Asterna starfish

[randy4083]

I bought 2 new corals yesterday and one of them must have had a asterna starfish on it and it's small and white are they bad or good to have and I read that some are bad and some are ok so are the white one's good or bad and I only see 1 so far so is this a good thing or a bad thing

 

[helen ann]

Most Asterina Starfish are good guys!
Have a pic for verification?

 

[steve&mari]

White is safe n helps cleaning up. Dark bluish I've seen go after zoas.

 

[randy4083]

 

[helen ann]

Looks like a good guy to me!

 

[TheEngineer]

Be aware, they multiply like craaaaaaazy and you will have a ton of them. If you don't want to see them all over your glass I suggest you move it to the sump.

 

[SamsReef]

Asterina is a pest(multiplies out of control) and should be removed before putting frags in the tank. There is no way also to say which one can opportunistically eat corals....anyone who says otherwise is just guessing.

I have a harlequin shrimp between the two tanks which keeps the population under control and out of my view.

Sam

 

[NanaReefer]

Asterina is a pest(multiplies out of control) and should be removed before putting frags in the tank. There is no way also to say which one can opportunistically eat corals....anyone who says otherwise is just guessing.

I have a harlequin shrimp between the two tanks which keeps the population under control and out of my view.

Sam

Totally disagree. Speaking from personal experience of 7+ years I've never had issues with the solid white ones ever. No guessing involved. Here's a great read attesting to this fact.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/45-reefkeeping-101-

 

[randy4083]

Thanks everyone

 

[SamsReef]

Totally disagree. Speaking from personal experience of 7+ years I've never had issues with the solid white ones ever. No guessing involved. Here's a great read attesting to this fact.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/45-reefkeeping-101-

This article is a good elaboration of what I had summarized - some asterinas are known to eat corals and to use harlequin shrimp to control. Where do you see this referring the "white ones being 100 percent reef safe".

Sam

 

[NanaReefer]

This article is a good elaboration of what I had summarized - some asterinas are known to eat corals and to use harlequin shrimp to control. Where do you see this referring the "white ones being 100 percent reef safe".

Sam

Did I say they were all 100% safe? No I did not. Nobody said they all were 100% reef safe. However many are found to be reef safe, mine included.
You're condemning an entire species based on the actions of a few. Which is a personal preference based on fear. No need to spread that fear unto others [emoji6]