Is this an Asterina?

[mh0ward]

Hello everyone,

I picked up a finger leather today and it has quite a few hitchhikers, some of which im sure i’ve probably not even seen yet. Two that are standing out are what looks like half a starfish (maybe an Asterina?) and this small snail. Any help in IDing them are appreciated!

It also looked like there were some worms tucked into the rock that the leather came on, probably bristle worms. Ive got the leather in an observation/QT tank at the moment, should i try to tweeze any of the bristle worms out before putting it in my main tank, or keep em?

Also, ive picked what i believe were 3 flatworms off the underside of the leather, so im going to want to dip this in coralRx before placing it in my main tank if possible. However, im not sure of the best approach since i dont want the rock it is on to soak up the dip and then leach into the tank. Will turning it upside down and dipping just the leather itself in the CoralRx be enough to rid any flatworms? Or is there a better alternative?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, that's an Aquilonastra star (known in the hobby as "Asterinas").

The snail is a Keyhole Limpet - the majority are beneficial, but some are known to eat corals.

The vast majority of bristleworms are good, but a rare few may cause issues.

I'm not sure what the best action would be with the dip.

 

[mh0ward]

Thank you for the response! Ive just recently started to add coral to my tank, so im still learning, especially when it comes to the various hitchhikers