Asterina stars all gone??
 

I just noticed that all my asterina stars have disappeared from my DT. Had them for years, and now suddenly all gone. In fact my tank was over run with them, and used to wonder how I could reduce the population. I guess I don't have that problem anymore. I did a pretty good search, and can't find a single asterina.

But just wondering what would make them all go away in such a short time. I have not added any new fish for a while. The only major change, is more coral, mostly SPS, and a few LPS. Maybe they are stinging them to death??

I should mention they are still in my sump, so it has nothing to do with the water. I assume something must be eating or killing them in my DT.

Any ideas?

What's your fish and invert list ?

Now that you mention it, I'm down to very few of them, if any! Gonna go look again :)

Like I said, have not added any fish or inverts recently. But here is what I have in there:
Yellow tang (this guy is about 10 years old now)
Couple of firefish gobies
Big fat lawnmower blenny
Pearlescale butterfly
Azure damsel
Royal gramma
Dwarf flame angle

4 or 5 hermits (getting bigger and bigger)
Large bristle starfish (about 12 inches)
Cleaner shrimp
Couple of urchins, one small one that likes to hang out in the rocks, and one big black long spined one, mostly hangs out on the back glass.
Lots of stomatella snails (these are fairly new, and keep breeding)
Various crabs and other unknown critters hidden in the rocks, but I rarely see them. This tank is 12 years old...

Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. It's a 100g tank.

I asked for your list as I thought somebody might spot a potential culprit :wink:

I can't help as I used to have some in my sump and DT, but removed every one I spotted as I'd heard they can reach plague proportions

I bought a couple of Harley's. they cleaned me out good but there gone to a new infested home and the stars are on the rebound

Thanks Greg, makes sense, and I appreciate the help.

I am not sure when exactly this happened, as I just noticed it today. But I suspect in the last month. The weird thing is, they are still in my sump, although even there maybe not as many.

My tank has been running pretty clean lately. Nitrates always zero, and phosphates near zero. Although I still grow algae on the glass, which is where the asterinas were most often seen before.

SPS is growing really nicely, and great colours.

I should maybe mention one other thing. I can't keep any zoas. I tried twice now, and while they initially opened up, they would soon stay closed, and gradually melted away. Pallys are fine. No sign of any pests. So I have just given up with the zoas. Other softies, LPS and SPS, no problem.

Also, I forgot that I added a couple of peppermint shrimp a few months ago. They disappeared in the rock work, though, which is why I forgot about them. Do they eat asterinas?

Does a Harley look similar to a peppermint? Maybe I got a Harley by mistake.

No mistaking harlequin shrimp for anything else.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...749&pcatid=749

Maybe the stomatella are out competing the stars for food causing their decline. I noticed a couple months ago a few asterina stars but never any more. I also have epic numbers of stomatella snails so this may be why mine haven't grown in numbers as well

butterfly is my guess