Starfish? Friend or foe?

[hangurber]

Found this guy out of the blue (pun intended) and I haven’t added anything new to the tank for months. Should I be concerned?
Having trouble with power and heating in DFW after an ice storm. Maybe that brought it out.

 

[JGT]

Asterina, can become a nuisance since they multiply quickly.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Asterina. Mostly good guys but they will eat certain zoas

 

[hangurber]

Thanks, that was what I thought but it’s coloration seemed different and looked stockier than I thought it’d be. Guess it’s just different seeing it in person.

Asterina, can become a nuisance since they multiply quickly.

 

[hangurber]

Asterina. Mostly good guys but they will eat certain zoas

Would you keep it in the tank?

 

[king aiptasia]

Would you keep it in the tank?

@xxkenny90xx had an experience with a certain zoa colony being consumed while the starfish left the rest alone

If you don't plan on certain zoas go ahead and keep it, theres several species of these small starfish that can't be easily distinguished. some people very much enjoy their grazing ability, unlike snails that physically scrape algae these starfish evert the stomach and chemically attack the algae with digestive juices, getting some pieces the snails wont

 

[hangurber]

@xxkenny90xx had an experience with a certain zoa colony being consumed while the starfish left the rest alone

If you don't plan on certain zoas go ahead and keep it, theres several species of these small starfish that can't be easily distinguished. some people very much enjoy their grazing ability, unlike snails that physically scrape algae these starfish evert the stomach and chemically attack the algae with digestive juices, getting some pieces the snails wont

I only have a few zoas, don’t plan on having a lot of different ones anyway. Could use a stronger clean up crew

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Would you keep it in the tank?

No, I wouldn't. Especially if you like zoas. I used to love these guys but I learned my lesson

 

[xxkenny90xx]

@xxkenny90xx had an experience with a certain zoa colony being consumed while the starfish left the rest alone

If you don't plan on certain zoas go ahead and keep it, theres several species of these small starfish that can't be easily distinguished. some people very much enjoy their grazing ability, unlike snails that physically scrape algae these starfish evert the stomach and chemically attack the algae with digestive juices, getting some pieces the snails wont

Can you spot the 2 starfish

 

[hangurber]

Can you spot the 2 starfish

Dang they are irritating them, that’s pretty rough. I do want Zoas, probably wasn’t going to have a huge amount of them but that’s pretty bad.

 

[Phil D.]

If they are on the rock and the glass, but not on corals.. then they are the algae eaters. I have them in my tank and have a Harlequin shrimp to keep the numbers down

 

[king aiptasia]

Can you spot the 2 starfish

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

They eat zoa. Pull any you can find. They’re a plague