Is this hitch-hiker starfish safe?

[LouisianaReefer]

What is this hitch-hiker? Is it a good starfish?

 

[alb_56]

Asterina, they've never bothered my system but I think there are different kinds, some bad some good. I think bad ones are supposed to have black backs but I'm not for sure.

 

[Calappidae]

Asterina, most are harmless.. but there really isn't any way to tell.. they also breed and divide rapidly causing an investation.

 

[cloak]

I don't trust them. :thumbdown

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/45-reefkeeping-101-

 

[KirbyBTF]

Apparently there are multiple species of Asterina, some are coral munchers and some arent. And it's damn near impossible to verify which species you have. As Calappidae said, they can quickly divide and cause an infestation. Some of my local club members have horror stories of them bent over their 125g systems with tweezers plucking them one by one for WEEKS. Or you can get a Harlequin shrimp to devistate the population in about a week. But then you need to suppliment the very starfish you tried so hard to eradicate to keep the shrimp alive lol. Either way, in most systems they are completely fine. I've had them in every tank I've owned for years and never seen an outbreak.

 

[Calappidae]

Or you can get a Harlequin shrimp to devistate the population in about a week. But then you need to suppliment the very starfish you tried so hard to eradicate to keep the shrimp alive lol.

The starfish doesn't have to be asterina sp. Mine get frozen chocolate chips.

Or you can simply just sell the harlequins/return them to the LFS I purposely dumped in 50 or so asterinas in my tank so I have an excuse to get them

 

[cloak]

 

[johnike]

cloak, that's just plain ugly!

 

[J2T]

I've never had issues with them in my 75g and they have been in there pretty much from the start almost 3 years ago. I haven't had an infestation either.

 

[LouisianaReefer]

I did get rid of the thing. I do not want to take any chances. BTW, will using CoralRX dip help to get rid of them when introducing new frags? I am guessing that careful inspection is key.

 

[spoggy]

I've had them in my tank for a couple of years. Never has an issue with any coral "munching". Never have had them get to infestation proportions either.