Looks kinda like a starfish?

[Sick_man]

What is this and should I remove it? I never added live rock or anything into the tank and the last frag added was over a month ago. Why is it here now?

 

[JGT]

What is this and should I remove it? I never added live rock or anything into the tank and the last frag added was over a month ago. Why is it here now?

Asterina star. Few are ok but can reproduce quickly and become problematic.

 

[Sick_man]

Asterina star. Few are ok but can reproduce quickly and become problematic.

I've only seen this one so far, should I get rid of it right now that its in front of the tank while i have the chance? Or should I just leave it alone?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I don’t want or trust any of these asterinas in my tank. They eat Zola’s as they took down almost whole colony of bam bam Zoas on me

 

[JGT]

I've only seen this one so far, should I get rid of it right now that its in front of the tank while i have the chance? Or should I just leave it alone?

I’d leave it but keep an eye if you start to see numbers grow. Then might be time to cull the herd.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've only seen this one so far, should I get rid of it right now that its in front of the tank while i have the chance? Or should I just leave it alone?

Eliminate it

 

[Bepis]

I saw one once in my tank. Never saw it again.

 

[Bepis]

I’d leave it but keep an eye if you start to see numbers grow. Then might be time to cull the herd.

Could always throw in a harleqin shrimp

 

[Milkman420]

Could always throw in a harleqin shrimp

I always wanted one of these but never got one due to the fact I have maybe 3 asterinas in my tank but have a yellow serpent star and sand sifting star as well. The yellow serpent lost a leg and a tip of another when my baby dropped something on top of the yellow star catching his leg and ripping it off. I always feared the harlequin would go after the 18 year old star fish. Do they go after bigger starfish especially if they are wounded like that?

 

[Bepis]

I always wanted one of these but never got one due to the fact I have maybe 3 asterinas in my tank but have a yellow serpent star and sand sifting star as well. The yellow serpent lost a leg and a tip of another when my baby dropped something on top of the yellow star catching his leg and ripping it off. I always feared the harlequin would go after the 18 year old star fish. Do they go after bigger starfish especially if they are wounded like that?

Yes they love big ole tasty snacks... Sorry man.
People feed them even Red Knobs and Choco Chips

 

[biophilia]

It's pretty rare to run across actual examples of coral predation by asterina. They're opportunistic scavengers, but if your tank has a little detritus, cyano, microalgae, etc like most do they likely won't bother your corals and are fun to look at IMO. I'd be willing to bet that most people who have experienced them "eating" their corals are actually experiencing them consuming tissue that is already dead or dying due to some other cause (RTN/STN).

 

[Turkey head]

I have asterina in my tank that look like that. No problems with them eating any corals (SPS, LPS). I don’t mind them. Just another free CUC member. They do multiply fast but their look doesn’t bother me either.