the posts on them and I see there are tons of mixed reviews. I think I am going to remove him. Oy Vei. I don't have corals, but one day I might.
Should I take him back to my LFS?
JohnLin
12-23-2007, 9:48 AM
if you think you might want corals down the road, then any unidentifiable starfish should be pulled out just to be on the safe side.
Grins
12-23-2007, 12:50 PM
I leave the asterinas if they are on the glass or rocks (away from corals) cleaning algae. If they are on a coral or hovering near it ...they get yanked.
man everybody gets cool stuff with their lr all i get is Rock LOL.
Coolest thing ever I've heard Boggs was someone got a live fish with some rock. Shocked them as it would have me.
Pufferpunk
12-23-2007, 8:24 PM
if you think you might want corals down the road, then any unidentifiable starfish should be pulled out just to be on the safe side.
I disagree, most stars are good for your tank (detrius eaters). Not all asterinas are bad guys. I have hundreds & my tank is doing great.
Coolest thing ever I've heard Boggs was someone got a live fish with some rock. Shocked them as it would have me.
A customer of mine got a tiny snowflake eel with his!
futurecanadian
12-24-2007, 8:29 AM
Thanks gang... an eel sure would have shocked me a bit lol. A fish would have been awesome though. Well the star is back at the LFS. He and I just werent a match.
You guys rock...
Merry Christmas to all, from a Jew, lol.
boggs
12-24-2007, 12:05 PM
Its kind of funny but 2 hours after i posted that i never get any cool hitchhikers. i went and bought 5 more pounds of lr and woke up this morning to a red snail on my glass:). Is this a good snail? its tiny.
BeelzeBob
12-24-2007, 12:13 PM
kill it.
i remove dozens a day.
im my tank they ate through bad algea and poo, and then turned on coraline and my zoos.
at first they were all chill and well behaved. then they ran out of the food id want them to eat.
death to the asternas!
this sounds like good fodder for a thread about the weirdest or most interesting hitchers!
Sarra
12-28-2007, 12:46 AM
kill it.
i remove dozens a day.
im my tank they ate through bad algea and poo, and then turned on coraline and my zoos.
at first they were all chill and well behaved. then they ran out of the food id want them to eat.
death to the asternas!
Unless you have other snails and small inverts you want to keep alive, get a clown loach and acclimate it to marine? Clown loaches live in fresh, brack, and marine waters, IIRC.
this sounds like good fodder for a thread about the weirdest or most interesting hitchers!
We had one going for a bit: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124243&highlight=hitch+hiker
Unless you have other snails and small inverts you want to keep alive, get a clown loach and acclimate it to marine? Clown loaches live in fresh, brack, and marine waters, IIRC.
I have never heard of anyone doing that to a clown loach before. Seems cruel.
Reefscape
12-28-2007, 6:01 AM
Unless you have other snails and small inverts you want to keep alive, get a clown loach and acclimate it to marine? Clown loaches live in fresh, brack, and marine waters, IIRC.
I would like to see where you gave seen a clown loach in a marine system if you dont mind..besides the fact that its un-neccesary, i feel that acclimating any freshwater fish to marine in cruel in my opinion, as its not their natural habitat...
Thanks
Niko
I would like to see where you gave seen a clown loach in a marine system if you dont mind..besides the fact that its un-neccesary, i feel that acclimating any freshwater fish to marine in cruel in my opinion, as its not their natural habitat...
Ditto.
Sarra, I've seen your post in another thread about being misinformed of the fact that clown loaches can live in saltwater. I've never seen clown loaches being kept in brackish and marine setups at all. They thrive best in pure freshwater and in the wild, the pH alone was as low as 4.5. I am sure your clown loaches died for some other reasons, not the fact that these were in purely freshwater. Clown loaches are not brackish nor marine species. I am sure you would hear several of us successfully keeping clown loaches in freshwater setups for several years. I've not seen any documentary stating they can thrive in marine setups though who knows I might have miss one.
BeelzeBob
12-28-2007, 9:26 AM
Unless you have other snails and small inverts you want to keep alive, get a clown loach and acclimate it to marine? Clown loaches live in fresh, brack, and marine waters, IIRC.
first, who wants to see a lil clown loach get his head all smashed in?:lipssealedsmilie:
and yea... CL are a FW fish, sooo, no.:headshake2:
Pufferpunk
12-28-2007, 1:08 PM
Aren't they actually found in soft waters?
JohnLin
12-28-2007, 1:55 PM
that's funny, I remember you can't even have aquarium salt in the tank if a ich would've broken out if you have a clown loach present...
I'm sure he/she meant clown fish, not loach.
that's funny, I remember you can't even have aquarium salt in the tank if a ich would've broken out if you have a clown loach present...
I'm sure he/she meant clown fish, not loach.
Why would one need to acclimate a clownfish to marine?
BeelzeBob
12-28-2007, 4:28 PM
Why would one need to acclimate a clownfish to marine?
so that it can fight a mono and a damsel and a dragon fish in a hypo salinity 15 gallon with a crushed coral substrate and a current usa nano skimmer.
they all eat caviar, too.:headbang2: