starfish

[lbannie]

I've found 2 tiny starfish on my LR. They're whitish, but the funny thing is, one has 6 points, and 3 of them are larger than the others(like has half and half). The other star only has 3 points! I'm trying to get a pic of them, but until then, anyone have an idea?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Pretty sure they're asterina stars. Do a Google image search and see if they don't look familiar. I've never seen a "normal" looking one in my tank! Seems like they're all mutants! Good things to have, in my opinion.

 

[lbannie]

Yup! That looks like it....I got a good pic of mine, but now I can't find the wire for my camera Seems like they get mixed reviews, that they might eat corals. I don't have any, so I'm in luck!

 

[Sadielynn]

The astrenia in my tank eats my coraline I would not mind it so much if it were on the glass but these suckers eat it off my LR and in a nano that is noticable ... so as far as I am concerned I consider them to be pests that I remove .....

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

As you found, and Sadielynn demonstrated... opinions vary! Different folks have different experiences, and I often wonder if we're all talking about the same exact stars. There could be some subspecies that eat coral/coralline and others that don't, but maybe our untrained eyes just can't tell the difference.

My experience is that the ones in my tank don't harm a thing. And I've got TONS of coralline and some SPS for them to snack on, and have never seen them harm a flea. Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep an eye on yours though.

 

[melosu58]

Forgive the dirty outside of the tank but here they are in my tank. Mine dont bother anything except trash on the inside of the glass.

 

[lbannie]

Wow! very cool, my boyfriend teases me for staring at the glass.....he would never get me away from yours!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I always like that picture Mike. You must have your asterinas trained to reproduce symmetrically, or something. All of mine... I mean, ALL of them... look like some mutant zombies from another planet. I've got one that has one leg that is longer than all the rest combined! (It's name is "Stubby.")

 

[brian242pa]

I have done alot of reasearch on these little pests and iv seen they eat patches of star polyps and eat ful zoa polyps! They do eat my coraline 2 and if there legs are even it means they are about to split. if you find them and have a prefilter sock in a overflow box that has algea in it throw them in there because they will never get in ur tank and they will eat all ur hair algea in there

 

[melosu58]

Ime of 11 yrs mine have never harmed any corals in my tank. There are some and not alot asternias that are not reef safe but they are rare and a brownish color. The white ones that I have have never done damage and I have given others some for their tanks and never heard any bad from them. Not all asternias are bad. Very few are.

 

[Innovator]

On the flip side, I remove any asap because they are very opportunistic and have caught them consuming all coral varieties in the past. There are more useful scavengers imo, unless of course you are using them to feed juvenile harlequin shrimp