Is this a star fish and is it a concern

[Joshua Agostoni]

So I have found a couple of these in my tank I have removed a few but i have no idea if its a small stat fish growing or if it is bad.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Asterina starfish. Common hitchhiker.


Common rule is that if white, no problem. If dark color, will potentially bother some corals.

 

[Joshua Agostoni]

Is it a concern should I let it grow I have found a few did the hitch hike on my live rock?

 

[reeferfoxx]

They are called asterina starfish. They can populate into big numbers. They typically aren't bad but some can be. When I had them, they mostly grazed on coralline algae and sometimes zoanthids.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Is it a concern should I let it grow I have found a few did the hitch hike on my live rock?

Personally, I would get rid of them. At first they seemed cute. I had the white ones and eventually they grew into exponential numbers and started eating all my nice purple coralline. Then some camped on zoa polyps.

 

[Joshua Agostoni]

I have a fish only tank.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I have a fish only tank.

Oh well then shouldn't be a problem. If they get out of control, you can get a harlequin shrimp to eradicate. Just as an option later on.

 

[Joshua Agostoni]

I'll ha e to removed by hand the snowflake eel I have will eat the shrimp but thanks for the info.

 

[Gweeds1980]

I've got about 1,874,692 at the last count, in my 320g... don't bother a thing. Free cuc IMO.