Discovered 2 Asterina starfish...

[NS Mike D]

I didn't mind them until they took a liking to my clove coral colony and wiped out 1/3 of it

I toss them in my sump/refugium. I'll get them down to one or two visible in the DT, and a few days later, I'll see a dozen, and so the relocation project continues.

 

[JodiM]

Thank you everyone for your input. I was searching for them this morning and now can only find 1. I think they went back into hiding in the rock.
Found a tiny clear crab of some kind this morning also, but last time I saw him he was smashed under my turbo snails foot.. Not sure if he made it or not..

 

[JodiM]

+1

I would love to see a real picture of what I'm supposed to be looking out for.

This is what the ones I found look like

 

[Moeshi]

IME (3 years of reefing) they only attack corals if the coral is unhealthy/sick/dying. They are opportunistic scavengers in that sense, and I consider them a part of a healthy reef.

Keep nutrients low and recruit various snails to compete with them for algae and they will stay in check.

 

[JodiM]

IME (3 years of reefing) they only attack corals if the coral is unhealthy/sick/dying. They are opportunistic scavengers in that sense, and I consider them a part of a healthy reef.

Keep nutrients low and recruit various snails to compete with them for algae and they will stay in check.

Thank you!

 

[crossguard]

IME (3 years of reefing) they only attack corals if the coral is unhealthy/sick/dying.

This hasn't been the case for me unfortunately. It wasn't until I started removing these starfish from my system that the zoanthids bounced back to normal. It was the same deal with an Emerald crab too. Once it was gone things looked much better. You couldn't pay me to have these things in a reef tank anymore, especially a small one. :thumbdown

 

[bertoni]

I think asterinids are interesting to watch. Very rarely, coral-eating varieties seem to show up in people's tanks. I don't know of any visual queues as to which you have. If your corals are fine, though, the starfish very likely are harmless to the corals, and they can help with algae or detritus cleanup.

 

[snorvich]

In my experience, the light colored ones are fine, the darker colored ones are not.