Anyone else see these in their tank?

Limpit

Happy Reefer
Premium Member
I always forget to ask when we have a meeting if anyone has these stars in their tank. I have them in just about all of mine and there arm count varies from 2 to 6 but the one thing they all have in common is that the arms are always different lengths, never uniform. Anyone know what these are?
star.jpg

Sorry about the poor quality.
 
Great question! I have a tleast one of those and was wodnering the same thing. Tagging along to hopefully get an informed answer.
 
Search for Asterina Star and you'll find lots of info. They're usually safe, but there seem to be a few predatory species that are the exception to the rule. Most are just algae eaters.
 
Garf went a bit overboard with their claims of the coral eating stars, IMO. A few species of these can eat coral, but most are fine. If you see them on your coral, I'd worry. If you see them on the glass, they're most likely safe.
 
eclecticvibe, thank you for this informed input. I searched for Asterina Star and found this web page:

http://www.fishtanksandponds.net/live-stock/fishprofiles/asteria.htm

"Most species are harmless in a tank however they can reproduce rapidly and quickly overtake a tank. Some of the larger more colourful species are thought to fed on SPS and some LPS corals. They are easy to remove from the tank and are commonly introduced on live rock."
 
My tanks are lousy with them. They seem to be primarily nocturnal and always algae/film eaters. Never a problem for corals.
Jon
jandlms
 
IMO, while I can't say none of these eat coral, I would guess that most reports of them on corals are from them eating algae or dead/dying tissue from corals that are already dying.

I imagine 10,000 years ago if you didn't know what a vulture was and you saw one eating your friend you would be a little worried about it eating you...
 
they r a nuisance starfish.. get them out while u can or else your gonna have thousands of them in ur tank
 
Starfish.jpg


I like mine, though I thought I was seeing things the first time I saw one in my tank, cause they hitched a ride from somewhere.
 
Now that I am a little more educated from this thread - thank you all for the informed inputs - I am mostly concerned with their ability to rapidly multiply. If I think 1 or 2 are cute and I don't see them picking on my corals - and I do not remove them - how rapid is rapid when it comes to their ability to multiply - if it is exponential, can it get to a point where they cannot be removed? In other words, even if I do not see them causing harm to the corals, shoudl I remove them anyways while their numbers are small?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8103467#post8103467 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jiggy
they r a nuisance starfish.. get them out while u can or else your gonna have thousands of them in ur tank

I suppose if your nutrient levels are out of control that could become a problem...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8103496#post8103496 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by besl
Now that I am a little more educated from this thread - thank you all for the informed inputs - I am mostly concerned with their ability to rapidly multiply. If I think 1 or 2 are cute and I don't see them picking on my corals - and I do not remove them - how rapid is rapid when it comes to their ability to multiply - if it is exponential, can it get to a point where they cannot be removed? In other words, even if I do not see them causing harm to the corals, shoudl I remove them anyways while their numbers are small?

I have always had them in my tanks (almost 10 years) and the more there is to eat the more you will have, but they have never been a problem. If they are eating algae it's a good thing (free cleanup crew). In my current tank I rarely see them.
 
They don't give a scientific name to know what they really are, but the detrivore kit from Inland Aquatics includes "Micro Stars" that are identical to those as far as I can see.

I also don't have enough in my tank to be able to tell if they are causing any problems, but there are a few in there. They WERE bought and put in a refugium. However, with the tank moved between homes and then a second time to the new 200 things got mixed up and they are in the display now. I think they're cool and more concerned with the monster of a crab I can't catch, and hope there's no problem with them down the road.
 
They are asterina stars. They reproduce by dropping a leg which is why alot of times they only have 3 legs.

I saw 2 on my acan lord (the rock part) when I got it over a yr ago and put them in my 150. I see some in there now but not alot maybe 15.
I do have high nitrates in there so maybe why not alot of them dunno.
I put the lord in my 55 but never saw any in that tank.

Mine eat algae I see them on the glass leaving trails lol.
I like them and they never bothered anything as far as I can tell but I don't have alot of corals in there either.

kass
 
I had hundreds in my tank, they killed by Starbursts. I spent hours manually picking them out. I still have some. Watch the starburst replacements very close. Anytime I find one on it, they get picked, so long as they stay on the rock or glass, I'm OK.
 
Ummmm.

Sorry. No offense, but regardless of if they are harmless or not, if you have hundreds you likely have a bigger problem that helped bring that about, and the same cause may also be a contributing cause to other losses. They could be the result, and not the cause.
 
Relax folks,
I've done a little reference checking. The guys pictured are detritivores/algae eaters. Too many of anything is not necessarily a good thing but they won't eat your corals (although they may be cleaning up dead tissue on your corals). If they are not reaching nuisance levels (Mine have been present for ten years) then consider them an addition to the diversity of your tank.
jandlms
 
I agree with Jon, Mine came in an the pile of rock I bought from Gooch when I cleaned out his bins. Seen it only a time or two...


Now, the baby turbos that seem to have materialized from that rock, cooked in lower salinity for 6 months with almost no circulation, or heat, and then dumped into fish only systems... poof! 10 in every tank.... 6 tanks... now there's a shocker.

J
 
My friend has had them in his reef tank since day 1. They must have come in on live rock. Never been a problem and are generally concidered members of his clean up crew. I think they are cute.:)
 
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