tiny battered sea star? or what is this?

[easily_fishstracted]

found this roving across the back wall of the tank... somewhat surprised to find a hitchhiker as there is no real live rock in the tank, so it must have come in on the green star polyps?

 

[Ben Weaver]

Thats a asteria starfish.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

+1 on the asteria, some people consider it a pest some don't. You can always sump it. From my experiance they seem to appear and multiply.

 

[DSC reef]

Asterina starfish. They can populate very quickly. We had the bad ones unfortunately, they decimated colonies of our zoas.

 

[easily_fishstracted]

thanks for the responses - could it have come in on the coral or snails? it's already gone so no chance to sump now, but will check now and again to see how things are progressing.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Those little things can sneak in on almost anything. We had a couple in our tank but haven't spotted them for a couple of months.

 

[Reeferdood]

Asterina, I would remove it and all of the ones you find. They will kill zoas, I know from experience.
Harlequin shrimps should aid in population control of them..

 

[EKC]

+1 asterina (suggest removing it)

 

[Maritimer]

I've had no trouble with them, others have as noted above.

Asterina seem to grow no larger than your pinky-nail before ripping themselves in half. Each half grows new arms, and . . .

~Bruce

 

[Initialr]

Asterina starfish. They can populate very quickly. We had the bad ones unfortunately, they decimated colonies of our zoas.

second this ^, they are no good for any polyp coral, and repro like rabbits

 

[Daniel Waters]

I remove my asterina starfish. I never experienced any trouble from them, but nothing truly hurts like a new person coming over and seeing your tank and getting super excited...not super excited over the $250 acro or chalice you bought, but super excited over the "baby" starfish in your tank. Lol.

On a more serious note, I spent about a week pulling them out every night in my tank. First night I got about 25. Next night another 25. Third night another 20. Several days of this procedure and I finally got them almost all out. I do find one or two periodically every week or so now.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

I exist in a community that trades them back and forth with no issues. It really depends on the individual species. Some feed on corals while some are excellent detritus eaters.

The ones in my local reefing community are just part of the cleanup crew. However, any think found on a coral being “brought in from outside the community” around here are watched very carefully!!

 

[Stan-Lee]

I exist in a community that trades them back and forth with no issues. It really depends on the individual species. Some feed on corals while some are excellent detritus eaters.

The ones in my local reefing community are just part of the cleanup crew. However, any think found on a coral being “brought in from outside the community” around here are watched very carefully!!

ive had one for a few days now and its gone nowhere near my corals, likes to stay on the back wall or rocks.

 

[Florida Sunshine]

I've never had any problem with them but I don't really have many zoas. I leave them as part of my cleanup crew.

 

[Webslinger]

I have a hundreds of them on my glass every morning, cleaning it . They don't hurt my zoa's or anything in my tank. I believe the ones that are darker tend to be meat eaters.

 

[AdamNC]

I’ve never had any issue with them with any coral I’ve had, sps lps or zoa. I’ve even taken a few from my old tank and threw them in my new tank. Free cuc.