Starfish Asterina Question

Koralik · Oct 5, 2019

Hello everyone
After 1 week of setting in my rock, I have seen one starfish asterina. Today its been 2 weeks of setting in my rock and I’ve noticed another one. How fast do they spread and can they cause a problem? Do they leave some sort of mark and if so, how is it meant to look like?
Thanks, Aga

Doctorgori · Oct 5, 2019

It depends on the exact type.... personally I remove them as I’ve seen them out of control but this last time I let them go and have not seen a issue but this was the larger type .... without exact ID I’m gonna defer to your own risk tolerance and search engine savvy

BayouReefer · Oct 5, 2019

People are split on their opinions on them. They do eat coralline algae I believe. I pick them out of my tank with a pair of long tweezers from time to time. There are fish that will eat them.

AdamB · Oct 5, 2019

I went from a few to many within a couple 5/6 months . I mostly see them on glass before lights come on. I didn’t see any I’ll effects on my corals so I think I have algae eating variety .

BayouReefer · Oct 5, 2019

I’m sorry stated that there are fish that eat them it is actually the Harlequin shrimp.

AdamB · Oct 5, 2019

I heard some reports a melanurus wrasse might eat them. Not for sure . I just bought one to take care of flatworms .

Nanoreefer4ever · Oct 5, 2019

They are don't do any damage except they multiply fast if your water is good. I seed my tank with them so i can get the Harlequin shrimp lol

Koralik · Oct 5, 2019

Koralik said:
Hello everyone
After 1 week of setting in my rock, I have seen one starfish asterina. Today its been 2 weeks of setting in my rock and I’ve noticed another one. How fast do they spread and can they cause a problem? Do they leave some sort of mark and if so, how is it meant to look like?
Thanks, Aga

Just for more information, our tank is a small 55l. Our tank doesn’t have any corals so they have to eat algae as they are surviving. In the rocks, we also found brittle starfish and many, small peacock worms

Koralik · Oct 5, 2019

Just for more information, our tank is a small 55l. Our tank doesn’t have any corals so they have to eat algae as they are surviving. In the rocks, we also found brittle starfish and many, small peacock worms

lapin · Oct 5, 2019

You should be fine. I have never had issues with them

Waters · Oct 5, 2019

They multiply extremely fast by dropping legs, which then turn into new starfish. If you have seen 2, that means you have 20

. I consider them a member of my CUC since I have a semi-predator reef. I have not had any issues with them eating coral. Every once in a while I will remove all the ones I can see just to keep them in check.

Chele17 · Oct 29, 2019

I have found that I have them and they recently multiplied like crazy. Glad I found this information, I was going to remove some of them but was not for sure if they were beneficial to my tank.