Feather duster OR Aiptasia? Star Fish ID?

[A2dahlberg]

Just bought a magnified glass and found these in my tank. What kind of Starfish is this and is it bad or good? Also is this a feather duster or Aiptasia?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Feather duster and asterina starfish , debatable for the starfish I say they are good and only eat algae, others reported then eating zoas / coral

 

[Zer0]

That is an asterina star, good guys.

That isn’t aiptasia. It looks like a hydroid, but I’m not positive.

 

[A2dahlberg]

Sigh of relief on the FD, If that Starfish gets close to my Zoa I will feed it to my chicken...
Thanks for the reply.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Asterina and a nightmare they can be. Remove by hand or net or discard as they reproduce rapidly and will destroy zoa coral in time.
Not a feather duster but rather a hydroid. Place a dab of gel super glue from dollar store over its head as it is capable of stinging nearby coral. You can also direct water flow towards them, not at them- the idea is to starve them.

 

[Zer0]

They’ll go anywhere there is algae and since they’re small they can very easily get in between individual polyps. I wouldn’t worry about it as the predatory ones are pretty rare, and they actually have a much darker color to them. I would only worry about it if you see it only hanging around specific coral.

 

[A2dahlberg]

Sigh of relief on the FD, If that Starfish gets close to my Zoa I will feed it to my chicken...
Thanks for the reply.

OK I put super glue from the $ store on it. Good thing I spent $5 and got 10 of them. The starfish I pulled out and gave to my chicken. =) Thank you guys for the quick response it even surprised my wife at how fast you guys replied.