New Hitchhiker ID Request

[JKenny]

So I picked up a beautiful sky blue & purple wall Hammer from my LFS last night. I did the coralRx and a few small creatures came off of it but, all in all, it seemed pretty clean. It also seems to be enjoying my tank and has opened up very nicely. But, in looking to see why my Tang was just hanging around the new coral I see what looks like a 5 sided, grayish-blue, star like "thing". It hasn't moved in the past 20 minutes that I can see - but I know it wasn't there this morning. The picture is a little tough because it's so small - has to be less than 1/4" around...

Can anyone offer suggestions on what I'm seeing below my new Hammer?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rybren]

Asterina star (it's been renamed, but I'm an old dog and can't remember the new name)

 

[vetteguy53081]

It IS asterina star and I don't welcome them in my tank. Some can be algae eaters while other can be Zoa eaters. remove quickly as they regenerate/reproduce quickly.

 

[JKenny]

Thank you... Just did a quick lookup on them. If I'm reading it correctly, this could either be good or bad for my tank - right?

 

[Duffer]

Get it out as they multiply fast...can bother zoas

 

[JKenny]

Thank you... I'm working on it...

 

[JKenny]

Rybren, vetteguy53801 & duffer, thank you for your speedy responses. If you were closer to me I'd offer you adult beverages of your choice...

In my quick read I saw that they reproduce by fragmentation - so I wanted to make sure I didn't leave any piece of it on the rock. I'll be on the lookout for any others that might show up.

Joe

 

[huckjai]

I had a couple appear in my tank. Would have loved to have kept them, but they disappeared shortly. They seem to be a hit or miss with some people keeping them and some people getting rid of them.

 

[Rybren]

They seem to go in cycles in my tanks. Sometimes there's tons of them and other times there's hardly any. I just leave them be and have never had an issue with them.