tiny white looking star fish ????

black&whiteclowns

it is on the glass very small and white looks like a starfish ?/ any ideas

Gump

Cant remember the name of them but there not star fish and every reef tank i've seen has had them in large numbers. They eat algae i think, not harmful.

caferacermike

Probably is a Asterina star. Rumored to eat zoa and sps. Not really confirmed, much debated. May only eat certain types so both arguments could be correct to a point.


Does this pic look like yours? If so do a Yahoo search (credit goes to whoever posted the pic I borrowed) and read up on them.

Melissa

yeah i wouldnt confirm it either...we have a few in our tank, and still have all our zoas.

black&whiteclowns

yes it looks like that but a bit smaller , if it maybe true to eat stuff i will remove it know , but it still on glass . thks does it get big

usmc121581

We have tons of them in our tank and some are about as big as a dime and Iv never seen them eating my corals.

caferacermike

I've had them eat fresh frags of SPS corals. I had 4 of them take out a colony of green slimer SPS. The trouble with the argument is whether the stars sense that there is a weakness or injury and are just eating the coral due to the signals being given off. As in, maybe my slimer was dieing and the stars ate it because of that or maybe they prefer frags because they give off a chemical after being broken away.

I always remove them when I see them. To me it is better to be safe than sorry. I have plenty of snails, hermits and other stars to keep my tank clean.

usmc121581

Now you got me thinking, because I have been loosing SPS frags lately. Ill take them out and feed them to my puffer now.

black&whiteclowns

so i guess take it out if i see it again i will pull it ,, thks