QUICK ID on STARFISH Please!

[dborne3]

I found this little guy tonight and i have a mix of fish and corals and was wondering if this little starfish is a danger to my corals. I know chocolates are bad for corals and i have no clue on what type this guy is. So if anyone out there can give me an idea - GOOD or BAD???

 

[alix2.0]

bad, not sure on the exact name, and i forget why their bad, so im sorry. but anyways, yeah. LOL

 

[dborne3]

Hey its better than nothing...unless your wrong lol. I have a feeling he isnt good either. Im about to head out for the night and dont wont to let him die if hes good.

 

[alix2.0]

ive seen threads asking about them and they always get negative reviews... OMG they eat something in the tank i think but IDK if its pods or coraline or corals... idk. im useless.

 

[dborne3]

I cant find anything that looks like it except for the chocolate chip starfish and i dont think that's what it is.

 

[dborne3]

Well I guess no one else has any guesses tonight. I guess i will leave him in the glass until tomorrrow and see what any one else has to say about him.

 

[teresaq]

that is an astria or somthing like that. I have tons in my tank, and they have never done anthing. they dont get any bigger then what you have there. they may eat a little coraline, but look how tiny, how much can they eat before it grows back

 

[salt monger]

those are cusion stars, that's actually a nice one, for some reason they always seem to be missing arms, they can have anywhere from 2 to 6 arms. i have probably 2 dozen in my 75 gallon for the past 10 months. i guess they came with the rock or live sand.... in my experience they're harmless. if someone knows for sure that they are not.... please let me know...lol

 

[perfectdark]

They are called Asterina Stars very common hitchikers. Harmless and will stay very small. They also have very mishaped bodys varying leg counts from 1 to 8.

 

[jonthefishguy]

That is an Asterina. They eat algae. They have been known to eat coral tissue,however over the years and times that I have come across them in display tanks, or in customers tanks, I have yet to see one eat coral tissue. But that doesnt mean that they dont, i just havent seen them do it. But as a precautional measure, I remove them.

 

[renogaw]

i'd not think it was an asterina. the asterinas i have are pure white.
to be certain, send ophiura a PM and i'm sure she'd chime in.

 

[dborne3]

Thanks everyone - i guess if hes still kicking when i get home from work then i will put him back in my tank.
I guess i can pm him real quick

 

[ophiura]

It is an Asterina star and the overwhelming majority are harmless.
There are dozens of species and it is impossible for seastar experts to identify them. Color, size and number of arms are NOT diagnostic.
Watch them - but nearly all are harmless. Now and then people turn up and SPS eater, or even a soft coral eater, but they do not "become" problems. They either are predatory, or they are not. But they WILL eat dead or dying corals.
So I would leave it. You will typically see them cruising glass or rocks eating surface films. Now and them some do a job on coralline but in most tanks it is not an issue (the coralline, in fact, has an adaptive response/defense to the grazer...)

 

[dborne3]

Thanks ophiura

 

[fedel castro]

well i have maybe a few thousand of them in my systems, i love them, they multiply by splitting a leg or too or three and keep growing, and splitting, if there is any dieing corals, they eat the decay, and they sometimes bother clams, but good tank mates too have, keep it, and let it spread .

 

[emm0909]

Here's a good idea. Every time you see one of those buggers walking up your glass... Flush it down the toilet!
They will eat things you don't want them to eat. I'm guessing you have a reef tank. If you get a total infestation of them get a Harlaquin shrimp.

 

[dborne3]

OK so everyone is saying to keep it and then now someone says to flush it... i do have a good bit of corals and look to keep adding. SO i dont know what to do now.

 

[theappe3]

i have a ton in my tank too... they grow in their own and havent seem the do any harm on my inhabitants!

 

[sambasam]

There so small they do almost no damage if they do eat coral the coral grows more in a day than the starfish could eat in a year. IMO there harmless and cute.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by emm0909
Here's a good idea. Every time you see one of those buggers walking up your glass... Flush it down the toilet!
They will eat things you don't want them to eat. I'm guessing you have a reef tank. If you get a total infestation of them get a Harlaquin shrimp.

Why on earth?
If they are on the glass, what harm are they doing?
They do NOT "eat things you do not want them to eat." This is misinformation, I am sorry. It is simply not true. Now and then there are problems...YES...but it is not common, and certainly not the sort of thing I would have people worry about. This is the same logic that caused people to panic about bristleworms, now commonly considered highly beneficial....even though some are problems.
This also applied to all hermit crabs, other crabs and even shrimp we put in our tanks. Nearly ALL of which have the potential to cause significant issues.