Help - Sand Sifter starfish made another Starfish

[Lisa Cain]

Dear Reefers,

Help.. I looked at my tank and to my surprise I saw a small starfish climbing up the glass. I have a big starfish that looks just like him. I guess he/she made a baby. I am so afraid that the other fish or crabs will eat him. Please advise. Do you think he will survive?

 

[Pork]

An astrea star, just a common hitchhiker, if you see one like this but brown it will eat coral flesh. This one looks harmless tho

 

[Texas Reefer]

That is a different type of starfish, an asterina. It feeds off the algae on your glass. It would be cute if it was a sandsifter baby, but it's not.

 

[bean2986]

Looks like an Asterina starfish that crawled out of your live rock- not a baby sand sifter. Just a hitchhiker.

 

[sfin52]

Astrea starfish. They can become plagues in some tanks. Some will eat corals while others won’t. Distinguishing them is extremely hard. I’ve seen some in my tank and I just left them. No problems haven’t seen them in about 6 months

 

[Lisa Cain]

An astrea star, just a common hitchhiker, if you see one like this but brown it will eat coral flesh. This one looks harmless tho

Where did it come from?

 

[Lisa Cain]

An astrea star, just a common hitchhiker, if you see one like this but brown it will eat coral flesh. This one looks harmless tho

Where did it come from?

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Like others have stated, it's a asterina starfish. There are good and bad asterinas and it's hard to tell them apart. I would IMO remove it while you only have one in the tank and not hundreds. Some eat zoas, some it coralline algae, and some it other algae.

 

[Lisa Cain]

D

Sorry, double post

Do they reproduce quickly

 

[Lisa Cain]

D

Do they reproduce quickly

 

[bean2986]

Where did it come from?

Live rock or a frag

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

They can. They come in on live rock or new coral frags.

 

[Pork]

They reproduce very quickly

 

[rock_lobster]

Just cut a leg off if you want another sand sifter.

 

[Lisa Cain]

Thank you!!! Wow! This site is so helpful because I was beginning to panic thinking about how to save what I thought was a baby sand sifter. Attaching a picture of my tank and the sandsifter going in the sand. Question I put my Lobo coral that I purchased today in the sand. Does it need to be on rock?

 

[Lisa Cain]

Thank you!!! Wow! This site is so helpful because I was beginning to panic thinking about how to save what I thought was a baby sand sifter. Attaching a picture of my tank and the sandsifter going in the sand. Question I put my Lobo coral that I purchased today in the sand. Does it need to be on rock?

 

[Lisa Cain]

Thank you!!! Wow! This site is so helpful because I was beginning to panic thinking about how to save what I thought was a baby sand sifter. Attaching a picture of my tank and the sandsifter going in the sand. Question I put my Lobo coral that I purchased today in the sand. Does it need to be on rock?