Hitchhiker ID: Starfish?

[davantalus]

New tank... found two hitchhikers (so far) from the live rock. I'm pretty sure that greyish one is an Astarina but what about the red one? Are these little guys peaceful or pestilence?

 

[mscarpena]

Probably the same. There are many differnt species and colors.

 

[headless]

looks like a sand-sifter starfish...I have two in my tank...they're great...are you sure they came with the liverock? They don't really hide in rocks...

 

[HanoverFist]

Some asterina look like that. I had those speckled kind and some white ones. Just keep an eye on it and watch for it eating any corals or leaving white tracks in the coralline algae. I saw white streaks in my coralline and now my tanks star-free.

Most tend to be safe though, especially if off another reefers rock.

 

[davantalus]

looks like a sand-sifter starfish...I have two in my tank...they're great...

Awesome! I can only hope.

are you sure they came with the liverock? They don't really hide in rocks...

Positive. He dropped off the rock while in transit and I found him on the plastic transport bin.

Some asterina look like that. I had those speckled kind and some white ones. Just keep an eye on it and watch for it eating any corals or leaving white tracks in the coralline algae. I saw white streaks in my coralline and now my tanks star-free.

Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on it, thanks for a list of symptoms.

 

[Beamers]

I have nearly 100 of those in my tank, they come up like a zombie invasion at night along with the droves of snails that reproduced in my tank.

there's versions that look like that, and then there's an all white type - both are harmless