Somethin i found...

theweena

theweena

Member
i was looking at my tank today to just make sure everything was okay and my live rock was healthy and i noticed a bunch of little white starfish...at first i thought they were starfish but then i counted the tentacles and they have around 7-10 so then i thought they might be maybe some kind of coral or anenome but then i looked around and saw them all over my tank i just wanted to know if anyone knows what they are and if they are bad ....thanks
eric
 
edward

edward

Member
These are starfish. They are completely harmless from what I've seen in my own reef tanks as well as been told. They are about a little bit smaller than a dime with non-symmetrical arms right?
 
theweena

theweena

Member
i looked that up and no i have some of those but thats not what im talking about.....they have skinnier....and more tentacles and look like a ball
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Hmmm, mostly on the glass? Are they quite small, like the size of....hmmmm....a......(thinking).......pin head? Anyway, there are "dots with legs" called Staurocladia oahuensis. If you search this on Google there is an "Odd Critters" link that comes up with some pictures.
 
theweena

theweena

Member
no they are not on the glass...they are on the liverock.....they do look like a pinhead with legs sort of.....are these things good...bad....anything at all?...thanks
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I have never been able to see them on the rock, but does it look like this??
 
alison

alison

Member
Hi, if they look exactly like a regular starfish, just like a babie starfish about the size of a dime, with 6+ leggs then they are most likely bad. 4-5 leggs are normal for a regular star I believe, but anything with more is bad, I've been told. I had some of those that TOTALLY destroyed a patch of yellow polyps, mine were coral eaters. so do some searchin and maybe even ask Bang, he should have a pix, and know for sure. Good luck, ali
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member

Originally posted by alison
Hi, if they look exactly like a regular starfish, just like a babie starfish about the size of a dime, with 6+ leggs then they are most likely bad. 4-5 leggs are normal for a regular star I believe, but anything with more is bad, I've been told. I had some of those that TOTALLY destroyed a patch of yellow polyps, mine were coral eaters. so do some searchin and maybe even ask Bang, he should have a pix, and know for sure. Good luck, ali

This is not really true. Number of arms is not a good determination of which species of Asterina are predatory. Plenty of completely harmless one's have 6-7 or so arms. They commonly cruise the glass grazing on bacterial films. A few species of Linckia also commonly have 6 arms. So, the number of arms is really not a good characteristic to rely on.
 
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