StarFish ID ASAP Please Thanks !!!

[Civicdemon]

Ok guys just found this guy right in front on my Nem, Decided to pull it out couse im not sure if its a pest or not. Anyways i could really use your help before i flush the fellow

 

[tra_w]

I dont know much about them but it kinda looks like one i had in my tank and it never bothered anything but mine was still just a baby i think my fish ate it

 

[tra_w]

i'ed just set up a 10 gal tank just for him. but thats just me.

 

[over my head]

they are ok shouldent harm anything we all have them just dont know the name

 

[salt_for_brains]

Asterina starfish I have close to 100 of them in my tank. I think they are a good addition some people don't like them.

 

[Civicdemon]

Anyone els ??? Has anyone had bad experience ??

 

[salt_for_brains]

Reefkeeping Magazine - Reefkeeping 101

 

[Civicdemon]

Thanks for the article i devided to.be cautiouse and.get rid of it.

 

[BL1]

How big was that? Also I've never seen or heard of an asterina with 5 legs of the exact same length.

 

[Civicdemon]

It was fairly big about the size of my thumb nail.

 

[BL1]

It was hard to get a size reference, it looked huge next to the nem.

 

[Civicdemon]

Yeah that Nem is pretty small lol. So it would look big next to it.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Mine dont look like that? Mine are always splitting, usually 3 legs on them....

 

[salt_for_brains]

They come in 2,3,4,5,and 6 legs. Some of mine are symmetrical and some are not.

 

[Salty B]

I had a bad experience with them. The big ones like to chew on softies. Death to the little bastards I say!

 

[Salty B]

This is the one I pulled off the base of a palau green tree.

 

[Civicdemon]

O wow. Well good.thing i flushed him lol. I think iys actually one i seen a long time ago on my glass. It was.tinny back then and i let it be. Could be the same one.

 

[Salty B]

To be fair....I will say the tiny 1/8" ones (which I let get well into the 100's of them) never killed anything that I saw. They would sit on a zoa polyp and the next day the polyp was still there. But the couple dozen that turned tan/brown and got to be dime sized were a different story. When they sat on a zoa, the next day there was no polyp,stalk or base. Just a bare spot on the rock . Maybe they consumed all the food they had and it made them turn on corals....I have no idea. Maybe the big ones are a different species....again no idea. But they did chew up softies. Here is a pic of one chewing a kenya tree off the glass. Behind it on the sand is one that was cut down the day before.


IMAG0838 by SaltyDawg_2009, on Flickr

After several corals got attacked I went on the offensive and pulled out as many big ones as I could find but more always appeared. So i went and got me a harlequin shrimp to combat the issue. That is one of the coolest critters I've seen IMO. And an eating machine. After a few months the asterinas were gone. He got re-homed to a friend who had an outbreak and kept working. Here's one of my favorite pics of him.


IMAG0293 - Copy by SaltyDawg_2009, on Flickr

In a way it was a blessing in disguise because without the asterinas, I never would have got the harley. Instances like mine are extremely rare and are the exception and not the rule but it happened to me....so it COULD happen to you if you let them overpopulate.

 

[kbuser92]

Never had a problem before, but I never had any brown ones and mine stayed small as well. Lesson of the story (and my bristleworm encounter) is always dip corals. Now that I have my own live rock, you'll never see me with another pest. Buy rock dry, dip your corals and qt your fish.

 

[Salty B]

Never had a problem before, but I never had any brown ones and mine stayed small as well. Lesson of the story (and my bristleworm encounter) is always dip corals. Now that I have my own live rock, you'll never see me with another pest. Buy rock dry, dip your corals and qt your fish.

+1.....it was a learning experience I won't have again.