Looks like a starfish???

[ErehwoN]

I was scraping the glass just now and almost mowed over this little guy. He's somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2" across. In the time it took me to find my phone and orange filter he had moved off the glass about 3" and onto this snail. I'm thinking some sort of Asterina Starfish but would love other opinions.

And yes, that's some sea lettuce on my powerhead that I'm in the process of getting under control.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Mr Cypher]

looks like an asterina star fish some good some bad unfortunately there is no way to tell the difference as far as I know I think the bad ones eat zoas

 

[ErehwoN]

Another shot from underneath (he's moving quick for a little guy).

 

[Mr Cypher]

yea almost positive they reproduce super fast as well dont know what you have but if you don't care about zoas and don't have any other starfish you could get a harlequin shrimp super cool and that is all they eat (starfish)

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, Aquilonastra starfish (more commonly known as Asterina starfish in the hobby, though those are actually different starfish altogether). Cool little guys, but they usually reproduce like crazy and can takeover your tank.

With regards to whether or not they eat corals, it might be a species specific thing, it might be a you have way too many starfish so they're out of other food options thing, or it might be they're eating the slime coat/mucus on the coral rather than the coral itself…

 

[SchrutesReefs]

I hate them. Some like them because they see them as clean up, I have an actual clean up crew. They reproduce unreasonably fast, and take over. Good OR bad, to me it’s an eyesore.