Asterina Starfish???? Mini Brittle Starfish???

lilkiwi930 · Aug 25, 2020

Do Asterina Starfish eat corals??? I woke up this morning and noticed a lot of them in my tank before the lights turned on...

Including the mini brittle starfish?? Do they eat the corals or are they good for my tank???

KJ · Aug 25, 2020

lilkiwi930 said:
Do Asterina Starfish eat corals?

Some does.

lilkiwi930 said:
brittle starfish?

No good member of CUC.

andrewkw · Aug 25, 2020

lilkiwi930 said:
Do Asterina Starfish eat corals??? I woke up this morning and noticed a lot of them in my tank before the lights turned on...

Including the mini brittle starfish?? Do they eat the corals or are they good for my tank???

A small percentage of Asterina starfish DO eat coral. Primarily zoanthids, but they have on occasion gone after other corals. A lot of them are great cleanup crew and do a good job at eating coraline, however they can turn on you. My own personal experience leads me to believe its individuals that get a taste for corals rather then species specific but there are different kinds of asterinas.

Mini Brittle starfish do not eat coral at all, at least I have never read any reports of them eating any. They are a great free member of your cleanup crew.

You may wish to remove the asterinas, you may not. Unless you are losing corals it's not urgent and it can be very difficult to get them all. I was very happy with my massive population for years until a small amount turned on my zoanthids. I've since removed a few thousand but there are still some in my reef.

sarcophytonIndy · Sep 11, 2020

The white ones generally from my experience they are ok. The ones with the reddish brown colored backs can be trouble

lilkiwi930 · Sep 11, 2020

sarcophytonIndy said:
The white ones generally from my experience they are ok. The ones with the reddish brown colored backs can be trouble

See everybody else has been telling me its vise versa.

Nathan Milender · Sep 11, 2020

lilkiwi930 said:
Do Asterina Starfish eat corals??? I woke up this morning and noticed a lot of them in my tank before the lights turned on...

Including the mini brittle starfish?? Do they eat the corals or are they good for my tank???

I have seen the asterina on top of polyps, zoa/paly. I tend to take them out when I see them. If you think they are causing an issue I have luck with 2-3 days of blackout and then you can catch them in the open. They seem impossible to completely eradicate.