Asterina Starfish Eating coral

[Urbanknight]

Six days ago I noticed this coral had the dreaded brown jelly disease. I removed it, dipped it in Coral RX, rinsed and placed it in quarantine. After the dip, I noticed that in several spots it was losing flesh. I didn't blast it with flow but place it where it received an ample amount of water movement. for the next two days, it lost more flesh and was dying. Looking closer, I found this red asterina star on a part of the flesh that was still there. Having never seen one this color, I removed the critter hoping this would save the coral. Alas, too late. Having never seen one this color, my quandary is this. Is this some type of coral eating asterina? Did eating from this coral cause it's color to change? I should mention that there was one other asterina on the coral that was white. Did the red asterina start munching on the coral because it was dying? Is the red color common in this species? Your thoughts will be helpful. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm on the lookout for more of these red critters to eliminate them just incase!

 

[Butuz]

I had a similar issue 2 weeks ago with my feozen apple zoa that grew from 2 heads to 6 very quickly. Was happy, thriving, until I noticed a few heads always closed. Thought it was snails. Long story, took a while for me to notice (did so at night with all heads close) that there was a white asterina attached to its base eating it. Removed him, but the zoa has not recovered still. Only 2 smallest heads open and the growth has stalled. Not sure if they will make it.

 

[Brad Miller]

There are several differs colored stars like red, orange, white, black....
They will go after dead or dying coral and eat them till there gone...that’s what they do, good clean up crew members.
While some say they eat coral that are healthy, that’s debatable, I think they sense a problem with the coral and move in for the kill
They can also multiply at an alarming rate and most will get a harlequins shrimp to keep their population in check.