What are those??

[Driller31]

After some serious tank gazzing, me and the wife noticed 4 very small white starfish...Could anyone tell us what type these are they are really to small to take a pic of, but we have seen them all move...Also I think it is a brittle starfish, round body and ugly long legs, is this correct?? Also kind of like a cobweb thing, what is that??This saltwater hobby I really cool, I would imagine over time, it only gets lots better??Ontop of all that there are like 5 different kinds of Zoas, and Polyps that are new to the tank...Why did I spend so much money on buying corals when they grow naturally??

 

[JustOneMore20]

The small stars definitely sound like brittle stars. Those are pretty cool! Not sure about the cobweb...can you get a pic? And yeah, my tank has been setup since August and I still find stuff I didn't see before...and its so cool!

 

[thincat]

If they are white I don't think they are brittle stars I think they ar asteria stars and will come and go with the nutrients in your water.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

The little white starfish - most likely with non-symmetric legs and looking like they mutated from some nuclear power plant - are probably asterinas.

The description of the brittle starts sound about right... round body and "hairy" legs waving everywhere during feeding time.

The cobweb thing may be several things, but first that comes to my mind is the "web" that Vermitid Snails cast out looking for food. The Vermitid Snails live in hard little tubes and they cast out a mucous web when they detect food in the water. They'll then reel the web back into their tube for dinner. If the cobweb thing doesn't come and go and is pretty much planted on a rock, then it sounds more like a type of sponge.

All these things are good to have.

 

[Mitchell0605]

If you've got Zoas and Palys popping up then these was obviously one or two polyps on your rock when you bought it and you just didn't notice them. Corals don't just appear. Your lucky.

 

[bavass]

some filter feeders will put out like a mucus to catch thier food source so that is probably what the cobweb is

 

[thincat]

Here is a shot of my worm. This was when my tank was fairly new. In the center of the picture you can clearly see the webbing.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nice shot TC.

 

[Neptune333]

Hey I have those also. I bought a big peice of live rock from the store and what would you know, there was an adult size Brittle Starfish in it about 12in long. A few days later I was stairing in the tank and there was 3 baby brittle's (all white and look's just like it just way smaller and not spikey) ! ! ! I have a bad picture on my phone that I will try and post tonight if ya want... I have way more than 3 its crazy

 

[Neptune333]

So here are the Babies and the Parent I guess lol

 

[thincat]

What color is the big brittle star?

 

[Neptune333]

Black and on his head black and beige/grey... Why ?

 

[thincat]

Because the green one is bad news as it hunts fish.

 

[Mitchell0605]

How does a Star catch fish? Jump on top of them?

 

[thincat]

No the green brittle will prey on your fish as they sleep at night. serious...read this:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080612094019AADDVg7