new discovery in our tank..

[NewFishy]

My daughter spotted out a star fish but it appears to be missing his legs.. I attached photos...don't star fish grow back there legs?? And should I try puting anything in the tank to feed him or is there any way I can protect him since it appears my fish might be snackin on him??



The other pictures are of something else I also found I had to turn a rock around and I used my phone to take these pictures but I think its a feather duster I have a bunch of tiny ones..but never realised how big of one I have...but I can't seems to find only pictures of this one ...he's like a rusty red color with white dots on the tips and throughout...

I would love all the help I could get with information for these two fun creatures

 

[Ziggy953]

1st one is an asterina star...some debate about if they are good or bad. Some are some aren't.

The other is Aiptasia anemone...no debate there...bad stuff. they will grow like weeds and will sting corals. There are several methods of getting rid of them but manual removal should not be tried unless you pull the rock out.

Google Aiptasia anemone to get info on removing them from your system. Aiptasia X is a product that works well, you can also use Kalkwasser in paste form.

 

[NewFishy]

Darn it I was kind of excited ... what about my fish will it hurt my fish? I have some type of coral in my tank sun something and they have been slowly one by one dying...they are on the other side of the tank. I just figured they weren't eating when I tried to target feed them

 

[Rutrag]

If it was a sun coral, I've heard they're very much hit and miss and require a lot of attention to make sure each polyp eats.

As far as fish being stung by aptasia, yes they can be, but they're normally smart enough to avoid the business part of them so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[NewFishy]

Man now I'm just so disapointed I don't kno what to do.

 

[Rutrag]

Get yourself a small syringe (you don't necessarily need a needle) and lime juice. Suck up some lime juice (a little will do) with the syringe. You are going to squirt the lime juice into the lil' beastie's mouth which is in the top center. You need to be quick once you start or he'll retract. Squirt it in and observe for a couple days to make sure you had a hit and he doesn't shrug it off. That one looks pretty big, so I think that will make the job easier.

 

[Tmaida17]

@ new fishy... We must have got out live rock from the same fish store bc I had the same star fish and feather dusters or whatever they are.. My tank is new as well so my starfish didn't survive but my feather dusters or whatever those brown things are haven't bothered my fish and I've had them for about a month now. If they should be taking out its going to be a pain bc I have a bunch.. Does anyone know if anything will eat them feather dusters and make life easy? Lol

 

[Reeffanman]

Peppermint shrimp will snack on apitasia, but apitasiax works quite well if you keep on top of them

 

[Reeffanman]

Darn it I was kind of excited ... what about my fish will it hurt my fish? I have some type of coral in my tank sun something and they have been slowly one by one dying...they are on the other side of the tank. I just figured they weren't eating when I tried to target feed them

I've heard of people saying a little starfish like yours may go after corals of it there is not enough food for them. Not pointing a finger at him but it could explain why your sun coral things keep dying off slowly

 

[Tmaida17]

@ Reeffanman Are they good or bad bc a few people say they are bad for reef aquariums? I have a fish only tank now but eventually will have a corals when I get a bigger tank.

 

[carey]

I have not had a problem ever with those little starfish. All my tanks have a couple here or there. I would just leave them. I mean what are you going to do, take it out of the water and kill it? lol

Do you have a picture of the sun coral you have? I tried to keep one several months ago myself but it didn't make it. Mine never seemed to open up for feeding whehter it was day or night. LOL I even stayed up all night a couple times and never saw it open.

 

[mr_X]

It's not that they are hungry and go for corals, it's that they just decide one day. I had a million of them in a 150 and they were fine for 2 years, then all of the sudden, they were all over all of the soft corals. No lack of food in the tank made this happen. 99% of the time they just eat algae however. I'd keep them until I saw something negative. Then you can purchase a totally awesome looking harlequin shrimp to gobble them up.

I never saw them touch and LPS, so i doubt very highly they are the reason for the sun coral failing.

 

[NewFishy]

That's the best picture I could get so far of the sun coral.

 

[mr_X]

that looks more like Balanophyllia than Tubastrea.

 

[NewFishy]

that looks more like Balanophyllia than Tubastrea.

What is that??

 

[mr_X]

balanophyllia-

 

[mr_X]

tubastrea

 

[Tmaida17]

Hey Mr.X this doesn't have anything to do with this topic but I was wonder I get this hot pink color on my live rock when the blue lights are on and then they seem to turn white over time and its spotty. Have you ever seen that? I tried taking a pic but it doesn't show up..

 

[mr_X]

I don't know what that is. I'm going to need a pic. Make a new thread.